Which GPS????

[mnhunter79]

A buddy that is overseas right now, and wants to get his brother a gps for ice fishing. he asked me what is a good one. so, now im asking all of you for help. Which GPS for ice fishing that can use lakemaster chip? thanks.

[MN Mike]

Do you have a price range?

I see the worlds foremost outfitter is having a sale on the Garmin Oregon 450 for $250, that's a nice touch screen unit for that price. They were also having a sale on a Garmin Legend HCx for $120, either one will accept LM chips and other maps.

Garmin also has the New Etrex series, Dakota 20 ( smaller version of the Oregon ), GPSMap 62 and 78 series ( 78 Series will Float ) and if you want to go all out, the Montana units, they are the top dog in Garmin's lineup but will set you back $500 - $700 almost all of the Garmin units accept the MicroSD mapping cards, Garmins site is very handy for selecting only the units that will accept data cards.

A Garmin Nuvi 500 is a very good GPS / Nav device too and will take data cards, it's waterproof.

It's a good time of year to be buying!

Mike

[mnhunter79]

I was told lake master was bought out by humminbird, so if thats the case, LM will not work in anything but humminbird. at least thats what i found too when i googled lakemaster, brought me to lakemaster/humminbird. and i looked at a bunch of maps on navionics web page and they dont support any model of garmin. what gives here? what happened to the good ole H2OC, so easy to use. if any one has any info , please let me know

[MN Mike]

Humminbird did buy Lakemaster BUT when I look online, Garmin chips are still available at a lot of stores, Amazon has them and the last few times I've been in Scheels I've seen them there too.

A call to Lakemaster next week will clear up any questions you have but for right now, I could get a Lakemaster Chip for Garmin in a heartbeat.

Navionics has never been available for Garmin.

GPS devices have advanced a lot since the day of the H2O, IMO there's nothing easier than a Garmin.

If your not stuck on a chip, Garmins site has the Lakemaster CD for $50 right now, same data as the chips have but you'll pay over $100 for the chips at most stores.

Mike

[leech~~]

A Garmin Nuvi 500 is a very good GPS / Nav device too and will take data cards, it's waterproof.

The Garmin Nuvi 500 was a cross over like the Low, XOG. Both are now discontinued. You can still find a few around but Ca-bla's just stopped selling the Garmin 500 a few months ago at the stores. I think the XOG's were easier to use and had a lot more details for the user. I have two of them and use them on my Dualsport bike and boat in the summer and on the sled in the winter. They were nice little units because you could use them in your truck and then on the lake when you got there.

[Storm]

I bought a garmin dakota 20 this fall from cabelas with the topo map for $150 after rebate and discounts. They are running a sale on the same thing right now as well.

So far I like the unit even though I was leary of the touch screen. I also just bought the lakemaster disc on garmins HSOforum for $58 after shpping but haven't used this yet.

[wetz22]

Garmin Oregon is about the best you can get from what I understand, although my dad's Colorado is quite the charm as well. I believe that the Oregon replaced the Colorado. Can't go wrong with either.

[Werewolf]

Garmin Oregon 450T is a very good gps , I just used it today marking spots on the boat for this ice season, easy to use great mapping ,and plotter.. but it eats batterys....

[MN Mike]

On the newer Garmins your best off to run Lithium, Energizer Ultimate Lithium's are what I use in my Colorado, otherwise I don't know if I get a 1/2 hour out of it with the backlight on, on Alkalines.

I was out west Elk / Mule Deer hunting a month ago, I went thru one set of AA Ultimate Lithium's in 9 days on the Garmin Colorado.

Mike

[Rippinlip]

I am still living large by the H2O