|
|
Posts: 136
Location: Chicago | With the different mapping available excluding the nautic insight. Is it worth the upgrade for the lake insight mapping? Or stick with the base map because for best mapping you will still need to purchase an after market chip? Another issue I was concerned about was the internal anntena is the placement or design changed from the earlier units because I heard a lot of bad things whereas tilting the screen caused for some problems and not getting a accurate bearing. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2323
Location: Stevens Point, WI | The Navionics and Lakemaster chips are by far still going to have the best information. I would suggest saving your money on the upgrade and put it towards a chip.
As for the internal antennae, so far, I haven't heard about any issues with them. The only units Lowrance had major issues with were the first LMS-334 C iGPS. Since then I think the internal antennas have been pretty solid. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| If you fish any of the great lakes the insight mapping (HDS-7, 8 +10) is worth it because you get the Nautic Path info built in which is still the best info available mapping for those bodies of water. If you are going to fish inland waters then yes you do want a chip. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 136
Location: Chicago | Any of you guys play around with the hot maps explorer? Game plans can change in an instant, but some of the features on there look to be useful in planning your outing. I like the 3D viewing as well. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| I did a little bit, I was hoping that there was a way to transfer icons and waypoints from Lowrance to a Humminbird with the software, but you can only do waypoints. All of the maps on there built in are hot spots with one free high definition map. You can purchase more high definition maps, but personally I would rather look at a papermap then compare with my chip. |
|
| |
|
| so to be clear, you can't transfer other icons you have saved onto a memory card from current 520/27hd/38hd etc to the new HD Units?????
I was thinking of buying these but now I have heard the way you lay down icons is no where near as easy as the 500/27/38/ etc units...I'd hate to have to spend the countless hours driving around the lakes I fish to remark them w/ icons...lowrance is going the wrong way with these units as far as I can tell... |
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| No transferring icons from the old Lowrance to the new ones is done by just transferring waypoints. Your icons turn into waypoints and it will say "icon 134" or something like that. You get 5000 waypoints now. I was trying to transfer Icons from Lowrance into waypoints on my Humminbird and it wasn't possible using the hotmaps explorer even though I was told it was. I was just making the point that other then trying to do that, I didn't play around with Hotmaps Explorer too much because most maps weren't High def. |
|
| |
|
| wow.....well that makes my decision pretty easy then....I won't be buying the new HD units...not only is laying down icons a complete pain in the butt on the HD Units I can't even transfer the 1000's of icons I have saved in my lake files...
I will never understand how the engineers come up with things like this...and a "limit" to the number of icons at 1000 or even 5000? c'mon...the units are basically a computer...I'd love to talk to an engineer at lowrance and see if they even go fishing with their units...real fishermen use thousands upon thousands of icons ...and yet we have to save lake by lake.... the ease of use in laying down icons on the now "old" units was one of the great advantages of the units and now they make it next to impossible to lay down icons in a quick/easy manner..???
strange. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| BN- When you transfer your icons to a new HDS unit the HDS unit turns the icons into waypoints. The icon/waypoint will be named "icon 54" or "icon 82" (depending on when that icon was dropped) on the screen of the HDS so that you can tell what was an icon and what wasn't. The symbol stays the same. You no longer get icons but the data does transfer. On the old LCX models you had a limit of 1000 icons and 1000 waypoints, now you can have 5000 waypoints. |
|
| |
|
| i'll have to go play w/ one..I was told that laying down icons is not the same and is much harder/time consuming than the current way of just hitting enter and selecting the icon you want....
|
|
| |
|
| 1. you can transer Lowrance to Humminbird, but easiest to do it on the software you get from Humminbird when you register your unit on line. Waypoints, trails and icons all transfer if you choose to transfer them.
2. Neither the new HD units nor the "birds" allow you to instantlay drop an icon at your cursor/arrow.
3. How do you drop an icon on the new units. "Enter a waypoint, then choose from the waypoint-menu to change it to an icon" It is still a waypoint but it shows as an icon symbol once changed.
BN
I suspect many folks haven't figured out the advantage of marking structure with icons versus just waypoints.
I have written a letter and sent an email to humminbird requesting they look into adding this feature to their units.
That said, I've purchased two of the "old" 500 series units. But I really want to do business with Humminbird due to their customer service levels being substantially better than Lowrance. |
|
| |
|
| "BN
I suspect many folks haven't figured out the advantage of marking structure with icons versus just waypoints. "
there miiight be an ariticle coming out in an upcoming Musky mag that just might enlighten a few folks... ; )
Well it sounds to me like Humminbird and Lowrance both have flaws...do the engineers actually talk to fishermen when they design these units..I still will never understand having a 5000 icon/waypoint limit...my 38cHD has a 30gb hard drive...but yet limits me to 1000 of each? makes zero sense to me...
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| Curly, Icons do not transfer from your Lowrance to a Humminbird using Humminbirds software, but waypoints do. If you email Humminbird their techs will tell you the same thing. I run a 997 and I had to download a program to my computer to turn my icons from my x27 into Lowrance waypoints so I could then transfer them to my Humminbird. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 218
| I talked to a Lawrence Rep at Cabella in Hoffman Estates on Sunday. He told me that the HD units on the store shelves right now need an up grade to read the Navionic chips. I think I will wait a year. I don't want to re-experience Lowrance up grade issues and problems as I did on last years models.
Edited by Southshore 4/23/2009 3:48 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 136
Location: Chicago | Why have some of you switched to Hummingbird? All this talk has me looking at the 997 a bit more. Anyone know if you purchase the 997 with the navionics bundle does it use 09 maps. From what I've read and seen navionics has amended and updated quite a few lakes with newer surveys for the 09 chip. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 90
| I switched to my 997 for a number of reasons with the two biggest being the side imaging and how you can change where the blue shading of Navionics chips goes. I can move the blue shading from like 1ft to 180 if I remember right which is really cool if I want to keep my boat in 18ft to hit a deep weededge or not run my boat onto the high spots of reefs. As for the bundle, non of the pre loaded maps in the bundle are hi definition, they are hot spots at best. The only way the Navionics bundle is worth the money is for you look into the lakes that you are going to fish first and decide that they are worth it.
http://navionics.com/HMPremium09Catalog.asp
In my opinion if any of the lakes that you fish are listed as high definition (1ft contours highlighted in red on the list) you want to buy the mapping card for that region. Now if you fish a region and the lakes you are going to fish are not hi definition then the Navionics bundle is worth it. If you are only going to fish say Mille Lacs, Leech and Vermillion then buy the chip and don't get the bundle. The bundle being worth it depends on your situation. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 676
Location: Wisconsin | The HDS units will have side scan sonar and the while using the Navionics chips you can select the blue shading for the contours.
|
|
| |
Lowrance HDS units