best portable gps for fishing

[eyemaster]

I had a lowrance H20 a few years back for fishing, but see they don't make them any longer.....what is the best new portable gps? what about the best digital maps for fishing?

[Tom7227]

I bought a Garmin 78s a year ago and love it. That said I think a big issue now is that Lakemaster has been bought and only support Hummingbird products. That would place a big factor in my decision.

There is a sponsor of FM that does a fantastic helping you get the right product for you and his prices are good. Pro Fishing Supply and I am pretty sure his name is Mark. Quick service if you buy from him.

[kensom]

Maybe not the best...but if you have an Android phone you can get the Navionics app for only $9.99 with access to most lakes in the United States. I have the Navionics chip in a Lowrance XOG (also discontinued) and the phone version seems to be the same....but only 10% of the cost! I just downloaded it a few days ago and have not had it out on the water yet but I am very impressed with what I see. You can take photos of your catch and I believe it will place an icon on your map with the pics. Available at the Android Market, I believe it is not available for i phones.

[schweady]

No complaints with my Garmin 62st with LakeMaster chip. It was a replacement for my Lowrance ExpeditionC which had trouble locking in a position over the past couple of years. Huge step up. Wish I had switched sooner.

[EBass]

Smart Phone with Lake Master app.

[h8go4s]

"Lakemaster has been bought and only support Hummingbird products."

NOT true. From the Lakemaster HSOforum:

"LakeMaster Lake Maps has been acquired by Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Inc. Because of the transition to new ownership, LakeMaster Lake Maps online sales of Lowrance® and Garmin® Digital GPS maps has been suspended. These products will remain readily available through LakeMaster Lake Map retail outlets listed under

Where to buy on the LakeMaster Lake Maps’ HSOforum."

Let me repeat: ONLINE sales has been SUSPENDED. That may change when all the transaction details get worked out. You still can get Lakemaster products from retail outlets. It would not be in the best interest of Johnson Outdoors to lose the Lowrance and Garmin markets.

[MN Mike]

I had a lowrance H20 a few years back for fishing, but see they don't make them any longer.....what is the best new portable gps? what about the best digital maps for fishing?

If you're looking for a direct replacement for your H2O device, Garmin is the way to go, Oregon, GPSMap62 and GPSMap78 Series offer lots of good options, they will accept different forms of mapping data whether it be water ( Lakemaster ) or topo. Garmin's HSOforum has a very useful matrix tool that you can use to narrow down your search. Oregons' have a touchscreen system, GPSMap 78's float if dropped in water and GPSMap 62's are updated GPSMap 60's that have been extremely popular units in the past.

If you have the right smartphone, you have options there too with Navionics.

Mike

[dfeste]

I use multiple Garmin units, including the GPSMap 78. I will admit that when the news that Lakemaster had changed hands came out I worried for about 2 minutes. Common sense says that Garmin is way too big a fish in the pond to not have one of the manufacturers making compatible chips for them. The details may not all be worked out yet but they will be.

As far as the GPSMap 78 goes I'm very happy. If I were to do it again I would upgrade and get one of the model 78s with the electronic compass so that it would be accurate while sitting motionless in your fish house. Not a real big deal since moving your hands a couple of feet gets the compass working again. I'd love to have a huge screen on the four wheeler but there's no way I'm putting my boat unit on there for ice fishing.

Dave