I might be missing something obvious but, I just received my Gen 3 12's and when I opened the card slot all I see is mini SD card holes which doesn't do me much good for the boat lanes chip I've had unopened in my drawer for a couple months. Is there a solution or do I need to send the chip back.

Buy a microSD card as you will need one anyway to backup waypoints, trails & settings. Get several.

Copy your Boatlanes to the microSD to import to your Gen3.

Using my home PC I created individual folders on my microSD card for Settings, Waypoints, SHADEDRELIEF, etc. Also copy all this data to my home PC for historical backups.

I tried that but it said it can not copy the properties.

Make sure the microSD being written to does not have write-protect tab set. Also is the microSD card in a sd-card adapter or do you have a microSD card reader?

It is in an adapter and it the tab is not in the lock position. I saved the original card content to a new file on my computer then removed the original card. Then I put the mini sd inside the standard sd adapter and placed it in the sd slot in my home computer. Then I "sent to" SD drive and that is when it asks if I want to continue without the properties. I did and the file size remained the same but I have no way of knowing if it will still work because my boat is in flippin right now.

I think you are OK. I don't "send to" much, I mostly copy&paste or drag&drop.

You could test the USR file on the microSD by using Insight Planner, ExpertGPS or other PC-based waypoint management program. Just read the data from the microSD. Be aware some Boatlane lakes are now released in USR version 4 and the PC programs has to be capable of processing that level.

And you need to do backups in USRv4 or USRv5 as they are required or just better USR versions. USRv4 is compatiable with all HDS units(GEN2, GEN2 Touch or GEN3 Touch).

The boat lanes people called me back and are taking care of it all. Very prompt on handling it. Thank you for your help though.