hand held GPS

[seaner]

I am leaning towrds buying a lowrance H20c. Does anybody have any opinion on these? How detailed are the maps?

There are a few main lakes I fish

-forest lake

-white bear

-bald eagle

-mille lacs

-kabetogema

-island lake resevoir

-rush lakes

-red

-lotw

What would be the best chip for these lakes?

any help is much appreceiated! Thanks!!

[LMITOUT]

I have the same unit you're looking at and it's been good to me. I use it primarily for ice fishing with the Lakemaster MN chip. In the summer I take the chip out of the H20 and put it in my boat GPS. I don't think you can go wrong with either. The lake map companies have listings of the maps they put on the chips and some are in "high definition" with 1' or 3' contours such as Mille Lacs. The detail is very good. I believe you'd have to buy the LOTW chip separate though as it's not included on the MN chip if I recall.

The best way to determine if the lakes you fish are on the chip is to go to the Lakemaster or Navionics websites and look at what they offer. You should be able to narrow it down to suit your needs from that.

[hotrod1]

H2OC is a great handheld.

I like the Lakemaster cards for maps and they are very detailed.

Although, with Lakemaster, Lake Of The Woods is on a seperate card.

If you go on Lakemasters website, i believe they still have an ice fishing special going which will get you the H2OC and a Lakemaster card at a good discount price. Just make sure you get the 2008 card. Also, if you decide to go with the lakemaster ice fishing special, i would suggest getting the package with the computer software. It works great to view the lakes on a bigger screen and you really get a great look at the details in structure...IMO.

[Sandmannd]

Tell ya what, if you have the cash, saw one on criag's list today for $200 with a chip. Just go there and search for H2O.

[Team Otter]

Awesome unit; highly recommend.

[sparkyaber]

I have an h20 and have both the lakemaster and the navionics cards. I recommend the navionics card for rush lakes (chisago county). They are much more detailed for this lake. My father lives on the lake, so I use it there alot. I wanted to use the h2o in my truck with mapcreate software, but you can not follow roads like a typical vehicle gps unit. Other than that it is a great setup.

[Boogaard]

get the expedition c. I have that. there are a few more options with it. I dont think it matters for depth contour its in the chip. definately spend the extra cash for the expedition.

[Hula_Grub]

I got the H2O and a lakemaster chip. I love it- now I can see the shoals and shelves coming without trying to memorize or guess exactly where they are.

I have a 14 ft tiller boat and bought a pigtail to tie it directly to my outboard's battery. I highly recommend not relying on the AA's unless you have a ton of rechargeables handy.

[jwhjr]

I'm happy with my H20C with the chip. I've only used it for ice fishing so far, but I'm looking forward to using it on the open water as well. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

[wplatehunter]

I agree the H20 is a great unit for ice fishing, and I have the lakemaster chip.

[hhguide]

With your guys handhelds do you use battries or do you hook it up to your boat battries?

[jwhjr]

I've been using batteries for ice fishing, but I'm planning on tying into the boat battery for open water as it will need to be on more.

[g_anoka]

I have the H20 with the lakemaster, and the locations on rush lake in chisago county are not that good. Otherwise, I am very happy with it.

[seaner]

thanks to all for all the info.... i beleive i will be getting the h2oc, a lot of positive feedback!

[Daze Off]

I use rechargeables and if I put a new set in first thing in the morning they last all day so have never found the need to tie intot he battery.

Love the unit and go with Lakemaster chip if MN is all you are worried about.