H2o Question?

[Big Pine Walleye]

I am looking at buying the H20 and from what everyone says they are great. My question is what to buy--would I be better buying the one in color or get the black and white plus model? They would be about the same price. So, I quess that I am wondering how valuable the software, reader, and card are?

Thanks!

[hoggs222]

I believe it's the same model, only with a color screen. They will both take the lakemaster card. Both basic units "not the plus" will come with the same software loaded into them & include the AC adapter.

[Big Pine Walleye]

That is what I am wondering--is it worth the extra money to get the plus version, or would I be better off with the color screen?

[Big Pine Walleye]

I should have done some research--I see the same question came up in another forum--but I would still like your opinions if you would like to share!

[hoggs222]

I am upgrading from the B&W ih20 to the color one. It's easier to see during the day, plus it's new! The plus model comes with mapcreate, a memory card & memory card reader. Look into mapcreate & see if it'd be worth the extra money. For me, all I need is the "You are here" in respect to a certain depth feature of it.

[Big Pine Walleye]

Thanks---I will go out and look at the features!

[Woody Erickson]

Big Pine,

I was in the same dilema as yourself, I found the B/W for $129 plus $13 s/h. This was enough savings for me. Color ended up not being that important to me...

later,

[Big Pine Walleye]

Thanks for the web site here--now I really have decision on my hands!

[schweady]

I've been playing around with the PC software emulator for the H2O, and it's pretty cool! Puts a full image of the unit on the screen, you click the mouse on the buttons as if you're pressing them. But, of course, this has raised a few more questions for you H2O owners out there:

1) I know that the default display has fairly crudely drawn (straight lines) shorelines, and adding the Lakemaster chip solves that, but does it improve only the shorelines of the lakes they list, or is every lake's shoreline drawn in more acurate detail with the chip in?

2) I like using UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator projection) for my coordinate system rather than degrees and minutes because my McKenzie map series for the BWCAW uses UTM grids and UTMs are marked on USGS topographic charts. But when I want to overlay a grid on the H2O's maps, the only option is Lat/Lon Grid Lines and they're always in degrees even if my waypoints are in UTM (at least on the simulator). Any way to make it display UTM number grid lines?

[Woody Erickson]

later,

[Jeremy airjer W]

Big Pine,

if your using it strictly for the lakes than the plus package wont necessarily be needed. However if you plan on using it for hunting/hiking/camping than you may wan't to invest in it.

I will be using mine for Geocaching as well and the custom topo maps will be a valuable tool when I'm searching for a cache. I can also use the software/card reader to download bulk waypoints more efficiently which is another plus.

[Jim Hudson]

Besides the color screen, the big difference in the Color handhelds (H20 and the Hunt models) from the B&W models is that they have 16 channel receivers instead of 12.

The older units took awhile to receive a signal, and this should help with this greatly. Another reason, besides the color screen to upgrade.

Hopefully, if things work out right, I will run a new TFT screened GlobalMap 3500C on my snowmobile, the 5" screen will be a lot easier to read then the smaller handhelds when blazing across the lake on my machine!! Another thing to think about if you mainly run a snowmobile or ATV.