NEW LAKEMASTER CHIP

[fireball]

Does anyone know when the new lakemaster chip will be out? I bought a new gps this winter and was told at the ice show that the new chip would be out in feb and then it has gotten pushed back until june or july now. I tried calling the lowrance company but the guy there knew nothing about it and was no help at all. I called lakemaster but they only sell the cd-rom and told me to check with lowrance again. I would go buy the old chip right now if I knew that they were going to sell the upgrades this year and each year after. I don't want to spend the money on the old chip and then have to buy a whole new chip in july just to get the new lakes.

[Hookmaster]

I asked Lakemaster at the Sportshow and they said August.

[MSchmillen]

Not sure, but I am curious which Lowrance you bought. I am currently looking.

[bassmaster87]

I work at Gander mountian and we've been hearing conflicting stories too. I heard that they were gonna do an upgrade thing like navionics does and i also heard u could upgrade online. The GPS that you want for these chips is the Lowrance h2o, for color u pay $270, for greyscale its $170. The new navionics chip looks sweet too but I still think that the lakemaster is better. I especially like how it adds all the roads in the area that the chip covers. ive used it up north on dirt roads to find secret lakes and it works awesome on and off the lake.

[lakevillemarine]

I have used the Navtronic fishing hot spots mapping program and I see that they have released an elite ver. Does anyone have any experience with the difference between Nav. elite and lakemaster programs. I do tend to visit a lot of different lakes and have used the marked locations quite freq. on the navtronics card. Thanks

[bassmaster87]

we compared the navionics and the lakemaster side by side yesterday. They are the exact same for main lakes like mille lacs and tonka but then they differ on other lakes. Like for example rush has a high def map on the navionics and not lakemaster but then lakemaster has high def on lakes that navionics doesn't. The new lakemaster will have like 3 times as many lakes. Look online at their websites at the lakes u normally fish and buy the one that has more high def. lakes for them. But, like i said before i like that the lakemaster gives u roads and stuff while navionics actually takes away the lowrance basemap that comes with the h2o.

[fireball]

Well I talked to the lakemaster and the lowrance officials and nobody could give me a straight answer. I have heard as late as aug for the new lakemaster chip also now. Since I am not going to be able to get the new chip, I just went out and bought the chip from last year, I can't wait till aug to get a chip for the gps. I also have the H2oC and am very pleased with it. I loaded the chip in the gps this afternoon and am very pleased with it, I just wish I had the new one because it doesn't sound like lowrance is going to be selling any upgrades, not at first anyways.

[tommyk]

The new Lakemaster chip should be out in August. There will NOT be 3 times as many lakes. There will be 12 new maps, most of which aren't new lakes to the chip but just higher definition than they were on the old chip. Most of those lakes are up north around the Itasca / Cass county area as well as adding 6" increments to Upper Red.

As for advantages / disadvantages...

-Lakemaster has a much, much faster data reload time (this goes for Lowrance/Eagle anyways) which is nice for traveling at any speeds greater than trolling! Also, Lakemaster allows you to zoom in to .03 miles, Navionics is not even close.

-Lakemaster has a massive amount of beneficial info other than the lake maps on it as well.

-Navionics offers over 8,000 lakes in a 6 state region, with over 2,000 being from MN.

- Both use DNR maps for the standard 5'-10' increment lakes

- When it comes to the Higher def. maps, Navionics has more, but detail in both chips is similar.

I use the Lakemaster for the advantage of quick data reloads with my I-finder and LMS-334. It is very frustrating when your screen is blank the whole time you are traveling at any reasonable speed. This goes for any Eagle/Lowrance unit. It has to do with the language that the chip is encripted with that makes the Lakemaster so fast with those units and the Navionics so slow. The Lakemaster chip was designed specifically for Lowrance units.

I would like to know from anyone that has used the Navionics in a unit other than Lowrance, if the data speed is still slow compared to the Lakemaster?

[rattleL]

i have a and H2o ifinder love it by the way if you get one of these lakemaster chips it it hard to use so far setting waypoints and finding them and following trails is very simple is this chip hard to operate or pretty simple as well

[bassmaster87]

all u do is pop the chip in under the batteries and it loads right up. this wont affect any current waypoints just adds countours as well as roads other than freeways. The new chip IS adding more lakes as well as upgrading some to high def. There is far more than 12 new maps on the new chip.