Navionics vs. Lake Master

[hartner62]

Which one do you guys prefer and why? I've heard Navionics is slower but has more lakes. Usually I just fish MN but a couple times a year I go to Devils Lake. Have you found one to be more acurate then the other?

[PerchJerker]

There have been A TON of posts about this in the last few months, trying searching through the archives. Schweedy (not sure if I spelled that right) has a lot of good posts and info about them, you could try searching just under his user name if you want.

[eyewarrior]

No comparison if you fish mostly MN get Lakemaster fo sure. Nav you can only zoom to 1/8nm. Also Nav doesn't seem to be as accurate. We were on Big Stone yesterday at times it showed us on shore when we were 100' from shore. Missouri river didn't seem any better. I bought Nav for talk & Missouri River because Lakemaster doesn't have these surveyed. I wouldn't buy Nav again after using both!!!

Eyewarrior

[FishyScent]

Can't beat the detail of the lakemaster maps.

[PierBridge]

It depends on what Lakes you will be fishing.

schweady is how it's spelled.

[Owens212000]

Can't beat Lakemaster on Devils Lake with the 1 foot contours, seperate chip costs about 100 bucks

[Slyster]

I have Lakemaster MN V4 and am surprised how wrong a few areas are on White Bear Lake. One bar isn't even on the map at all.. but is very much on the lake (and marked by those hazard buoys).. but for the most part pretty good for 3' contour lines.

[Orlip]

Here is a wealth of info for Navionics Navionics thread

[Pherris]

I really liked the zoom on the LM better then navonics. Navonics was good because I fish water outside of MN. However if you are going with the newer Hummingbird units they are not compatible with the LM software you have to go with Navonics.

[Xplorer]

My new Navionics LOTW card will "overzoom" down to 1/63nm, or just under .02 mile. I think the zoom level is more dependent on the gps unit than the card.

[schweady]

Xplorer:

What gps unit are you using with that LOW chip? I'm wondering if the tightest zoom in your unit would still only be 1/8nm when using either of the Navionics Premium North cards? Seems like it's the amount of data on the card that limits the zoom capability, but my LakeMaster chips zoom in to 0.02 mi even though they have an incredible amount of roadmap data. I was disappointed that it was still only 1/8nm with the 2007 Navionics on my ExpeditionC, since they did go to a 1GB chip vs. the 512MB chip for the 2006 model.

Is this "overzoom" providing more detail, or just magnifying the image seen at 1/8nm?

[Dances with Walleye]

Now maybe I misunderstood something... I just took my LakeMaster out for the first time on Saturday... But when I was shopping around the Map describing regions for Navionics showed that MN was broken up into 2 sections... So for me, as someone who fishes all around the state, it meant buying 2 chips with Navionics, vs 1 with Lake Master...

And all but one of my favorite lakes were in High Detail on the LM chip, and 3 were not on Navionics...

Maybe I misunderstood the Navonics lake regions map though?

[Rick]

You misunderstood. Navionics is separated into a number of zones and the zones are all in one chip.

As a user of both chips you get a lot more lake maps and as good if not better detail with Navionics. They zoom down as far as needed given the accuracy of GPS. Lake master does have road maps which I like.

Here is a link to all the maps you get with the Navionics Chip - Click Here

I prefer Navionics for fishing because it has a lot more lake maps and that's important when a person fishes differant lakes and in differant states.

[Tom I Am]

Are you folks talking about the Lowrance LakeMaster ProMaps?

I have one oredered for my new Lowrance 520C but they seem to be backordered. I assume all comments are on the chip from last year? Thanks

[Xplorer]

schweady,

I'm using it in a new globalmap 5300. The unit has a basemap with roads etc, and I'll use the chip for lake data. The overzoom is not adding additional data from the 1/8nm chart, but simply getting you to a smaller area. Where I can see this coming in very handy is on those high def maps where you have 1' contours.

I still need to do alot of tinkering with it since this is my first plotter, but i really like what I've seen so far.

PS: And, yes this is a Lowrance with an internal antenna and I have had no problems with it acquiring signal thru my boats windshield while sitting inside of my garage. So I dont expect any issues like those of the 334 last year.

[schweady]

Thanks Xplorer-

I'd still be interested to know if:

a) the 2007 Navionics Premium North chip still only allows a maximum zoom of 1/8nm on newer units like your GlobalMap 5300, and if

the new Navionics LOTW+2K chip also allows "overzooming" closer than 1/8nm on other units, such as handhelds like the H2Oc or ExpeditionC.

Anyone?

[PerchJerker]

Quote:

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I'm using it in a new globalmap 5300

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Are you 100% positive that you are zooming in that close on the Nav chip, vs. zooming in that close on the base map in the 5300? Did you go into the menus and select the Nav chip?

I am not very familiar with the new 5-series Lowrances, but I suspect that is what is happening in your case??