I just got a fishin' buddy fish finder from my partner in west port and when i went to use it i couldn't get it to turn on. I've called a couple of elecrtonic repair shops and they told me they couldn't deal with it and i really need to get it fixed for mooching the clay banks later this summer.

You will have to contact the manufacture to get it fixed.

And they may well tell you it's not worth getting fixed! Is it still under warranty? My Fishing Buddy died after 6 years of use. The screen went dead (I can hear it chirp when trying to change settings). We live in a throw-away age and stuff like this isn't always cost-effective to fix. I replaced it with a Hummingbird Piranha 4. Only $86 bucks at Amazon.com (total $104 with shipping and tax). Way cheaper than local stores. I was looking for just a basic fishfinder and this should fit the bill. Good luck.

Check the obvious stuff first. I know that some of those fishfinders are all self contained, if not check to see if there is an inline fuse on the power cord which might be blown, check any connectors for corrosion, make sure your battery(s) are fresh or fully charged, most finders won't work when the battery voltage falls below a certain level. Also, if you are hooking this unit up to an external battery, make sure the polarity is correct, that is the red wire goes to (+)positive and the black wire goes to (-)negative. If the wires aren't color coded try switching them on the battery terminals to see if that helps. Otherwise, like Mike said, if it isn't under warranty, ashcan it, bite the bullet and go for a new unit. Even if it is under warranty, you normally have to pay the shipping, and summer might be over when and if you get it back. Good Luck.

When the backing came off of my Hummingbird Panaroma ($250)I took it back to where I bought it, Auburn Sport & Marine. They said the problem looked like a warranty repair and shipped it off to the manufacturer for me.

My big mistake, I did not send in the warranty reg card when I bought it. So, Hummingbird had no record of me as the owner. I had to pay for the whole repair, which sucked. The repair was still cheaper than buying a new one.

Don't forget to send in your warranty cards. You will thank yourself later if something goes wrong.