Lowrance H2O

[ib_jigged]

Is this a good GPS to buy. Do I really need the color version? I just want a basic mapping GPS that will let me add chips with lake maps. Does Garmin make one? I have heard great things about Garmin.

[Deitz Dittrich]

The H2o Is a great unit, both the Color and the black and white.. I have the IFinder Pro which has pretty much the same softwear as the H2O but not as water proof... The problem with the garmin units is you cant put the MMC cards in them. You have to download the information. Which isnt a huge problem, just takes another step that I would rather not do.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I have the H2O greyscale. I am impressed with it on a daily basis. I used it this last weekend on Rush (my first real on the water/ice use). Its so much easier to just look and know where you are rather than guess. When the fish stopped biting I looked for a new spot and walked right to it.

Its easy to use also. Drop the chip in, install the batteries (2 AA's) and turn it on.

[jltimm]

I also recently purchased the non-color H2O.It is a great unit and the price was right.I saved nearly $100 by getting the greyscale version,and there is very little difference between them other than color.Oh yeah,( almost forgot)they had the non colors in stock also which put me on the ice faster with my new toy!

[kunk]

I bought the H2O non color last summer and with the Lakemaster chip it is great. I use it with the 12 volt adapter in my boat and on the ice on batteries. It's especially nice on ice to be on the structure before you even check the depth. Also, with the chip you can enter waypoints without knowing the lat/long. I found it to be very accurate.

[HARPOON-OR-BUST]

Do you really need it.....no. Is it really cool....yes. I have used the black and white also and it does just as good of job. I use the color one and I like that one too. I guess the reason we went color is in the summer I am going to mount it in the front of the boat so I have a gps at all three seats that I'll most likely be and I thought it might be easier to see the color on the bright days......?? They have a few different display settings on it to make it read well in different conditions. So I guess if it is a money issue I would just get the grayscale if not the color is really nice. It does chew up battery's with the light on however.

[fisher_king2004]

Just got back from a 5 day trip where there were 4 of us with iFinders. 2 hunt black and whites, 1 H2O B&W, 1H2O C. All of us had the lakemaster chip. The color looks pretty and it has a higher pixel count but in the sunlight it was actually more difficult to read than the B&W units. You had to keep the backlight on all the time and boy did it suck down the batteries! My guess is that you will go through 2-3x the number of batteries with the color so get rechargable batteries. If you are mounting it where you can plug it into a cigarette lighter no big deal. Depth accuraccy was pretty good from what I can tell. I'm wondering if you could improve the accuracy using the averaging function. Does anyone know?

[B@ssmaster]

I agree with FK to a point, I was the one with the C version. But the other thing we discovered is that the new disposable Lithium Ion seem to last forever in the unit, by comparison. At $10 per 4 they are a bit steep, but the cost per hour of usage is way down with those because they last much longer. I also have some NIMH rechargables I use in my digital camera, but have not tried them in the H20C yet.

Just for giggles, I first put in a set of regular heavy duty batteries, got about an hour out of them. Then went with a set of alkaline heavy duties, about 3 hours. Put the Lithium Ion's in and finished the weekend with the first pair - estimating about 6-7 hours of use and still going!

[HARPOON-OR-BUST]

Quote:

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The color looks pretty and it has a higher pixel count but in the sunlight it was actually more difficult to read than the B&W units.

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THERE IS A SETTING FOR THE DISPLAY WERE YOU CAN CHANGE IT TO "HIGH CONTRAST" AND THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF THAT FOR YOU. THERE A FEW OTHER SETTINGS TO IN THERE FOR VEIWING AT NIGHT AND SOME OTHER INSTANCES. MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE.