Navionics - From Lowrance to Garmin

[bigbluepirahna]

Hey Guys- My long time fishing companion the lowrance ifinder h2o just bit the dust on me and i'm freaking out a bit about my waypoints etc. My question is if i go buy a new gps like the Garmin Nuvi, it is still compatible with my same navionics chip and i'm i going to be able to load in my waypoints off the MMC card?

Thanks for your help on this!

[MN Mike]

You won't be able to use the Navionics chip in the Garmin. You'll have to purchase a new card since most of the new GPS's only take MicroSD cards anyway. The Upper Midwest Fishing Guide has turned out to be a very good mapping card for the Garmins.

If you have your waypoints on a SD/MMC Card, you need to convert them from a .usr to a .gpx file. You can do this with a few different programs out there, I use a free one called GPSTrackmaker. If you already have a program that you used to manage waypoints you might be able to do this with that program, .gpx files are a common format and it's not specific to any one company.

Once you have converted the files, you can use GPSTrackmaker to send those waypoints to a Garmin GPS.

Mike

[bigbluepirahna]

I very much appreciate the information. You are a wealth of knowledge and i thank you for responding.

i am bummed that my navionics chip is now junk and it's going to be so hard to move my waypoints to a new device.

we need to get all the companies on the same formats and a standard chip going forward.

I didn't know this was such an undertaking to switch to a new handheld, but forced to. I guess i could buy an old iFinder on hsolist but that seems risky.

I understand it's all personal opinion, but what's your suggestion on my next GPS. (Don't want to go the smartphone route)

Thanks again.

[MN Mike]

I don't know all the answers but I'll help where I can.

Actually, changing the waypoints format isn't too hard, I had to do it when I went away from my Lowrance product, as long as you have the right program, it goes pretty good. It's also a good way to backup you waypoints too.

If you can get your waypoints to show up in GPSTrackmaker, then do a FILE and SAVE FILE AS, make sure your Save as type is set to .gpx and click save ( you just converted from a .usr to .gpx ), then you need to hookup your Garmin ( If you decide to get one ) and click the GPS on the top toolbar, click on the Garmin interface, it will detect your Garmin, then you select the SEND button and from there you can either send all, send just waypoints or just tracks..... whatever you prefer.

There are about 3 Garmins I would take a good look at, Etrex 20, GPSMap 62s and the GPSMap 78s, prices run about $199 - $400 respectively. I see some Oregons are on sale too, those are the touchscreen devices, you'll probably find those for around $250 - 300, maybe less.

I don't think I would go out and buy another IFinder either, we had one go bad on us a couple weeks ago snowmobiling and he bought a Garmin. Even if you were to buy a brand new Lowrance, your card wouldn't work in that either.

Mike

[Finns]

we need to get all the companies on the same formats and a standard chip going forward.

That would be nice but then there would be no Chevy/Ford, Lowrance/Garmin, etc., etc. discussion!

[OnAFly]

Hey, does that mean we could go fishing instead of arguing on the internet? It would be really, really, really handy if everyone would use the same format.

[MN Mike]

That would be nice but then there would be no Chevy/Ford, Lowrance/Garmin, etc., etc. discussion!

[fsnrod]

I don't think the waypoints are on the chip they are in the h20.