H2O Map card?

[SP180]

What company do you use for your H2O map card? Hot spots, lake master? And why?

[PerchJerker]

Your choices are LakeMaster or Navionics. There's lots of info and posts about them in both the Ice Fishing and Equipment Forums. Here's how I'd boil down the differences (at least the key differences)

- LM lets you zoom in closer than Nav, which is a big plus when you're on lakes with the super-accurate high-definition maps with 1-foot or 3-foot contours

- Nav has more lakes on it, which is great if you fish a lot of lakes (although I don't find the map chips all that useful on lakes which are NOT high definition).

I think the key is to figure out which lakes you fish the most, and compare the map chips to see which has most of your lakes in high definition. It does you little or no good to have a chip with lots of lakes you'll never fish, so put in some time researching YOUR lakes before you decide.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

[fishinalot]

I have both both, but only use Lakemaster because it has roads etc. I think it is easier to read.

[highcountry]

I use Navionics simply because as stated above it has more lakes on 1 chip! I live in the cutoff area as far as north & south goes for the cutoff of the Lakemaster chip. I would have to buy 2 to get the amount of coverage I want.

[Bigtime22]

I cant speak for navionics, but I do love my lakemaster. I tend to either fish on Mille Lacs, my lake just east of there, and various metro lakes. It has always done a great job for me. I would do some research and see what fits you best. Personally have not been disappointed with lakemaster.

[Where's Walter?]

I cannot emphasize the zoom feature enough!

Navionics zooms to 1/8 mile = 0.125 mile

Lakemaster zooms to 0.02 mile!

LAKEMASTER ZOOMS OVER 6 TIMES CLOSER!!!!

[fishinJohn]

I'll just throw this out there... I have the lakemaster for WI and there are several small lakes in my area that are not included. On the ones that are sometimes I still wonder where to fish. Vegetation sometimes is listed all along the shallows, no surprise. I have tried just singling out some of the structure that is provided by the mapping chip and that has been a fairly mediocre method. For Christmas I got a nice book of maps that includes the smaller lakes in my area and for the ones that are covered by lakemaster I still find the book helpful since it includes additional information about what I am looking at. I think having both gps maps and a good book or two with maps is better than just using the maps provided on the chips.

[newoodhntr]

FishinJohn what kind of lake map book did you get? I'm always looking for more lake maps.

[Lunder99]

My 2008 Navionics Premium zooms in pretty close. So far I have been very happy with it.