Navionics Hotmaps Explorer for pc??

[buddah7]

I don't have a handheld gps and was curious if this would be a good help for prefishing some ice spots? It seems pretty reasonable for all the lake maps but I am concerned about accuracy of depths.

[robert1965]

buy a handheld, then get navionics etc you wont be disappointed.

[PerchJerker]

I agree with robert, a gps and mapchip would be money better spent than the PC software. Even if you "prefished" some of the spots by checking them out on your PC, when you were out on the ice you wouldn't be able to get to those exact spots, or know where you are in relation to the map that was back at home on your PC.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I purchased software before the "chips" where available. It is nice to get a larger view of what your looking for but nothing beats having a GPS with the maps on it. As far as accuracy of depths. The lakes they survey are going to be pretty close. The lake levels will be different all the time. Sometimes its extreme like the difference in the water level of lake vermilion in the fall of '07 compared to the level on the opener of '08 or the level of the St. Croix from spring to fall, this year it had to of been at least 5ft. the generic maps are just that. Ruff ideas of what the bottom looks like!

Either way its just really nice to have contours essentially at your finger tips on the water!