Navico Reviews

Pros

Navico engineering in the Research and Development group is relaxed and intimate. Many engineers are avid fishermen and there are plenty of outdoor opportunities to test the products and do some fishing. Pay is OK for Tulsa. The amount of vacation is the best benefit.

Cons

Pay at Navico could be better. It isn't bad considering the recession and cost of living but it could be better. There is a health insurance plan, but many choose to use their wives' (or other significant others') plans.

Advice to Senior Management

Although cost of living is better than more exciting places (New York, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, etc.) we still have college loans, mortgages and kids to pay for. Checking many different sites including IEEE and various electronics design magazines shows that we could be making more. This is why the average turnover for an engineer here is 5 years or less.

Pros

Great products, great hard working people . Avid fishermen or sailors that share experience and product design requirements

Cons

Top management does not have a clue on how to manage this company? Total disrespect for employees, no personal/family life balance.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop looking at two year window of making indicators look good to sell company and focus on long term indicators. Treat people with respect.

Pros

The Free Coffee Is Good.

Cons

Navico Management Does Not Care.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat People With Respect.

Pros

The people in the trenches still care, and the products are good.

Cons

It feels like the junior varsity squad of assistant managers from RayMarine just took possession of a giant toy boat called Navico and are blasting holes in the hull with a Remington rifle to see how much it can take before sinking.

The running joke here is that the managers are actually still on Rayarine's payroll and were given the mission to kill the competition by slowly bleeding all that was good out of the company and replacing it with hacks.

The amount of money spent of travelling "executives" and offices we don't need runs into the millions of dollars. But then again - at least the new COO offices happen to be in the same building as RayMarine used to be.

Please - sell this company to someone with a clue.

Advice to Senior Management

There isn't a management team left in America to give advice to. FYI - Jens Thomas is gone. It is now some other guy in Europe that visits once a year.

Pros

It's a paying job, and for that everyone still employed feels blessed. Non-managerial co-workers are great and hard workers. The benefits are actually still quite good especially for the economy that we are currently in.

Cons

Lowrance Electronics, which was a nice family friendly place to work was purchased by a Norwegian investment group to form Navico in 2006. Since then employees have been "privileged" to watch the implosion of a company that is being killed from the inside by top management. Morale in the company is at an all time low, and most employees are actively seeking a job elsewhere. Expect long hours, not much thanks, and unreasonable work loads if you come to work here.

Advice to Senior Management

Try and fix what is already broken instead of continuing to add more projects. Stop taking on more and more grandiose initiatives and spreading your internal resources even thinner than they already are. Also, take some time to troll the web-boards. When your end customers say you have horrible service for Lowrance/Eagle products, listen and DO something about it, like hiring some staff.

Pros

Innovative Products covering many aspects of the Marine Electronics Spectrum.

Cons

Company is currently owned by a large venture captial company that is only interested in positioning the company to sell it. Senior Management does not truly understand the Marine Business!

Advice to Senior Management

Building Customer Loyalty through strong customer service and after sale support should be your primary focus!