My experiance is Lowrance does have excellent customer service and very reliable products. The negative side is Lowrance GPS products only work with there propriter software. I own a Lowrance fish finder and think it is the best product I have ever owned in the fish finder category.However I also own a Lowrance Global map 100 which is a nice unit but lacks the good mapping upload/download capability that Garmin offers. I recommend purchasing a handheld GPS for the simple fact you can bring into your house plug it into your computer and plot ,route and do other things that are great.
I you plan on purchaseing a GPS I can help you decide what to get on the capabiliets of the unit.

I have various charting software and wished I had a Garmin instead of a Lowrance for this.
Hope that helps.