Buying a handheld GPS

[waskawood]

My old Lowrance I Finder Pro needs to go. It is impossible to see in the daylight and eats batteries like crazy. I am looking for a different GPS either used or new but would like it to use the Lakemaster chip. I would change to the Navionics chip if I have to. It doesn't have to be state of the art just used for ice fishing. I do use Lowrance GPS in the boat so the ability to share waypoints with it would be nice but not a necessity. What do you guys think?

[solocamzman]

I too am curious about handheld options that support the lakemaster chip. I used the lakemaster software yesterday for the first time and its awesome. Would love to have it in a handheld unit

[Northlander]

How about spending $14 and getting Navionics for US and Canada on your smart phone. I have it and use it more on my phone than my H20c lately.

[waskawood]

I have the Navionics App and it is nice but there are a few things I don't like about it. I cannot seem to figure out how to save individual tracks. I can add to a track but when it gets cluttered. I wish I caould save multiple tracks. The other thing is my saved waypoints seem to disappear from time to time.

[JAfish]

Talk to Paul, he has one that he can take the chip out and use in his boat also. Or you can just fish out from the old dead tree branch hanging out in the lakeshore.

[Lusid]

I have navionics, I also have the garmin etrex 30.

I can comment on both. I use my garmin more than I do with the navionics.

Navionics is dependent on cell tower, cell phone gps, and wifi signal. For lakes within the city limits, GREAT! Start treading out to the outskirts.. and goodluck on accuracy. Navionics is hooked up to your cell phone which means.. it's will shut down when the temps get cold or you are not aware of your battery / phone temperatures.

Garmin 30 - 20hrs straight of usage one 2 AA batteries, accurate up to 9feet, compatible with Garmin Lakes maps in your car navigation! Huge bonus when you drive out on the lake and want to keep your eyes on the road. I do hike/ backpack all around the US so I wanted something more rock solid and for a few hundred bux was a no brainer.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[waskawood]

Or you can just fish out from the old dead tree branch hanging out in the lakeshore.

It is amazing how dumbed down I have become. I could navigate anywhere with my compass and depthfinder. Now that I have had a GPS for 10 years it has a credit card. I don't leave home without it!!! Oh by the way, did I tell you that I started farming, I mean I retired!! Same thing.

[Eric_Kruger]

garmin etrex 20 or 30 with the garmin lakes chip. garmin basically took all of lakemasters data and put it on their chip....I love mine, hardly use the phone anymore.

[MN Mike]

My old Lowrance I Finder Pro needs to go. It is impossible to see in the daylight and eats batteries like crazy. I am looking for a different GPS either used or new but would like it to use the Lakemaster chip. I would change to the Navionics chip if I have to. It doesn't have to be state of the art just used for ice fishing. I do use Lowrance GPS in the boat so the ability to share waypoints with it would be nice but not a necessity. What do you guys think?

If you have the Lakemaster card for your current IFinder, then you'll have to shop around and see if you can find another one in better condition than yours and pray like crazy it works or works for a while. Unfortunately you can't use that chip in the newer Lowrance Endura GPS's, they weren't compatible.

With the software out there today, you can export your waypoints from either the handheld or your GPS on the boat and share them with almost any other brand of GPS out there, most will accept the .gpx file extension now, if they don't, you can convert from one file format to another relatively easy with free software loaded on your computer.

Its no secret I like the Garmins, you can either get a Garmin branded Lakemaster card ( if you can find them ) or you can purchase the Garmin Upper Midwest Fishing Guide card which is basically a bundling of all of the Lakemaster cards for the upper midwest into one single MicroSD offering from Garmin. As for which handheld to look at, some have made very good suggestions, I tell most people to get you hands on one at retailer and check them out, keep your eyes peeled for sales, they happen fairly often, you can't go wrong with a Garmin.

Mike

[WalleyeBIZ]

Get the H2O color, I love mine!!!