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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya everyone!
Trip to Eagle lake Ontario (bucket list trip) is a go for this summer. In reading other threads here about the lake, I found a thread regarding map chips and within that thread, a couple of respondents stated Lakemaster was up there in 2022 working on mapping the lake. Running Humminbird units, I will be looking to get Lakemaster Ontario for the units, but the newest version (Lakemaster VX 1.0) does not have Eagle lake on it as an HD 1-foot contour map at this point.
With that being the case, do I take my chances and purchase chips now when I can get holiday discounts or do I hold off with the hope Lakemaster will come out with a new version that may include an updated version of Eagle lake?
If I understand things correctly, the VX versions have not been out long (October or November of 2023?). Anyone have any type of insight or thoughts?
Thanks! |
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Posts: 89
| The current version for Eagle is not good/trustworthy. It shows shoreline/islands and that is it. Wait for the updated card from their mapping, they had said most likely 2024 release |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | My only concern is timing... I contacted Humminbird directly and the response was that new updates usually come out late summer, early fall.
Might be too late for my trip for the updated chip...
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| Shoot, too bad they can't give you a firm date, that would help with your decison making. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Completely agree!! At this point, I need to be looking at it not being available.
If anything, it would be a nice convenience to have...but a simple map on the GPS will do just fine. Heck...My first GPS just left a trail with no map (a first generation Garmin) and I used that on canadian water without issue...
A big thing for me is reading the islands and shoreline as I go ...just like I did years ago... the terrain can point out areas to be careful of like underwater ridges between islands, etc. that can extend for miles through open water... just have to pay attention. Not fail safe by any means, but a good practice to have... I always have a map with me anyway, and my first maps were all basically topo maps because that is all that existed, and I marked the map as I went.
Fingers crossed it would come earlier than my trip, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it...
North of 8...How are things in the Ashland Area by the way (If memory serves me, you are from the area yes?)? I have not been up there in quite a few years now...
Edited by VMS 12/7/2023 7:52 AM
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| VMS - 12/7/2023 7:50 AM
Completely agree!! At this point, I need to be looking at it not being available.
If anything, it would be a nice convenience to have...but a simple map on the GPS will do just fine. Heck...My first GPS just left a trail with no map (a first generation Garmin) and I used that on canadian water without issue...
A big thing for me is reading the islands and shoreline as I go ...just like I did years ago... the terrain can point out areas to be careful of like underwater ridges between islands, etc. that can extend for miles through open water... just have to pay attention. Not fail safe by any means, but a good practice to have... I always have a map with me anyway, and my first maps were all basically topo maps because that is all that existed, and I marked the map as I went.
Fingers crossed it would come earlier than my trip, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it...
North of 8...How are things in the Ashland Area by the way (If memory serves me, you are from the area yes?)? I have not been up there in quite a few years now...
Nope, I am in Rhinelander. There was a poster from Ashland, but have not seen anything from him in some time. |
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Posts: 612
| From my experience Lake Master chips are very inaccurate. I.e.: fishing in 10 FOW software shows me on dry land aby about 400', give me a break. I switched to Navionics defiantly an improvement plus they cover all northeast USA and all of Canada and all great lakes all o one chip. With lakemaster you'd have to buy a lot of chips get that kind of coverage. Was up to Nipigon Navionics surprised me and had contours for some very remote lakes. |
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | NPike - 12/7/2023 11:30 AM
From my experience Lake Master chips are very inaccurate. I.e.: fishing in 10 FOW software shows me on dry land aby about 400', give me a break. I switched to Navionics defiantly an improvement plus they cover all northeast USA and all of Canada and all great lakes all o one chip. With lakemaster you'd have to buy a lot of chips get that kind of coverage. Was up to Nipigon Navionics surprised me and had contours for some very remote lakes.
It's waterbody dependant for either chip. For those actually mapped/high def, the chips are extremely accurate and useful. |
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Posts: 1192
| Pick a couple complex reefs and island structures close to camp and some big bays and pound them and watch how the wind effects the currents from the direction of the wind. |
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