Waypoint transfer?

[Random guy]

I can't find my unit! At least thats what keeps popping up when I try to transfer my waypoints from my Lake Master software to my new Lowrance H2O hand held. Of course my Lakemaster program does not list this model but I set the baud rate and any other options to the proper setting. Bad cable or not compatable? Come on you IT and techy guys, help the hillbilly!

[Paul Waldowski]

Jon,

Sorry but they are not compatible. Trust me I tried everything I had to re-enter over 700 waypoints by hand

If your big unit on your boat accepts chips, you can download them onto a chip from that unit, stick that chip in the H20 and then upload them that way.

[Macgyver55]

There is a program out there that my brother uses. He got it off the net, and best of all its FREE. I believe its called "Easy GPS" I'm sure its the one he uses that allows him to download his points into a database, edit them if he wants and reload them into another GPS. He used it to transfer his points into mine for me when I got my new GPS.

Worth a look!!!

[Random guy]

ALWAYS WITH THE NEGATIVE WAVES PAUL!

I called the IT guy from work and rattled his cage. He thinks he found some software that will "host" the waypoints then plugs them into a cards to upload. He thinks I'm joking when I told him I have 1147 waypoints. All good spots! Just think the guys that stole my last hand held got all of those waypoints Red lake, Leech, Whitefish Bay, LOTW. Good thing I had them in da puter.

[Paul Waldowski]

Sorry I'm always so negative....send all 1147 my way and then I won't be:)

[ScottND]

I've been using Easy GPS for years. Works great for transferring waypoints between incompatible programs and GPS's. It's Free!

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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There is a program out there that my brother uses. He got it of the net, and best of all its FREE.

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Macgyver55..Thank you big time, I have been looking for something like this for a while, I have been sick to my stomach thinking about my GPS spots not being backed up...

Thanks!!!

EasyGPS

[PerchJerker]

If you already have the LakeMaster software on your PC, LakeMaster will sell you a utility program for about $15, and you can get GDM6 for free from the Lowrance site. The LM utility program lets you transfer waypoints from LM to GDM6. GDM6 is a stripped down version of Map Create that lets you do basic waypoint management, including writing them to an MMC or SD to use in your 3500, 332c, H2O, etc. With GDM6 and this utitility you can go the other way too, transfer waypoints from a MMC or SD into the LM software.

Couple advantages to this. One is you can prefish or scout locations on your PC monitor and set waypoints, vs. having to do it on your smaller GPS screen. Another is any waypoints you have in LM can get on a chip. And another is any waypoints you have on a chip can be transferred to your PC and managed and backed up in both GDM6 and LakeMaster.

Good luck.

[Random guy]

Thanks Perch Jerker. I now have all kinds of software and stuff coming from Lake Master.

If anyone wants to send my their good waypoints I'll give it a try.

[Genofish]

i have the lakemaster chip for my 332c and would like to view the lakes on my pc. How is this done?

[Jeremy airjer W]

Genofish, as far as I can tell there is not a way yet to view the maps of a card on your pc. You would have to buy the pc software.

[Paul Waldowski]

airjer is correct. Currently there is no way to do this without buying the Lakemaster Program also. I just ordered the utility that allows you to transfer waypoints between my PC and the Lakemaster chip. Anxiously awaiting its arrival as it will save me a ton of time having to re-enter waypoints.

[Big Pine Walleye]

Thanks for all the information guys--my H2o is suppose to be here next week and I also was wonder how to move all those waypoints! I am right now downloading easy GPS to my computer!! Thanks!

[ScottND]

You can use Lowrance Map Create software to view the maps and to download customised maps to your card. I use version 6.3

[PerchJerker]

Scott ND, can you please clarify. Are you really viewing contour maps (like LakeMaster or Navionics) on your PC with MapCreate -- or are you viewing base maps and background maps but no depth contours.

[ScottND]

With the Lakemaster card in the card reader you can view the lake bottom contours on your PC using Map Create software.

[Jeremy airjer W]

No kiddin scott? I was told by a reliable source not to put the lakemaster card into the mapcreate card reader. If this does really work than I need to do alot of post editing!

Hey Paul, I say we try it with yours first!!

[Paul Waldowski]

I'm game only I don't have the Mapcreate card reader

I did put my chip in the reader today and made a copy and nothing happened to the chip. I have Lakemaster on my P.C. though so no reason to spend the extra hundo on Mapcreate6. If it is true looks like we have egg on our face. I too, was told by a reliable source not to stick them in a card reader.

[PerchJerker]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I can't view the lake maps from my LEI LakeMaster Pro Maps chip on my PC. I can bring in files of waypoints and routes and view them, but I can't view the lake maps from my map chip.

I don't have MapCreate. I use GDM6, a free Lowrance software. Maybe that's why I can't see the lake maps on my PC????

But ....... according to a guy I talked to at LakeMaster this summer, the ONLY way to see the lake maps on your PC was to have the LakeMaster software. I had that software before I got the ProMap chip, so I was only interested in how to move waypoints between the LakeMaster software and a card for my GPS. He's the guy that told me about the utility program and GDM6.

[ScottND]

BIG OOPS HERE Egg on face!

Map Create can read and display the contours of the Navionics Fishing Hot Spots cards.

I do have Lakemaster software but not Lakemaster cards so I wouldn't know if Map create can read Lakemaster cards.

Sorry about that!

[Giant_Jackpot]

Are you using the reader that came with your Map Create to read the Navionics chip? The only thing I heard you had to be careful of is to not write data to the Navionics or Lakemaster chips. According to the help file, MapCreate registers each chip you put in the reader so I was wondering if that could possibly harm the chip. I hate to ask, but have you tried the chip in the GPS after you had it in the reader?

[Giant_Jackpot]

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I did put my chip in the reader today and made a copy and nothing happened to the chip. I have Lakemaster on my P.C. though so no reason to spend the extra hundo on Mapcreate6. If it is true looks like we have egg on our face. I too, was told by a reliable source not to stick them in a card reader.

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Paul,

You made a copy of your Lakemaster or Navionics chip? Are you saying you just put the data on your hard drive or did you find a way to get the data on to another SD chip?

[Jeremy airjer W]

Aha!!! Put your eggs back in the fridge Paul!

[ScottND]

I've played around with my Navionics FHSE north chip quite a bit. Actually (don't tell anyone though ) Lowrance moved the contents of the 64meg chip on to a 512mb for me. Then using Map Create 6.3 I put 4 states of topo info on with it. I did this so I could 4x4 to places and shore fish in the spring where I couldn't go with a boat. (Devils Lake ND) I was hoping to see both the land and lake contours seamlessly but I learned the lake datum covers up the topo datum. Since datum is blocks of data, in order to cover all the water it also has to include some shoreline. This shoreline is blank. As in...no trails, roads or elevations can be seen in the same blocks shared by water and land. I spoke with Lowrance about it and they said they weren't planning to fix it, so my plans of not changing cards back and forth failed.

[ScottND]

Giant..Yup, I used it after having it in the reader and writing to it...No Problem !

[PerchJerker]

I put my LM chip in a reader and copied it to my harddrive. It's not a Lowrance reader, I bought a reader and a blank SD chip at CompUSA and they work fine.

I assume I could move the copy from my harddrive to a blank chip if I ever lost the chip I bought (but I don't know for sure that this would work). I have not tried to write anything to my LM chip (not planning to try, either).

[Paul Waldowski]

Well here's where I'm at so far:

Was able to copy my chip to the hard drive and the chip still works

Got the utility program and a card reader and with them was able transfer all of my waypoints from Lakemaster on my P.C. to the chip and then upload that into my GPS. Really sweet actually

[PerchJerker]

Next thing you can do with this setup is back up your GPS. Run the map chip while you're on the water, set waypoints as needed and save routes, etc. When you get off the water you can down download all that stuff to a blank chip and bring it into the LakeMaster software. You can see it on the maps on your PC, and make backup files. Very nice setup. I like keeping my GPS cleaned out and only loading waypoints for the waters I'm going to. Sure beats the old days of sitting in the boat in the garage and writing all the waypoints down on paper, then keying them into a spreadsheet

[walldoggie]

So let me get this staight(hopefully without sounding to stupid). If i have a card reader,(can i use the reader and program that my wife uses to download pictures off her digital camera?) I can stick my lakemaster chip in it download that to my computer, then put in a new card and copy the chip to my new card? Do i need any special programs for this? Or am i way off base here? And if this is the case "hey paul make me a copy of yours with all the way points marked so i can save some time"

[PerchJerker]

Walldoggie - you need a card reader that takes MMC/SD chips. If that's what your wife has for her camera it should work for your LM chip. If not, card readers are about $30 at CompUSA, Best Buy, etc.

I copied my LM chip file to the harddrive on my PC. Did it through Windows Explorer - drag and drop. The licensing agreement that came with the chip says you have the right to make one archival copy for use in the GPS you bought the LM chip for (but doesn't say how to make the copy, or how you can use the copy ). Makes sense that you can back it up though, any other software you buy lets you reload it if something happens to the software or the computer it's running on.

I have not tried copying the file from my hardrive to a new chip to try in my GPS. In theory it should work but I can't say for sure that it does. A buddy of mine using a Navoinics chip had problems with his chip after trying to back it up on his PC and had to get a new chip (I think the Navionics documentation warned to not put the chip in a reader connected to a PC ).

The waypoints you save in your GPS do not get written to your map chip. They are displayed on the screen over the map, but they are written to the GPS, not the map chip. You can use a blank chip to copy them from your GPS, then you can load that chip to your PC or another GPS. That's just waypoints and trails, not lake maps or depth contours. I would suggest that you don't try to write anything to your map chip. Good luck.

[ScottND]

Quote:

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I have not tried copying the file from my hardrive to a new chip to try in my GPS. In theory it should work but I can't say for sure that it does. A buddy of mine using a Navoinics chip had problems with his chip after trying to back it up on his PC and had to get a new chip

(I think the Navionics documentation warned to not put the chip in a reader connected to a PC

).

The waypoints you save in your GPS

do not get written to your map chip.

They are displayed on the screen over the map, but they are written to the GPS, not the map chip. You can use a blank chip to copy them from your GPS, then you can load that chip to your PC or another GPS. That's just waypoints and trails, not lake maps or depth contours. I would suggest that you

don't try to write anything to your map chip.

Good luck.

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With my H20 I copy my waypoints/routes from the GPS to the Navionics card then to the PC and visa/versa. I've copied the card to my PC and back to a blank card but it does not work. Obviously there is either a hidden file or a different format.

I'm sure Navionics put a lot of thought into protecting their software and I can't blame them. My son just started working for Navteq, which is a company in Fargo that produces the map data for places like Navionics and Google mapping amoung several others. To use pirated mapping software would be like taking the food out of his mouth. I also work in the computer industry and am reasonably sure I could figure out how to pirate the cards but who wants to do that after working with computers all day and besides it's illegal. I'd rather be out fishing or...wait, what the he!! am I doing now...off this PC and on to the hardwater in 35 mph winds....yeah....c-ya later.