What chip to get

[CrappieKiller01]

Looking at getting a chip for my hd-7. wondering whether to get the lakemaster chip or the insight chip. i dont know how usefull the insight would be or not.

[Northlander]

I would go with the Lakemaster.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I would go with the Lakemaster.

Better hurry. They are now owned by Johnson fishing (hummingbird) and are not making lowarnce chips in the future.

[TravP]

Where did you get the no Lowrance info? Or is that just hear say?

[Tom7227]

Got this from the Lakemaster HSOforum:

AT JOHNSON OUTDOORS INC.

DAVID JOHNSON CYNTHIA GEORGESON

VP & CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER VP - WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATION

262-631-6600 262-631-6600

JOHNSON OUTDOORS ACQUIRES LAKEMASTER BRAND

Deal Includes Assets of Waypoint Technologies & Pro Map Technologies

Racine, Wisconsin, July 11, 2011….Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. today announced it has acquired

the assets of Waypoint Technologies, maker of LakeMaster,® the premier brand of high definition electronic

lake charts among Northern US anglers. The asset purchase includes Pro Map Technologies, the LakeMaster®

proprietary inland water survey techniques and bathymetric data processing technology, providing future

exclusivity of an expanded portfolio of LakeMaster® digital maps for Humminbird® fishfinders. Details of the

transaction are not being released.

[Nick Kuhn]

It would be stupid to stop selling something that frankly is almost 100% profit just because it's for a competitors unit. My guess at what that means is specific chips that run better on HB units, as from what I've heard Lakemaster chips are rather slow in HB units. Otherwise better built in maps on the HB units. But nobody in their right mind cans millions of dollars in sales of a product they make for pennies on the dollar.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Where did you get the no Lowrance info? Or is that just hear say?

Go to the lakemaster HSOforum. They are no longer listed for sale there.

[TooTallTom]

Producing our data cards doesn't really cost pennies on the dollar. Data production is tremendously expensive. Obviously, the collection of the lake data is only half as expensive if a company is making chips for two systems, but there's still the conversion/ processing to be done for each system. A lot of it can be automated, but not all of it. But I do agree that the idea of cutting out that profit center is pretty short-sighted. I hope they know something we don't.

I'd like to see file-transfer delivery. Log into the site and download the chip you want onto an SD card that you already have and be on your way. I don't need another little case, thanks.

As for the original question, I don't own a Lowrance unit so I might not be a good source for information. But, I'd think twice about buying a product that may or may not be supported in the near future. That said, I love my Lakemaster in my Humminbird.

[MN_Jay]

Any bets on how long it takes Lowrance to buy out Navionics? Put me down for 6 months....

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I bet they are also paving the road for a future ipilot that connects to the gps/locator.