Lakemaster Promaps Question

[Ryan Berger]

I bought the software for my computer, and am now wondering if I can transfer maps to my GPS. I have a Garmin 76cs

[PerchJerker]

I believe you can transfer waypoints but not the depth contours.

[3pronghook]

I believe he is right about downloading waypoints only. But they sould show up an the map on your screen. My question to you is how do you like the Garmin GPS? I am looking at buying a new handheld. I have an older Garmin 12 and like the ease of use. Alot of people like Lowrance Ifinder series. Im trying to decide which one to buy.

[korn_fish]

I thought that the promaps allowed you to download the maps to a garmin and the base version didn't. Garmin has the lakemaster promaps CD. Maybe if you didn't buy the Garmin version of the lakemaster promaps that you would only be able to download waypoints etc.

I could be wrong on this, as I often am

I have the lakemaster base version and the fishing hotspots central version 5 for my garmin 76cs. The comparison of the two showed basically the same accuracy and I could still download the fishing hotspot maps.

As far as how I like the 76cs, I think it is awesome. Having a feature that gives you driving directions like mapquest does, right in the palm of your hand is great. For my fishing adventures into Canada, I wish I had the Magellan Platinum since Magellan has better Canada TOPO maps and lake hazords etc but lacks in the city navigation and auto-routing areas. Didn't really look into the other brands. Garmin has always treated me well.

There is a forum that discusses GPS units exclusively. " forum dot gpscity dot com. I learned a lot about my 76cs from that forum after I had already purchased it.

[dockehr]

3pronghook, as I have both the Garmin GPSMap 76cs and the Lowrance iFinderH2O, I would stongly recommend that you visit the new Reeds in Baxter. They have all units on display and should be able to answer your questions.

dockehr

Dr. Roland E. Kehr, Jr.

Lindy Tackle

[Ryan Berger]

how do you get driving directions on the 76cs,, I havnt used mine much except for marking spots that I know have great fishing

[dockehr]

LundDuckBoat, I'm not sure if you were directing your question to me or to korn fish. Go to the Garmin HSOforum and check out the Mapsource viewer for whatever software package might meet your driving needs. You will need a specific piece of software to enable the driving direction functions that the Garmin GPSMap 76cs can perform.I have used my unit only a couple of times, but not for driving directions. I also have the Lowrance iFinderH2O which I find suits my needs better than the Garmin. Good Luck.

dockehr

Dr. Roland E. Kehr, Jr.

Lindy Tackle

[korn_fish]

You DO NOT need special software to get driving directions. You do need the city select software if you want detailed side street directions though.

Right from the factory you can get turn by turn directiosn for navigating on highways and goto city from whereever, all you do is push the find button, then city, then select the city you want to drive to. If the list is too long, there are search functions that you can use to limit the city list. Once you narrow down the city you want to drive to, select the "goto". there are options that you need to set up, or set it up to ask you all the time, like fastest route, follow road etc. You can even tell it what vehicle you are driving. bicycle, truck, car etc and it calculates the route and places the route on your map screen. each time you get close to a turn, it tells you "beep.....screen then tells turn right on hwy or exit # etc. and gives you count down to distance) Or there is another page that just shows you the turn and ETA to each turn.

If you don't have the city select, the unit still does this. But city select lets you punch in a specific address, street, etc and gives you turn by turn. Base just gives you city to city. For example, the first time i tried this function, I was in coon rapids and told it to goto minneapolis (for my trip to work). It calculated the path that I normally took, except it didn't have the 7th stree exit (need city select for that detail) so it told me to stay on 252 until I came to 35, and take 35 into downtown. But if I would have had city select, I could have punched in my exact work address and it would have indicated the 7th street exit (also tried it on a unit that had city select) I also don't think that all cities are included, I think the population has to be so large. (havent verified this though) I can try that out at noon since I have the unit right next to me at work used it to follow a bike trail into downtown from coon rapids this morning

One nice feature on this is that say you are following the directions the unit is telling you, come up to congestion because of some accident or something ande you start taking a different route. All you have to do once on this new road is hit menu -> recalculate and the unti re-adjusts for you new position and gives new directions. It may tell you to go back to where you just came from though unless you are far enough away that a different route now makes better sense based on your "fastest route" etc. The unit doesn't know that a road is closed or backed up

Basically this unit has more functions than I or most will probably ever use because they just don't know they exist or know it exists but don't use it because don't know how. All I can say is take a function, and set out to work with that function, like the auto route. that way, when y ou really want to use that function you will know how to use it. That is why I really liked that gps forum that I listed earlier. I get to hear all the tricks, pains, software comparisons etc.

It would be cool if this forum moved the equipment thread into a main group and have threads below it such as GPS, Boats, misc etc. There would probably be more topics on GPS besides the basic, "what unit should I buy"

[dockehr]

korn fish's explanation expands on what I was trying state: that is , the built-in basemap will not give you the DETAILED maps you may need for specific cities,etc. That being clarified I agree with him that the explosion of detailing that is being developed in the GPS arena may well warrant its own forum. Too many times I see posts on mapping software, chips, unit compatabilty where terminology substitution runs rampant and final answers bear no relation to the initial post. Frankly, I think it leads to a lot of confusion. Another way this GPS arena could be aided is if there are specific retailers whose electronics staff can give out good and accurate information on units, software, chips and so on; and, have enough demo units on hand for comparison purposes. Frankly, Reeds here in Brainerd/Baxter would have to rank right up there. I think this is very impotant for the guy or gal making a rather large investment in technology that they plan to use for some time. This may not be important for those who love to be on the cutting edge and will buy at the introduction of each new improvement. Just my thoughts. Again, thanks korn fish for your posts, good information.

dockehr

Dr. Roland E. Kehr, Jr.

Lindy Tackle

[3pronghook]

Hey Dock, I did stop at Reeds and did some comparisons. I am strongly leaning toward the garmin76s. I picked it up and navigated with the same familiarity i have with my garmin 12. I should also clarify that i already own the lakemaster pro software. i have it loaded on both my laptop and desktop computers. I do not intend on purchasing any "chips". I mainly want to download waypoints from my computer to the gps. Reeds explained to me that downloading from computer to Ifinder will not work and that i will have to manually enter my waypoints. If this is the case I am definately going with the garmin.

[dockehr]

3pronghook, glad to read that you visited Reeds.Good luck with the 76s.

dockehr

Dr. Roland E. Kehr, Jr.

Lindy Tackle

[korn_fish]

3prong -

Are you saying that the ifinder doesnt allow any PC interfacing? Or is it just that Lakemaster doesnt interface with the ifinder?

Asking because I think you a referring to the fact that you can not download waypoints from lakemaster to the i-finder. If the ifinder doesnt support any pc interface, then the following comments mean nothing.

If you are going to keep your 12, there is some free ware software out htere that you could possibly use as a workaround. Transfer the points from lakemaster to the 12, transfer points from 12 to the free ware, then transfer from the free ware to the i-finder. I know, I know...lots of work for a few waypoints

Not sure if the free ware I use to transfer non lakemaster waypoints between a magellan sport trak and the garmin 76 would work for the ifinder. We use this because before now, I had only Garmin US topo map, and friend had Magellan TOPO Canada. We would then use each others software to make waypoiints, routes etc. and eventually get it all to whomevers GPS unit. The only thing that the free ware doesn't support is the swapping of say a magellan mapsend map and a garmin mapsource map between products.

This workaround may not make sense financially if you don't already have the PC interface cables. Note that the Garmin provided USB cable seems to only work with the Garmin software. With Lakemaster, I had to use the 9-pin serial port cable, but I already had that for use with my Garmin 12 so it was no extra cost.

[3pronghook]

i am pretty sure the ifinder requires a multi media card (MMC) and a card reader to which you have to connect to your computer via usb in order to directly download from the computer software. whereas the garmin does allow interfacing and direct download.