Lowrance
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Privately Held Owned by Navico |
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| Industry | Marine Electronics |
| Founded | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States (October 1957) |
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Area served
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Global |
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Key people
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Leif Ottosson, president & CEO |
| Products | Lowrance HDS Gen3, Gen2 and Gen2 Touch, Elite Ti, HOOK, SonarHub, 4G Broadband Radar |
| Website | www.lowrance.com |
Lowrance is a manufacturer of consumer sonar and GPS receivers, as well as digital mapping systems. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lowrance employs approximately 1,000 people. The company is best known for its High Definition Systems (HDS) and add-on performance modules which include Broadband 4G Radar, StructureScan with SideScan and DownScan Imaging, Sonic Hub Audio, Sirius LWX-1 Weather, and NAIS Collision Avoidance.
The Lowrance brand is wholly owned by Navico, Inc. A privately held, international corporation, Navico is currently the world’s largest marine electronics company, and is the parent company to leading marine electronics brands: Lowrance, Simrad Yachting and B&G. Navico has approximately 1,500 employees globally and distribution in more than 100 countries worldwide. www.navico.com
Lowrance, a designer and manufacturer of Sonar, GPS and Aviation instruments, got its start in Joplin, Missouri in 1957. Carl Lowrance, an avid fisherman with an inquisitive nature, shared his love of the sport with his two sons, Darrell and Arlen. Darrell and Arlen were among the first inland skin divers, and through this activity learned that most fish in any given body of water were generally found in schools and in specific areas.
It became obvious to the Lowrances that an instrument was needed to show fishermen where to concentrate their fishing efforts. They designed the world's first high frequency transistorized sonar for sport fishing and boating with several things in mind. It had to be portable, compact, lightweight, contain its own batteries and be relatively inexpensive. The advent of transistors into consumer electronics products was very important to the unit's concept. In 1957 commercial sonar units were selling for more than $2000. The first Lowrance unit sold for less than $150.
A small manufacturer was selected to produce the first 2,000 units. Unfortunately, the manufacturer's performance was less than satisfactory. In July 1958, a second firm was selected, but again the quality and quantity specified by Lowrance was never achieved.
In 1959, the family decided the only way to produce the instrument they wanted-with excellent quality and in quantities to satisfy the demand-was to manufacture it themselves. Their first move was to replace, at no charge, over 700 of the previously produced products. "We didn't have a lot of money," Carl said. "We acquired an old warehouse and literally built a factory from scratch." In November 1959 the company introduced the first "Little Green Box" portable sonar unit. It became the most popular sonar in the world. More than a million were produced between 1959 and 1984.
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Wikipedia