Lowrance ifinder Expedition C

[doser]

Has anyone had any experience with this new product. I was going to buy the H20 C , but was told by a friend that if your going to spend the $ on H20 C you may as well spend an extra $30 and get the Expedition. Any thoughts?

[schweady]

I get the business from my buddies all the time for playing "Tommy Top-it" when I got an ExpeditionC when everyone else had the H2OC.

I splurged on it as an "upgrade" to get the electronic compass. My thought was that I would be using it a lot while canoeing in the BWCA, and my previous experiences with GPS units told me that you had to be moving for the unit to provide an accurate bearing. I figured I'd run into difficulties when slowing up to plot out a route or determine a portage or campsite location. The electronic compass doesn't require you to be on the move at all.

Turns out, it's a nice feature but not one that I use much. In fact, last summer I had it in a RAM mount on the canoe thwart and hardly ever changed it from the map page. (I never even got out the trusty Silva compass.) I just set the Expedition map to "Track Up" and had a continuous readout of where we were and where we were headed.

So, I'd say that the H2OC was all you would need, but maybe you'd like to listen to some mp3 song files while you're out there or record some audio notes for your waypoints... That's about the only other difference. I've never tried either one. I'm better served by having my LakeMaster or my Navionics chip in there rather than an MMC chip to store the audio stuff.

Oh, but there is that stylin' black case...

P.S. Take a look at my comments under I-finder voltage. in this same forum for some thoughts on possible problems with some of the ExpeditionC units and the external power cord.

[doser]

Not really in the MP3 players or anything like that. Just wondering if the other features would be worth my $. Thanks for your input.

[schweady]

Oh, yeah, one other thing it has that has been more interesting than useful: it has a barometer and will provide weather predictions and give storm warnings based on barometric change. But this "feature" only works after the unit has been on continuously for 3 hours or so and if it is turned off for over an hour or so you have to start over on another 3 hours... It has been fairly accurate, but I've noticed that it can be affected by changes in altitude as much as any approaching front. (Looking up at the sky or listening for thunder has worked about as well... )