Best Handheld GPS for ice fishing?

[grundy]

And another garmin guy here. I have a 76CSX with the lakemaster chip. Works flawless for me everyday...

[Fuzzbient]

Anyone used the Lakemaster chips with a Garmin Nuvi for driving around on the lake? Is the Garmin micro sd version pretty compatible with the Nuvis?

[MN Mike]

Anyone used the Lakemaster chips with a Garmin Nuvi for driving around on the lake? Is the Garmin micro sd version pretty compatible with the Nuvis?

Sure do, I've run my Garmin Lakemaster Woods / Rainy chip in my Nuvi 250 for a few years now and it's been very good.

Which Nuvi do you have?

Mike

[CaptainMusky]

Are those features available now on a Garmin? So lowrance would just sit around and do nothing waiting for Garmin to catch up? Yeah right.

Garmin has sweet handheld stuff but like I said it pales in comparison to large electronics from lowrance and hbird. And that's fine. They do well with the handheld units. But in sonars etc they are way behind.

[MN Mike]

Garmin has had that BlueChart G2 Vision out since 2008, so it's nothing new. We just can't take advantage of it here in the upper midwest yet.

Wouldn't be the first time Lowrance has sat around, Humminbird had Sideimaging out 4 years before Lowrance joined in.

Mike

[CaptainMusky]

So what's taking them so long to get it to Midwest? 3 plus years is surely ample time. Besides that looks nicer on the road than the lake.

[mike1125]

Thanks all, I think I've narrowed it down to the etrex 20 and the 76csx

[CaptainMusky]

Either one of those will serve you very well.

[MN Mike]

So what's taking them so long to get it to Midwest? 3 plus years is surely ample time.

Yep, good question I've got my guess's but that's all they are.

Mike

[Polar Bear]

Scheel's in Mankato has a clearance price of $139 for the Lowrance Endura Out-Back. If you add the $99 Lakemaster chip you have spent $238 for a hand held package that gives you 1 foot increments on all the most popular Minnesota lakes. I just bought mine Friday and couldn't be happier.

[toomanytoys]

how do the lowrance endura safaris stack up ?

i have the new razor with navionics and i think its great but am concerned with cell coverage in the upper areas of LOTW

[dfeste]

Cell coverage has nothing to do with gps signal. The gps in the phone gets its signal from the satelites just like the handhelds do. I've got both a phone and handheld and the biggest downfall from the phones is battery life. Set up a way to charge it in the fish house like I did and you're good to go.

[mike1125]

So once I get a handheld I understand I'll have to buy other maps. Would it be easiest to buy the DVD of city navigator and then just the chip of UMFG? This seems better because then I can use both at the same time rather than getting two chips and having to use one at a time. Could someone with a Garmin comment on this. Thanks

[MN Mike]

I think your line of thought makes sense, the UMWFG does come with some road detail so you might want to give that a try before you buy a more detailed navigational product.

Mike

[dfeste]

It should work. I don't use the internal memory on my 78 at all. With only 1.7gb you would have to look at the city navigator to see if it will fit. I guess you could just load what you need when you need it but seems like more of a pita to me. I'm a fan of the sd cards but they are buried inside the Garmin units pretty well.

[Jessie_H]

My boyfriends Lowrance H20 broke (and we can't figure out why, It would cost $162 plus sales tax to send it in to get fixed). We played hooky yesterday due the to snow storm and went down to Gander. We settled on a Lowrance Endura Out&Back, they said it was the newer model pretty much. I believe it was on sale for $199. Trouble were having is we have a brand new Navionics chip and can't figure out how to turn the darn thing on. Leaving for Lake of the Woods tonight.

[sam10basefish]

This might help you http://www.navionics.com/plotterfacts.pdf On the second page it looks like you will need to have the gold or premium chip. If you sprung for the platinum you might be sol. There is a thread in the LOW forum that says how to get the 1' contours from the navionics android app. I decided to go with that and save some $

[fishwater]

Trouble were having is we have a brand new Navionics chip and can't figure out how to turn the darn thing on.

[cabin]

Bought a Garmin 76 Cx and love it. It is waterproof and it floats. Got it for $179.00 on hsolist .