abbor

Jim,

Have you received any information regarding limitations when it comes to international use of US HDS models?

According to what I've heard HDS produced after some date this spring will not support international languages and metric units when used east of the meridian passing through London when upgraded to version 3.0 or newer.

If you have received a bulletin from Navico regarding this can you please post it?

yachtjim

They just sent this through today. Bizarre, I guess they do not intend for Lowrance units to be used on cruising boats that may do international travel.

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Lowrance Electronics manufactures units specifically for sale in the Americas and units specifically for sale to the Rest of the World (ROW). These units are certified to different standards for different markets.
1) Americas Base and Insight USA™ models of HDS – chartplotters and combination fishfinder/chartplotters – are not CE marked. It is illegal to sell these Americas-based models in Europe and several other international markets.

2) New Americas Base and Insight USA™ models of HDS purchased with the 3.0 software release or later will go into a limited features mode, when crossing a defined meridian (30 degrees West longitude or the International dateline to the East).
a. The limited features mode functions with English language and imperial measures only - all non-English languages and metric measures are eliminated. There is also a flashing reminder at the bottom of the screen that indicates that the unit is operating outside of its intended area of use.

3) Customers should purchase units from local authorized Lowrance/Navico dealers and distributors – this will ensure that customers receive products which are safe and useful for their requirements. In addition, customers who experience a problem can receive prompt local service and support.

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abbor

Thanks Jim, good to get the confirmation on this issue since there but there have been a lot of discussions on different Scandinavian fishing and boating forums after the rumors came out a couple of months ago. My three HDS units are all CE marked so I don't have to worry, but a lot of people have bought their units from US and will run into problems if they update to the latest software.

abbor

Posted in wrong forum