Navionics or Lakemaster?

[Badger_55]

I just bought the Lowrance iFinder H2OC. I can't decide which chip I should get for it. The only fishing I have done out of state is for Trout in the streams and don't need it for that.

I plan on using it for hunting as well, I can't remember what the guy told me but one of them has better mapping here around home with low maintainance roads on it.

Open for your guys' opinions.

Thanks

[Ralph Wiggum]

If you're looking for roads, Lakemaster is the way to go.

[Wayne Ek]

I have both. If I only can use 1 then I will use the Lakemaster. I have the 2007 chip in the H2o now, it works great.

[PierBridge]

For hunting it's Lakemaster all the way no comparision.

[Can'tFishEnuf]

I am thinking of buying one of the chips too. I fish mostly smaller lakes in Minn. that would just have the DNR derived map, which one is better for that? I see Navionics has more lakes, but I have heard the zoom and detail isn't as good.

[PierBridge]

It really depends on which lakes you will be fishing.

[Deitz Dittrich]

For me, I fish both MN and WI, and get over to ND some too.. the Nav chip was my choice.. and I have been very pleased so far.

[eurolarva]

I cant speak for the lakemaster chip but for the navonics I have fished probably 20 different lakes in the last year between Wisconsin and Minnesota and every lake has been on the navonics. forget roads though when you use navonics there are only lakes. Go to navonics site. They have a list you can scroll through to show you what lakes are availible. Some PCs wont let you look at it though. Something about inline frames not allowed.

[Fish Head]

I have both Navionics and Lakemaster chips and if all things are equal, buy the Lakemaster.....no question. But thats if all things are equal. You'll have to look at what lakes each chip covers and where you fish. Even though I'm a Lakemaster guy and own several chips, I'll be purchasing the new Navionics chip this year, just for Rainy lake. If I'm on a lake that is covered by both chips, I'll use the Lakemaster chip.

[Wayne Sieber]

Here's my opinion - I use the navionics chip in my Lowrance LMS332c but am not to impressed with it the few times I have used it so far this winter. When I plugged in all my waypoints from a handheld (etrex) all the GPS coordinates seemed to be "off" a little bit - Meaning coordinates that I have used for years getting exactly on spots (very specific places on say sunken islands, point's, etc) seem to be different than what the map is showing. And no, it's not the case of just a couple of feet off, it's like many yards off! This absolutely may be the case of operator error so I can't say for sure if it's the chip or some setting on the LMS332c. Good luck!

[PierBridge]

Your having a datum difference value issue which can be fixed/converted nothing to do with the Chip or unit.

[Wayne Sieber]

PierBridge - Seriously? Is this just a setting that can be adjusted?

[PierBridge]

Some units have the datum correction abilty built into the unit otherwise you will need to convert using a software program.

It's been a while but when I took my Garmin GPS waypoints off my unit I used a standalone program "can't remember which" to convert and get my waypoints back in the right place.

[Wayne Sieber]

Thanks for the information! Is doing something like that totally necessary though for a brand new Lowrance and Brand new Nav Chip? The reason I ask is that when I run the two GPS units side-by-side, they both bring me to the exact physical spot on the ice (I placed a bucket on the ice then went back to shore and "followed" the directions given to me by each of the units) Then, I drilled a bunch of holes and positively identified the "tip" of the underwater point (12' of water) right where it drops VERY quickly to deep water. Then I looked at the map on the LMS332 - According to that display, I was way off (10 yeards??) straight to the east (in approx 28 feet of water). That, to my simple mind, is very weird and makes me suspect my map is somehow off although I will investigate this "datum" thing - Thanks again for the info PierBridge and I do apologize for side-stepping the original question of this post (although maybe all this info will help the original poster make a decision)

[PierBridge]

Quote:

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When I plugged in all my waypoints from a handheld (etrex) all the GPS coordinates seemed to be "off" a little bit - Meaning coordinates that I have used for years getting exactly on spots (very specific places on say sunken islands, point's, etc) seem to be different than what the map is showing.

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Maybe I misunderstood you I thought you said you were having problems with the way points from your Garmin being off when loaded into your Lowrance unit with an SD card like I did originally in which case the Map datum would need to be corrected.

The problem you are describing above is totally different and would be influenced by the accuracy attained by your GPS at that point in time. GPS accuracy is not exact it can and does have variances and the Lake Mapping is not perfect either.

Sorry for the confusion.

[sparcebag]

I just got my LakeMaster ContourPro CD, Thought it was great!Then a neighbor mentioned He was fishin on the lake we live on,The lakemaster GPS put him out on the road while he was 100yds. off shore. So I checked Lat. Lon.With Google Earth,and my Meridian GPS Google Earth and my GPS are within 5 to 10yds. of each other LakeMaster is about 1 block away so for GPS cords.LakeMaster is worthless they got pretty Maps thou.

[Badger_55]

thanks guys for the opinions, its decision time.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Quote:

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LakeMaster is worthless they got pretty Maps thou.

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Not at all. The surveyed lakes are right on. The "enhanced DNR" maps are not accurate, but they'll get you in the general area.