I posted this elsewhere and got nothing. I know this page sees nonstop responses. Hoping some of you will take the time to give me your best opinion on what I should buy to get the best of mapping for two HDS untits.....

Looking like I'm going to sell my boat very soon and be able to buy the boat I've been drooling over for 3 months. It'll come with two Lowrance HDS units, both with structure scan, but neither with Insight maps downloaded and no map chips. They'll just have the basemaps. I'm probably happy with the basemap up front to smack waypoints on. But, I'm looking for ALL suggestions for the BEST software chip that will cover Texas, AR, OK, and Missouri for the dash unit. The two units are not networked together. Basically, what would you do to give yourself the BEST lake mapping software in this situation??

I'm new at this whole map chip thing. I'm assuming if I buy one chip, I can only use it in one unit?? (unless I network them?) How would you set this rig up? Is Navionics Platinum the best out there?? If not, what IS the best?

Navionics Premium South

I saw some stuff out there about different years being better than others and also stuff about it being hard to read the contour lines. Any opinion on those things??? I've never seen either of them. HOpe to soon, but I'm wondering if looking at them on "demo" mode is really different than what I'll see in real life on my unit??

The best one imho is the Lakemaster chip but for now their lake coverage is small. Navionics stinks to me..no detail such as sunken dams, roads or other structure at least the lakes I fish (which are supposed to be their HD maps). If you compare the Navionics iPhone app to the chip you can see the difference..night and day. But the issue is Navionics doesn't have a lot of competition right now so you don't have a lot of choices. If you can use Lakemaster that would be my choice!

Features of lakemaster put ALL others to shame, but they need more lakes. You should check list of lakes for each one and see which one has the lakes you fish the most. Fishing Hot Spots looks pretty good also but I have not seen it up close.

Lakemasters are not compatible with Lowrance

well that was a kick in the Nuuuuuts

yeah forgot about that. guess you will just have to go with navionics or FHS.

Glad you got your answer and I learned something too. Didn't realize lakemaster was hbird only.

+ 1

I think I heard the 2011 Navionics has 1 ft contours and much better detail then the 2010 did. I know the one I looked at on Falcon was spot on! Shows alot of structure and cover that wasn't previously shown.

What about Fishing Hot Spots? I like to fish Vernon Lake in Louisiana (Just a few miles east of Toledo) and it lists that lake and seems to be the only one from what I read so I guess that is why I lean that way....What do you think?

Agreed

+1

So...........what you're saying is..........throw my Lowrance out the window, buy a HB and get LakeMaster??? GRRRR.

I'll go checkout the other couple mentioned. I've been told something about a "navplanner"?? Anyone know what that is? Is that just Navionics Premium? Or is that something new?

Navionics has two options for you, Navionics Hot Maps Premium South MSRP $149 and Navionics Hot Maps Platinum South MSRP $199. The diference: Premium and Platinum have the same mapping. Platinum offers 3D capability, Top down images similar to Google earth and Panoramic photos on certain lakes. The coverage for both is the best on the market and requires only one chart for the entire South. Both are updateable via the internet at navionics.com free from one year of product registration which will give you the freshest data available. We have over 17000 lakes nationwide and the number of high def lakes in one foot contours is more than anyone. I have to disagree with the gentleman above, the latest charts do have underwater structure such as road beds, river beds, creek channels, foundations, bridges, culverts, brush piles and more on lakes where we were able to find the information. No ther mapping company provides this much coverage and an updateable chart to receive the freshest data.

Even if the units are networked you would need two charts to see the same map on both units. You can share other data such as waypoints but not the map.

Since Johnson Outdoors (Humminbird)bought Lakemaster, their charts are not compatible with Lowrance and they do not have the coverage nor the number of Lakes that Navionics provides.

If you have any additional questions feel free to contact me. I am the South Central Sales Manager for Navionics and live here in Texas.

Hope this helps. Tight lines.

Navionics is not bad I have the platium version. The 3d is ok but you cant use it when you zoom in. They have a great list of lakes. They don't let you adjust the lake level and highlight a certain depth. Which I don't understand why you would make a map and not put these two options in the chip? Seems like a no brainer to me!

The best bang for your buck is Navionics. And, if the older chips are so much better than the new ones, I haven't noticed it on the dozen or so lakes I frequent. I have an 07 model in my dash unit and a 2011 in my front unit... I haven't seen any discrepancies between the two. Plus, you have the option to update them to the latest information available for free which is not hard for anyone that knows their way around a computer or can read instructions.

Being able to adjust lake levels would be killer though...

Not exactly the same, but you can put in a hull offset equal to the amount of water missing.

This is VERY helpful guys. I appreciate it. Also, if I network the two units, I know that I'd need two map chips for the maps, but is it true that whether I click the waypoint mark button on EITHER unit, it would save the exact same gps coordinates on each unit??

Next question - is networking two HDS units as easy as buying that ethernet cord and plugging it in to each unit and the sidescan box?? Is it that simple?

Yep, and Yep. Run an ethernet cord from each unit to the LSS, and as long as the LSS is running it will automatically, and instantly, share waypoints no-matter which unit you're entering them from. Pretty simple.