New addition to the boat!

[mnhunter79]

Hey FM'ers, thinkin about getting a new humminbird 858c for the boat.

? is, which lake chip should i get? lakemaster or navionics & why? Pro's & con's of these chips?

Any comments on the unit itself is welcome too.

(not a debate) just lookin for some info, ive always been a lowrance fan.

[TooTallTom]

I bought the Lakemaster Pro chips for my 788ci. They were more expensive (two for the state instead of one covering multiple states) but they have two features that the Navionics chips. You can highlight ranges of depths (say 11-15 feet, and under 5 feet) and you can offset the surface of the water and have the depths on the charts update to reflect this.

I thought that these two things were great features for quickly highlighting/ identifying "safe" water and specific depth zones that I wanted to focus on.

Check to see if these features would be available on an 858c, I just don't know if they are.

[PerchJerker]

The 858c has been a really popular unit and we haven't heard of many problems with it.

LakeMaster for Humminbird has some great features, like Tom mentioned. Those features will work in your 858c too. But the real key comes down to the lakes you fish. Each map company has a lake list on their HSOforum -- figure out which lakes you fish, and check each lake list. And pay particular attention to which lakes are high definition, because those are the most accurate maps.

[reddog]

Ive never had a Lakemaster chip, so I dont have any experience with it, but I have not heard one thing negative about it. It all depends on what lakes are important to you, and what each chip has to offer.

As far as highlighting depths, that is not Lakemaster or Navionics specific. I know I can set one foot increments on my 997 for shaded depth.

Let me say this. Shaded depth rocks for fishing, especially new water.

[h8go4s]

If you're going to spend that much money, get the 858c SI (side imaging). Once you learn how to use it, you won't regret it. Pro Fishing Supply, for one, sells them at a discount. The SI transducer is pretty big and it's a bear to get it located where it will read depth at high speeds, so that's one thing to consider. There is a user forum at forumsdotsideimagingsoftdotcom

The Lakemaster Minnesota card doesn't have Rainy and Lake of the Woods, so if you fish those, you might need both cards. The LM Humminbird cards have some features not available on the standard LM cards, like shallow water shading, which I really like.

Ron

[Chris Haley]

Huge dito on the SI! You can cruise a break line and see everything on the break and flat. Even if other guy's are fishing it. You can read right under there boats and see what they are fishing. All from enough distance away that they have no clue what you're doing.