Lowrance LVR-880 NMEA 2000 Connectivity Problems

[Walz]

The Lowrance VHF LVR-880 is NMEA 2000 compatible. Problem is, when connected to a GPS source (chartplotter, GPS antenna) on NMEA 2K, the radio drops off the network after about 15 minutes. If you turn the radio off/on, the GPS data is back, but again is lost. I called Lowrance about this and the first time they told me to be sure the GPS source was set as local. I tried this as well as replacing network cable, redoing power connection to network node, rearranging location in backbone, and changing tees. Still have the problem. I did a Google search and found that this is a common problem with the LVR-880. I called Lowrance back today to see about sending the radio for repair, wondering if it was worth it if this was a firmware problem. Would you believe my call was the first they heard about this??? The person on the line put me on hold and did a search and found similar posts. He said this information was being given to the engineers and they would look into it. So bottom line: don't buy a Lowrance LVR-880 if you want to connect via 2K, at least not until this glitch is corrected.