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Posts: 241
| Wow - lots of choices, lots of opinions, lots of confusion.
Looking to replace my old locator with Locator/Hi-Def Downscanning/Mapping unit.
Looked at Humminbird, Lowrance, and Garmin.
The problem is that I looked at Humminbird, Lowrance, and Garmin 
Is there a "best" mapping software - Is Navionics better than Lakemaster? Is Garmin built in better than them all? Etc, etc, So many questions.
Someone told me they are all about the same anyhow.
For what's is worth, I've always been a "Lowrance guy".
Any opinions without bashing the manufacturers ?
Backdraft
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Posts: 483
Location: NE PA | I can't speak for navionics, but I have lakemaster software for my humminbird and it has treated me very well. Customer service has been great as well. |
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Posts: 2337
Location: Chisholm, MN | I love the humminbird mapping with lakemaster! Can't go wrong with it. I've used lowrance too and I choose the bird. |
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Posts: 47
| I've used navionics and lake master side bi side and the navionics showed far more structure that the lake master didnt have. We were fishing structure that my uncle with lake master never knew existed. But this is just my opinion on the two and i think lake master is more DNR generated maps and navionics is done by guys that only scan lakes and rivers we have navionics gold in our elite 7s and i think its an excellent combo for the price. |
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Posts: 337
Location: Watersmeet, Michigan | All the manufacturers are making fantastic products right now. I went with Humminbird because of price. I chose Navionics Platinum maps because they provided a greater number of high def. maps for the area I fish. Lake Master has been making a lot of improvements. I suggest you check both company's websites and compare coverage for the areas you fish.
http://www.navionics.com/en/hotmaps-platinum
http://www.lakemap.com/Find-a-Lake/#.Ux0b9oXC7Vg
Fr. K |
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Posts: 45
| I too was a "Lowrance guy" but after having older units and needed an upgrade to a color system, I naturally thought Lowrance was the only way. Soon my father in law had issues with his Lowrances multiple times, poor customer service, and a unit that was not up to its claims, I decided to look at the Humminbirds. I now have a 858 and an 898 both of which are superb! I can network with one cord, no hub to do so, I have built in side imaging without an add on price, and the interface is customizablle to your skill set and easy to change and understand. I would take a look around for some good deals on some closeouts. I know you can like a 798 with side imaging for less than $700 brand new right now. I believe there is a comprable 598 but lacks the preset keys and ethernet capability. As far as maps, check their websites and get the lists of lakes. Humminbird/Lakemaster is a great combo allowing you to shade different depth ranges different colors. Feel free to PM me if you want tons of info. |
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Posts: 163
Location: NoDak | all makes and modles are nice thease days, however humminbird and lake master has features i like. water level offset, shallow water highlight, target depth highlight, and with my terova with link it can drive its self!!! |
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Posts: 437
| To the question about whether the Garmin built in mapping vs a map card like LakeMaster or Navionics, personally I would buy a chip before whats built in. I dont have experience with the Garmin specifically, but a chip is going to be the way to go IMO as the various companies update the lakes, etc. I have never found the built in mapping to be very good. For coastal waters maybe, but no inland lakes.
I know if you buy Navionics you can get free updates for one year. You download the new stuff and put it on a chip. Pretty sweet. You never know how long some of these chips sit on the shelf.
I have Navionics Platinum, Lowrance Insight Pro and LakeMaster Minnesota chips that I use in my Lowrance HDS units.
The Lowrance Insight chips are essentially the same thing as Lakemaster BUT you get LOW and Rainy on one chip whereas with Lakemaster you have to buy separate ones. So that is a ncie benefit.
You will find that one chip excels over another on different waters. Some the Navionics is better, some the Lakemaster/Lowrance content is better.
Regarding the GPS units themselves they are all pretty dang sweet now. They can do far more things that many of us even though possible even just a few years ago.
The things that intrigue me the most now are the ability to record my sonar, then upload this log file to Lowrance Insight website, who will format it and then you get a mapfile to use in a chip. BOOM, your own custom map for a lake/area that may not have been the most accurate before.
The ability to overlay map detail WITH down/side imaging. This is crazy functionality that really helps learn the body of water. Not something I have used, but I have watched videos on it and it is incredible.
The ability to highlight depth ranges or even hazards is available from pretty much all of the brands these days so that isnt a big benefit of going with one brand over the other.
I use Lowrance, my buddy has Humminbird. Both work great and no issues with either. I find the Lowrance (at least HDS) units to be more for the guy that wants to customize views or settings, while the Humminbird is more for someone who wants to turn it on and go. My experience, not necessary what others may find.
We have tied our boats off to each other in the middle of the lake and were monkeying with various settings and while both were effective at reading depth, the Humminbird was harder to get some fine details that I was able to pinpoint on the HDS. He was also graphing far fewer fish than I was which was odd. We were hovering over schools of crappies in the 20 to 30 foot range with the fish either hugging the bottom or suspended 10 ft down. His Bird (forget the number) had trouble distinguishing a bottom hugging fish from the bottom. On my HDS I changed the color palette and it was quite easy.
Just my experience on a 4 day trip we spent up Nort.
I wouldnt shy away from any of the big names. There are also lots of mid price options so you dont have to rob a bank to buy them anywmore. |
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Posts: 791
Location: WI | Loving my two elite7 HDIs. Best bang for you buck as far as I'm concerned. Got two units and nema network for the price of one more expensive unit. Built in insight base maps and ability to use insight genesis which is lowrances custom mapping that builds a map as u fish. |
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Posts: 667
Location: Wisconsin | Lakemaster and Navionics are both good. If you are going to use an Ilink TM, you will need the Lakemaster, however as mentioned by dogg12, I also found the Navionics had quite a bit more detail, and some lakes that were not even covered by the Lakemaster. So, ck the lakes you want to fish to be sure they are listed. |
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Posts: 1000
| Lowrance and Humminbird are both fantastic. The reason why I choose humminbird was because I intend to put iPilot on my Minnkota.
Minnkota is owned by Johnson Outdoors, who owns Humminbird, Lakemaster, and Cannon. As a result, an angler can use humminbird side imaging to go along and mark all the structure they want to fish with waypoints and then the Minnkota will do the walking. You focus on fishing. |
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Posts: 209
| I did not know these were all owned by Johnson makes sense that their products would interface well with each other.
I also went looking and did not buy due to the "confusion"
Thanks for the information here
Bill |
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Posts: 437
| Lowrance and MotorGuide have a similar solution to the iPilot Link that is offered for the Humminbird and MinnKota/Lakemaster.
It should be available now. I will be upgrading my trolling motor soon and will strongly consider this new MotorGuide option, but need to see how they shake out first. |
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Posts: 209
| can the 398si use lakemaster? it has a card slot?
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Location: Eau Claire, WI | eightweight - 3/13/2014 10:05 AM
can the 398si use lakemaster? it has a card slot?
Yes, you would just have to buy the lakemaster card separately. If you're looking for a side imaging unit, you might want a unit with a bigger screen though. We just got a Lowrance Elite 7 HDI unit for my dad's boat. It doesn't have side imaging but the bigger screen and the price of the unit were the big selling points for us. I've never used a unit with side imaging but that 398si might be a little small to use effectively. |
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Posts: 209
| Muskiematt
Thanks I was also trying to Keep it portable and move it from boat to boat but I thank you for the suggestion as if I get a boat of my own then it will be mounted permanently
Bill
d MuskyManMatt - 3/13/2014 10:24 AM
eightweight - 3/13/2014 10:05 AM
can the 398si use lakemaster? it has a card slot?
Yes, you would just have to buy the lakemaster card separately. If you're looking for a side imaging unit, you might want a unit with a bigger screen though. We just got a Lowrance Elite 7 HDI unit for my dad's boat. It doesn't have side imaging but the bigger screen and the price of the unit were the big selling points for us. I've never used a unit with side imaging but that 398si might be a little small to use effectively. |
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Posts: 183
| Whats your budget? Navionics will have more HD lakes along with continual updates all year and these updates are available to download to your chip thru Freshest Data for the first year free then 50% of msrp after that so your map chip is never outdated.
Also keep in mind that Lowrance Gen 2 units will be able to interface with the new Xi5 Motorguide, got mine last week its very smooth.
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