Lowrance LMS 334C Issues?

I’m thinking about pulling the trigger on the LMS 334C unit, but I have been hearing a lot of negative feedback on the GPS side of things. Sounds like a lot of people are loosing signal with the satellites, thus it is dropping your location. It sounds like most of the people who are having issues have them mounted under their window of the boat. I have heard some people loosing signal with the unit mounted on a open dash as well. Another negative report I have heard is if you plan to mount it on a front trolling motor you won’t be able to tilt it more than 10 degrees because it will loose signal. Meaning you can’t tilt it back very far to see it better. I believe it has something to do with the way the GPS is looking for the satellites.

My Garmin 60C doesn’t have any issues no matter which way I have it tilted. It could be upside down and still get a great signal.

I’ve got to be honest, the negative feedback has got me thinking twice about purchasing this unit.

Who owns the 334C, and have you had any issues with it? Let’s hear both sides good or bad. I really like the idea of the internal GPS, but if it doesn’t work half the time I’d rather stay away from it. I’ve thought about the 332, but I don’t like the idea of the GPS module drawing power all the time. Sure I could put in a switch but who knows how many times I’ll forget that one.

Thanks for any help you can give me on the 334 or 332.

I believe the 334 has the internal intenna. I have a 3500 c (the 332 without the sonar) and this has the external puck intenna. I have never had a signal issue or lack of signal. I have the Puck mounted right at the Helm under my Wind screen.

With the drawing power issue, I have a “Main Circuit board” in my Crestliner. When I turn this off I shut down the entire boats Electronics and accessories. This switch turns off my 3500c, so it does not draw and I never have to worry about flipping the switch so to speak. Good luck and I hope this helps.

I have the 332C with the external puck antenna. I have the antenna mounted near the stern of my boat (C-liner 1750) in such a way that the top of the puck rises above the gunnels, so the puck has 360 degrees of sky visibility. I have NEVER, EVER lost satellite signal using the 332c.

I do have a switch wired between the puck and the battery, and I remember to turn it off 50% of the time. One time this Janaury, I forgot to turn it off between trips to pool 4 that were two weeks apart. Well, even drawing that trickle for 2 weeks in the dead of winter didn’t impact the ability of the battery to start my 115.

If it were me, I’d get the 332. That external puck can be mounted anywhere in your rig to ensure good sky visibility, and it draws so little current that it will likely never impact the overall charge of your battery.

I have the 332c with external also and have the puck right next to my winshield on the gunnel. I have never lost signal. I have even had it under the windshield and never had a problem.

Turkeynate, I’ll tell you what I tell anyone who has concerns about the internal antenna – go with the external antenna. There is no difference between the 332c and the 334C other than the GPS, so if you’re concerned about the internal antenna, why not make it easy on yourself and get the 332C? No worries that way.

I have the 3600C with internal and have never lost a signal. I did also run it with it tilted back and never lost a signal. I even locked in with it in my garage.

I forgot to add, I also have the 332C myself and it works great. I have sold a lot of 334Cs lately but it’s too early to really know how good or bad they’ll be. There were some positive reports on here a few weeks ago, but I have also heard of some folks having issues with the unit. I got one for my father-in-law and it worked great in the driveway but he has not had it out on the water yet.

My dad just bought a 334 for use on the 4 wheeler in the winter and my boat in the summer. I’m not happy at all with the gps side. It takes forever to get a signal, and the WAAS doesn’t work. My dad has a 25c with the external antenna and his works great. I think there may be some bugs in the interal antenna. I’m going to send an email to Lowrance with some questions and concerns, but as of now, I’m not very happy with it. I will let you know what they say.

WAAS only works in limited areas with any GPS. Just an FYI

We just ordered a 334 from Wade last night. I have read both good and bad about the 334 but we ended up deciding to give it a try. We are mounting it on the dash of a 1675 Explorer so the windshield should have no effect on the signal. In a couple of weeks we should have a good idea if it will work for us. There are alot of people out there that are happy with the 334 so I wonder if the problem could be interference with something else in the boat or possibly a bad lot from the factory. Seems like most new models have a quirk or two that have to get figured out.

that’s what they told me at the store, but my dad’s will aquire a waas position right next to my boat.

You also want to make sure you have the WAAS feature activated. I had to go into the GPS menu in my 3600C and select WAAS.

Also at first start up, my 3600C took some time to initalize. But now it locks in within seconds.

Did it just take a while the very first time you used it or the first time each time out on the water? When I went into the menu and enabled WAAS, the unit imediately says postion lost, and then when I turn it back off it will aquire the postion again. Not sure what’s going on.

Anytime you first turn a GPS on such as a Lowrance unit, it does a cold start. The lowrance units are initalized at the factory for Kansas which is almost the center of the US. Then when you first turn the unit on, it does the cold start and it took probably 3-5 minutes for my unit to initalize. Now it only takes a few seconds to lock in. IMO, WAAS is over-rated. Its never made much difference or really worked in any unit I have used.

Another thing to remember, The current WAAS system uses land based antenna;s, not satellites so the signal is constantly going to lock and unlock if you dont have a clean reception form the land based antennas.

The full WAAS satellite system from the FAA will not be ready for maybe 5 years or more.

good info…the first time I turned it on, it would not get a position at all and kept going into demo mode. I was at my parents in the driveway…they live in Brainerd, and there are quit a few trees, but nothing that should cause the unit to not aquire a position (at least in my mind). and like I said, my dad’s gets a position in the garage in less then a minute. As far as the WAAS, I’m sure that it’s not the big of deal, but it just makes me think that my be something wrong with unit.

I have noticed that with any of my GPS units, if you haven’t used it for a while it takes a bit for it to find what satelites are around. Another thing that makes a difference is if you have made a large move since you had it on last, was told they use the last good position as a starting point.

Cweb’s unit is taking allot longer then a few second to initialize. When I turned it on yesterday when we were launching it popped up the map of spring park from the last time we were out on Minnetonka 7 days prior but still took over a min to get the position. I turned it on right when he backed me down to unloaded me he parked the truck I picked him up and then we starting idling out of the launch and it still did not get the signal for another 15 seconds and there were no obstuctions. Also we were launching less then 5 miles away from the previous time.

I have an external antenna and I also have a handheld GPS. Both can take a few minutes, sometimes a little longer, to lock on to satellites. It varies. I tend to turn on my GPS and let it get locked on while I’m getting the boat ready to launch. Thay way, my GPS is ready to go when I am.

I also have a hand held, my dad has a hand held, I’ve had an lms 160, my dad had an lms 160 and he now has a x25c, and none of them have preformed as poorly as this unit does.

Hmmm, It could even be that it’s a problem with that specific unit. That’s very possible. I’d give Lowrance a call and see what they have to say about it.

I have the 334C and used it for the first time the other day on the river. Come to think of it on 2 different ocassions I got a message that receptin was lost (in about a 6 hour period). I was in the sonar mode so it didn’t matter and I really did not think much of it. I’ll have to watch it much more closely from now on. This would get really annoying if it happens on a regular basis while using the mapping software.

Matt

This may sound flippant, but go Garmin with the internal anttenae, and you will not have a problem.
Seriously. Garmin offers a lot of choices and sizes. But that is just me.

that’s what I’m thinking…I have an email in to them. Hopefully it will be a simple fix. I will watch my email and post when I hear back from them.

I am running the 332C with the puck mounted on the gunnel right next to my windshield and I never have had any problem with the GPS signal. I just went out in the garage and fired it up and it locked in within a minute while under the garage roof.

well, time to post my $0.02 about the 334 C. Installed it about a month agao, and after first outing, seemed fine. Lost the signal once, and didnt think anything about it. since then, have had it out several times, and the signal is lost and re-acquired several times an outing, sometimes several times over 5 or 10 minutes. A couple interesting observations. I can put my Garmin 12 right against the windshiled of my boat, and it never looses the signal, and satellite strenght on the scale is greater than shown on the 334C. My buddy put the same unit in his boat, right on top of the console with no windshield, and has the same problem of periodic signal loss. My thought is that there is something wrong with these units, but I’m counting on Lowrance to make it right….they’ll pretty much have to, unless they’re willing to risk having a bunch of unhappy customers. Now I should clarify that even with this glitch, which isnt serious as long as the satellite signal pops back in quickly, it’s a great unit, and my boat is so tight already, I’ll live with it if I have too, rather than putting a remote antennae in. I’m sitting back to see what lowrance does…

went out on sunday, and the unit lost and re-aquired position about 6 or 7 times in a matter of minutes. Still no responce from Lowrance

I’m not having any issues with mine. (334C) Mine is mounted on the bow and the only issue I had with mine is that when it lost and aquired alot…..It was tipped back too far. I straightened it up and havn’t had another problem.

I have a 332C the only difference is the receiver is not built in. Have had it for a year now and have had zero problems. Neverlost aquired position or depth.

well here’s the word from Lowrance…

Thank You for your inquiry. The antenna on the igps units is located on the top
portion of the back of the unit. These modules function the same as our standard
puck in that they still require a good clear line of sight view of the sky to
operate effectively. If this line of sight is blocked or hindered in any way
then the integrity of the GPS signal is compromised. NOTE: Mounting this unit in
dash is NOT recommended as it will hinder the line of sight required for good
GPS reception

Thank you for choosing Lowrance products

Lowrance Customer Service
12000 E. Skelly Dr.
Tulsa, OK 74128

sounds like a cop out to me…all the units I’ve had with the puck have been able to get a position even inside a closed garage.

Was there a warning label on the box…There should be because I am sure most people put them on the dash. Also how come it did not work well on the 4 wheeler. I am with you sounds there may have been a few more bugs that should ahve been worked out.

Can it be converted from an internal Antenna and have an external connection instead?