fishfinder frustrations/help
 

I had a small humminbird matrix 17 that came with my kayak. It worked fine but i liked the idea of using GPS too. So I took the unit off my boat wasting in the driveway. Low and behold the unit worked but I couldn't get the GPS to work and the unit would only work for a few hours before it would conk out even though the unit used .750 amps/hour and the battery was rated at 12 amp hour. I am throwing my hands up and think a new unit would be the way to go.

Any opinions good or bad on the lowrance elite 4? I figured I'd stay with lowrance since I have some maps for the west coast stored on the SD card from the old unit.

You sure your battery is good? I think you should get at least 8.5-9 hours runtime drawing .75a on a 12ah battery.

It's not the battery. Checked both of them and they're fine. The matrix 17 would go all day on a 5 amp/hour battery. The old lowrance was the battery killer. Since it seemed to not work anyway (GPS and unexplainable overdraw) I figured why dump dough on it when I can get a decent setup and keep myself from pulling my hair out.

I'd think about sending it to them for a repair estimate, they may even offer you a new unit for wholesale cost. At least give them a call?