My experience with amazon.com and the Fisheasy 245 DS

Uselessness abounds.

~ 5 months ago I bought a Fisheasy 245DS portable fishfinder. I used it a couple of times at the very end of the rockfish season and that was that for the winter. I dusted it off a couple of weeks ago when planning some spring hali fishing and..........it's dead. I tried changing the batteries etc, nothing. The screen flickers a couple of times but that's it. No rust or anything in the contacts.

I bought the thing from Amazon. I email them to say my 150 buck purchase worked twice and died. They write back and say "sorry, you've had it more than 30 days. Tough $hit", try calling the manufacturer."   30 days!? This is a fishfinder, most people use it once a month if they're lucky!

I call Amazon and explain, at first politely but with increasing frustration, that this is ludicrous. No, change, it's tough. Try calling the manufacturer. Well sorry Amazon but it's you who received my 150 dollars, so I'd like you to deal with it. Nope. Eventually they put the phone down on me.

So.........sigh.......if you buy a fishfinder, don't buy a Fisheasy DS245 and whatever you buy, don't get it from Amazon.

I think that's pretty standard practice isn't it? Especially for larger shops...I bought my camera through Best Buy. Typically after a specified period of time if something were to go wrong with it I would be redirected to the manufacturer to honor the warranty.  But because I purchased insurance through Best Buy I would handle any issues with Best Buy who would either work with the manufacturer to correct the issue or provide me a new camera.

Of course places like FW and other places who try to give you a more personal experience sometimes go beyond the bounds of normal customer service (although there is usually a small fee to help them cover some of the expenses).  That model probably wouldn't work with places like Amazon.  They would probably have to hire so many CSA to handle the issues that it would be really hard to be profitable.  Then we'd probably have to bail them out.

I had a humminbird FF that died while under warranty.  The warranty service from Humminbird was pretty painless.  I just chatted with somebody on the phone, gave them some information, shipped it to them, it came back a week later as good as new.

Dealing with the manufacturer's service dept can be good.

NB, I think that is pretty standard.  I bought a fisheasy 240 from one of the online yak-fishing shops and I thought it went bad after a while.  The shop told me to send it to Loran, which I did.  Turns out that there was nothing wrong with the unit, there was a bad connection in my wiring.  They did not charge me to go through the unit, though.

I think the fisheasy units are warrantied for a year from the manufacturer.  Funny, mine had the same symptoms as yours.  Check your wiring real good?  I guess maybe you didn't have to wire it because it was a portable unit, huh?

In my experience the 245DS is about as bomb proof as a ff gets, sorry to hear yours crapped out.  I quit using the245DS because I hated the associated software...too clunky for me. 

My Humminbirds have been super reliable and the service is killer.  Throughin the OK compatibility and its gonna be hard to get me to switch.

Bought my 245DS in september 2006 from bass pro shop online and it's still, knock on wood, going strong. They do come with a full one year warranty. Try giving them a call at 1-800-324-1354. Hope you get her going again soon.

My 245 has been going for 4 years I lost communication with the transducer and it stopped working. But I was able to reestablish it with the testing software on the unit. I can't remember how I did it but you might goggle that Phil and give it a try, It was sorta like rebooting in safe mode.

I have a Humminbird Pirranhamax that crapped out after one season.  I was about to chuck it when my cousin told me to put some di-electric grease on all connections.  Powered up no problem and has been kicking for another 3 years.  Sounds like yours is probably a fully self-contained unit so this may not apply, but worth considering.

Here's a PROPOSAL for yez-all......

FISHFINDERS (embracing every concievable technology).......and
CHUMMING (mere possession of anything that will grind-up anything)....

Should be prohibited on all ocean waters
TO COMMERCIALS.....!!!!!!!.........
to quasi-commercials such as PARTY BOATS.....!!!!!!!!..........
(and probably hafta include sport-fishermen as well).

Judd

I have a Humminbird Pirranhamax that crapped out after one season.

You're lucky that it still works, this is the one unit Humminbird makes that is born to die.

Judd-still waiting for you to post a fishing report.

My Humminbirds have been super reliable and the service is killer.

Humminbird service has been very good to me too. My old matrix 17 went black screen on me after 4 years and I thought all my waypoints were history.

I called Humminbird service and it was a flat fee to fix whatever was wrong for around $70. Even though that was almost 1/2 the cost of the unit , I figured 4 years of fishing spots were worth it.

Then I bought the computer hook up to save my collected info.

SBD-----"the salmon situation" puts a big hole in a fellow's motivation to fish.
Salmon are the only fish, that I truly truly truly long for.

I took my whitewater boat to Rodeo Beach yesterday and played for a couple hours in the breakers.   Kind of a prep session for Spring Whitewater.

This morning I did the "Wildcat Canyon and the Three Bears" bicycle route.   Very pretty and the air was so nice.   You shudda been there.   

And pretty soon --- snowmelt will open that short Sierra Whitewater season.  Everything from Cherry Creek on the "T," to Mill Creek up on Mt. Lassen will be running every day.

FYI....during the former rainy season.....I did several runs on Big Sulphur Creek.   This is a ditch that drains The Geysers area east of Cloverdale.  Class-5 tan/brown-water...2-hours from my house.   Very good when it rains.

But you're right......this beautiful weather......The Cosumnes River Preserve would be a pretty place to go for LMB or crappie.

I have an additonal reason to take my body out to the Cosumnes Preserve.

I've been told they've posted a sign:  "No Firearms Allowed"

Their purpose is to interdict duck-hunters from using that launch.

That sign is illegal.

The Nature Conservancy accepted DFG funds (In the amount of $122,200) for construction of the parking lot, parking lot bathroom and that concrete walkway and the floating docks under a DFG "Joint Operating Agreement".....which converts the parking lot, walkway, and docks from private property to an unrestrict(able) public access for all uses that are consonant with DFG's charter.   In further acknowledgement of DFG's "legal interest" in that launch......the Wildlife Officer in whose district that area lies....is in fact the very person who unlocks the "gate" at 7:30 a.m. and who unlocks the parking-lot bathroom.

So, I need to take a photo of the sign, have a recorded conversation with the on-site administrator, order him take down the sign, document his refusal, and then refer the matter with its supporting evidence to the DFG, and the NRA.

Then, being out there, I'll fish....no guarantee I'll bring back pix.

SBD.....You clearly feel that I am not "holding up my end."
(I'm not sure "which end" you think a person should hold up.)
Anyway, from my point of view, that's all wasted thinking.

Judd

Judd, you definitely march to the beat of a different drummer.  Unfortunately, the rest of us generally aren't playing the same tune.  Not sure how anything you wrote pertains to the topic of getting a FF fixed.  Makes me laugh, though.

Not sure how anything you wrote pertains to the topic of getting a FF fixed.

 

Judd, you definitely march to the beat of a different drummer.  Unfortunately, the rest of us generally aren't playing the same tune.  Not sure how anything you wrote pertains to the topic of getting a FF fixed.  Makes me laugh, though.

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