Tom,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately the lines stay in the same place. I
dropped an e-mail to Lowrance support but am not hopeful of a simple low
cost fix. I'm about two months shy of getting six years of service from the
thing so am annoyed but not heart broken. Besides, I'd like to have a WAAS
unit.

My 16 Whaler has a miniscule console so if I have to replace the unit I'd
like to get another combo.... but this experience tells me to get stand
alone units. To do so I'll have to flush mount my VHF vertically which is
OK as I almost never use it.

Thanks again.

Butch
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:30:37 GMT, "Butch Davis"
wrote:

Yesterday when heading out to catch some fish the combo unit on the boat
showed a problem. The display had several narrow vertical white lines
across it. Although the lines were not helpful they really did not
interfere with reading the display. As the day warmed a few lines went
away
but most remained after about six hours of ON time.

The unit is a 1999 Lowrance with a black and white display.

I fear it may be time for a replacement but would like to have your views.
I could send it back to Lowrance for the flat rate repair but am not sure
the unit is worth the cost at this point. Perhaps I'm really just looking
for an excuse to buy a new unit???

Hopefully, it's not too late for a reply here.

First, clean the connector contacts. It's not likely that is causing
the problem, but an intermittent can cause the vertical scan to mess
up.

Second, do the lines move with the display or stay in the same place?
If they move with the display, then it's in the sender unit - probably
the transducer crystal is failing. If the lines stay in the same
place, then it's a head unit problem and most likely the display
crystals are entering their death throes.

As to replacing the head unit or having it repaired, I'd get a new
unit. Probably cheaper than paying the unit flat rate Lowrance would
charge.

Normally, with these types of finders, they are so cheap it's easier
to throw them away than repair them.

Unfortunate I know, but it's still the truth.

Later,

Tom