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Posting a reply to: Re: Lowrance vs Hummingbird Helix

Muskie Fishing -> Muskie Boats and Motors

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Captain

Posted 7/25/2016 8:03 AM (#824800 - in reply to #824558)
Subject: Re: Lowrance vs Hummingbird Helix

Posts: 437

mtcook16 - 7/22/2016 2:50 PM

RyanJoz - 7/22/2016 11:20 AM

mtcook16 - 7/22/2016 9:12 AM

Humminbird vs. Lowrance tends to bring with it a "Ford or Chevy" type of argument. However, take a look at the LakeMaster data that is exclusive to Humminbird. Hands down best out there. Having that level of detail allows me to find spots that others don't know are there.

Lakemaster and Lowrance both purchase the map data from survey companies.

The Lowrance HD 2016 card has had the exact detail as the Lakemaster chips had. The first Lowrance HD 2012 card was just that - the Lakemaster states that first had mapping.

I like the Lowrance HDS because I can run ONE map card in up to 5 networked units. I am also a Lowrance guy and have converted more than a few to the dark side. Detail, clarity, amount of adjustments, and the single map card per network made my decision for me. If you are going Lowrance, I definitely recommend the HDS series over the others for the networking alone.

Well, that's not entirely true. Humminbird spends lots of resources on enhancing the quality of their lap maps over what is available. They have a GIS mapping team that goes around the country to gather the data for the HD lakes with 1' contours.

As does Garmin.
Unless you have actually sat and compared the mapping options available for Lowrance, you cannot say "Lakemaster is superior" because it is not.
I have Lakemaster chips that I use in my HDS units. I also have Navionics Platinum and Lowrance Lake Insight Pro chips. My go-to is the Lowrance chip because it combines lakemaster data from multiple chips into ONE CHIP (lakemaster has 3 chips that do this at $100 each). I have had them on two units side by side and they are the same. The Navionics chip is better on certain bodies of water especially the more remote stuff in Canada that doesn't appear at all on Lakemaster or Lowrance.