Thorne Bros Marine Electronics — Attraction in Spring Lake Park

EDIT: Unfortunately I can no longer recommend this place. After a great first experience I had them mount a Helix 9 SI last summer. I brought them the unit and they installed it. They were not able to use the stock bracket it came with and that wasn’t a big deal- they charged for me for RAM mount. I specifically told them were I didn’t want it mounted. They mounted were I didn’t want- along with that they used 1” screws (4) to mount it to the fiberglass dash. The screen makes it hard to turn the wheel without slamming your hands on the RAM mount. Furthermore the screen sits directly in front of your face and makes it harder to see in front of you as I have an older skeeter ski and fish so it sits low. When I picked my boat up I headed directly up north to cabin- when I got to lake the rubber screen protector was blown off since it sits above the glass , I wish I would have noticed this before I took off. When I got on the water that night i really realized how much it was directly in your face and even with brightness turned all the way down was still hard to not only generally see in front of you but the light in the dark can make it hard to adjust. To top it all off when I hit some rough waves as I’m on the reservation side of leech lake the god dam mount fell over and that’s when I noticed the 1” screws going into the fiberglass. I understand Quality work is not cheap and you get what you pay for I feel for what I have paid. They should have put a bolt down with a washer and a nut on the backside to prevent that from happening. Now, when I run my boat, I have to have four zip ties holding it up because the screws keep falling out, which is ridiculous for the amount of money I feel I paid to have it installed. Now I hate leaving this review, but I have not been able to get a hold of anybody nor did they call me back last year and I just called you guys again today. Your mailbox is full and nobody picks up the phone. Which is sad because being a small business myself, I want to support others Experience has left a bad taste in my mouth as they seem to not want to fix the issue. I have not even been able to talk to anybody about this. I plan to leave reviews on any other platform that I’m able to along with sending out the message about my experience to all my other fishing friends. I don’t understand if this place went from different management or ownership but my first experience people would call back within 24 hours and now I can’t get a hold of anybody but my last resort is to stop up at the shop to have to speak to somebody around my work schedule. I would thought based on my first experience they would have made sure these two things wouldn’t happen especially the steering wheel being to close to mount and visibility issue. Being an experienced shop I don’t know how those things were overseen- I understand we are human but no one returned my 3 voicemails last year. Nor any phone calls this year.

Not saying they don’t do good work they have for me but your experience may differ each time you come. I guess maybe some of the other poor reviews had some merit to them now as I am dealing with this. Happy to update this once I hear back from someone.

I cannot say enough good things about this company and Matt’s team he has working here!! Not only was my warranty claim handled here but the customer service and communication was the best! They saved the Fourth of July weekend for me and got my ulterra back up and going in less then 5 business days! Will refer and be back when needed!!

If there is a poor review for this place trust me it was the consumer not them!

Thanks...

I called to make an appointment to get an some issues with my Ultrex trolling motor and Hummingbird Helix Units addressed and I was greeted by Terra with rudeness and disrespect. I made it clear that there were two separate issues (one with my ultrex, one with my helix units) and she refused to allow me to make an appointment while insisting that I take my Ultrex trolling motor off of my boat and not bring my boat in. Getting nowhere with Terra I ended the call and made a few other calls, one of those being to my ranger dealer. After discussing with them they agreed that my issue was MORE than just a trolling motor issue but they were too busy to get me in this week so I called Fish Electronics back. Terra answered the phone again. I requested to talk to someone in service and she refused to transfer the call. I tried explaining a second time that I need to bring my boat in (not just my Ultrex) due to the issues I was having with my Helix/Ultrex integration (I-Pilot and GPS). She referred me to a previous employee, said "Good Luck", then hung up the phone. Thankfully Tyler Spraungel at Spraungel Performance Marine was not only available, I could DROP MY ENTIRE RIG OFF without removing my trolling motor and all repairs will be complete within 3 days. After explaining all the issues I was having to Taylor, he, along with my ranger dealer, agreed it was NOT just an ultrex issue, but a Helix and Hummingbird ethernet box issue as well. Unless you can talk directly to the service techs at Fish Electronics I highly recommend going somewhere else where you're able to talk directly to the individuals who will be working on your rig. Thanks to Terra and her customer service, they just lost a lifelong customer for good.

Update: I understand that you can't take unscheduled boats but Terra REFUSED to allow me to make an appointment. How do you explain that? How do you explain your employee hanging up in my face? I know it's your job to try and "spin" negative feedback but you also need to hold your employees accountable. Something that I don't see...

Real pleasure dealing with these guys. I purchased a new trolling motor and had a full check up and some warranty work done on a trolling motor that I will be selling. The turn around time on both was very quick. Having dealt with plenty of technicians over the years it's easy to discern that these guys are honest and competent. They are also polite as well as certified technicians for Minn Kota and Lawrence. And as the name implies - they specialize in electronic boat equipment. I prefer that to the jack of all trades master of none technicians that I've come across at boat dealerships.

Update: Just had some rigging done that involved adding a deep cell battery, on-board charger, and switch. With little spare room to begin with, these guys were able to fit the 3 additions in my transom compartment with literally no room to spare. They also moved an onboard charger in the bow that opened up space in the bow storage compartment. Very well thought out placement of the added components, very clean electrical work, and I actually ended up with more storage space. It's a real pleasure dealing with these folks. They treat your boat like...