Navionics or Lakemaster??

[Dabignorski]

I was looking at gettin a lake chip for my H20 GPS and was just wondering what chip is the best??

[Jimmy Jay R]

Try searching the site for some good strings...Its been discussed a lot. I had the same question a year or two ago and the best advice I got was get the one with the most lakes on it in HD that you fish. Navionics has a list on their HSOforum of the HD Lakes. They are both very good and have lots of info. Some will say the Lakemaster is more detailed , as far as I'm concerned the Nav is detailed enough and even better in some areas. I ended up getting the Navionics as it had a bunch of Chisago and FL area smaller lakes on it that I fish. The only Negative I have had is that the 07 didnt have Red in HD, but I figured I should be able to find my way around that bowl . It was a good trade off to get Navionics with more area HD Lakes that I hit....I think the 08 has Red in HD now.

[BTrauma1]

for me!

[Huntin&Fishin]

Lake master!

[Deitz Dittrich]

really depends on what you are going to be doing...

For me, I disagree with the above dudes... I fish more than just MN.. Nav has many many more lakes. I have been more than pleased with the lakes they have in MN as well.

[cRaPpiEMaN8265]

It really depends on the area you plan on fishing. If you fish canada at all like we do on the north end of lake of the woods i would go with navionics because they have the map in HD but if you are fishing all minnesota then lakemaster might be an option they seem to be a little faster on the US side but with a lot less lakes mapped. I know lakemaster is out scouting lake of the woods right now and by next year should have the map for the canadian side but right now navionics is leading the way for me! Hope this helps...

Ryan

[Chad Halvorson]

I prefer Lakemaster, Ive had them both.

[CSP88]

Like others have said....it all depends on where you fish. For me it was an easy choice as I mainly fish Iowa with a few trips to South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Navionics North chip has most if not all of the lakes I fish on one chip.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Had good luck with the previous versions of the Lakemaster, just got the 08' version so we'll see how it goes!

[Northlander]

In the Duluth/Superior area Navionics covers more waters that I fish. I know they are adding more this year too.

[ice-man/vexilar-king]

08 Nav chip. Go to the top of the food chain. There are advantages to the Lakemaster chip, but the Navionics 5 state area is nice.

[Rick]

Navionics 08 pretty much has everything LM has and a lot more lakes. The Navionics 08 chip now has the secondary roads on it which leaves LM with a lot of ground to make-up.

Previously LM may have been the way to go but Navionics has really stepped up to the plate and given us a lot more quality and quantity to choose from. Although the Nav chip with so much data on it may be a tad slower because of all the extra map info included and is really not a big deal at all

If you only fish the LM lakes then you could just as easily use either chip. But I will have all the extra lake maps with Navionics.

[jwhjr]

So what's the difference between the LM Fishing Hot Spots chip that has a bunch of states on it and the Navionics North chip? I ended up getting the FHS chip because it had one of the lakes I fish that I didn't find on any of the other chips.

[olski]

I have used both chips and if you are fishing halfway popular lakes in Mn. (or Wi. if you get the LM Wi.chip) either chip is fine. I must say though that now that you can get the Nav. 07 chip for $99.00 I like having the other states in one chip.

[rockman]

I just got back from Cabelas after getting the Nav 08 chip.I already have the Lakemaster chip,but the list of lakes for the Nav 08 was impressive.So now I have the best of having both chips.It's a small price to pay to have the choice of that many lakes in a handheld GPS.

[Matt Johnson]

When fishing I prefer the Navionics chips. However, one nice thing about the LakeMaster chip is that it has all the roads and land navigation options. I was amazed at all the back roads that were on the LakeMaster chip, not to mention gas stations, parks, restaraunts, etc... I use LakeMaster in my truck quite often...

But like mentioned, Navionics is tough to beat when out in a boat or on the ice when used for fishing purposes...

[epkirkman]

I have a quick question? I have not had a handheld GPS but from reading these posts and doing a bit of research I have decided to get the Navionics card. I live in Iowa, but I am right on the border of MN and we fish SD quite a bit.

I was looking at getting an Lowrance H2Oc however, I would like to use the thing to find my way around the area while I am driving. Do I have to by a different card to make this thing give me directions to where I want to fish? I understand I need to change cards. My question is do I need to buy a different card to get this thing to do basic navigation and not just tell me what lat/long I am at on the face of the planet.

Sorry for the lengthy question but I only get about one toy a year and I have not used anything to navigate since I used Loran in the Coast Guard.

[Bob Horn]

I use the Navionics. I bought the map create along with the gps. You will need a Navionics card reader to read the lake maps on your computer. I haven't bought one yet but I think I will get a reader at the show next weekend.

[Orlip]

There was only one thing that turned me off about the navionics chip is the zoom. On a HD lake you could not zoom in tight enough to separate the contour lines. Has this changed??

[croixeyes]

Ditto on the zoom feature.I believe the nav chip zooms in to 1/8 nautical mile,and LM zooms into .02 of a mile.Thats the biggest difference between them as far as MN and WI goes.Nav chip does offer alot more lakes than the LM though