I live in Florida and I'm considering getting the Lakemaster chip for inshore fishing. They are taking orders for the Florida chip now. I was hoping someone could give me a heads up to using it inshore fishing. I know it hasn't been used in Texas long but maybe someone there can help me. Thanks,

Is this a Navionics product or some other company?

I have the LakeMaster TX and I will tell you what I use it for more than anything else. When it gets cold or hot the trout usually move into the deeper holes to hold in the more temperature stabilized water. I want this water to be as close to a inlet/outlet to the marsh systems. I can use the LakeMaster to to highlight these areas very quickly. Lets say that the bay depth is on average 6 ft deep. Then set your shallow water alarm to 6' and play with that depth a little and the only spots that are NOT highlighted are the deeper holes. Magic right before your eyes and you just need to pick which one to use. I hope that helped you a little. Remember that LakeMaster has 1' contour lines.

That's exactly what I wanted to know. Do you keep changing the shallow water alert as the tide goes out? I usually fish the grass flats here in 3-4 feet of water so I have to monitor the low water level pretty closely as the tide starts going out. I was thinking of going out where my depth indicates 3 0r 4 feet and set the area range I want to show up between 3 to 5 feet and set the low alert to 2 ft. and keep changing it as the tide goes out. Maybe your method is better. I'll have to try it. I noticed that Amazon.com is selling the Florida Lakemaster chip for 98.00 with a 1 to 2 month delivery time. Thanks for your help and good luck to you!!

It's a different company. They are made by and for only Hummingbirds now. Some older ones were made also for Lowrance.

Well, it looks like I won't be getting the Lakemaster chip after all. I received an e-mail from Hummingbird service and they said it wasn't compatible for my 581i. I already sent an e-mail to them about two weeks ago and they said it was compatible so I don't know what to think. I sent them another e-mail so we'll see what they say. I bought this new from Cabalas for a good price knowing I'd have to upgrade to a better mapping program. I may have to go for the Navionics Gold but would prefer the Lakemaster. I'm pretty ticked off right now but wanted to get back to you with an update.

I haven't used a Lakemaster but love the features on it. Does it show coastal waters or only selected lakes? I assumed from their list of lakes that it didn't include coastal. Navionics sells both. Their Hotmaps contains some very crude coastal maps, you apparently need to get their saltwater map to get better coastal quality.

I haven't used a Lakemaster but I love the features on it. Does it show coastal waters or only selected lakes? I assumed from their list of lakes that it didn't include coastal. Navionics sells both. Their Hotmaps contains some very crude coastal maps, you apparently need to get their saltwater map to get better coastal quality.

Woody, it does show the bays but does not really show things like reefs and such. As you would expect there are not a lot of contour lines because the bays a generally flat so getting a 1' change takes a lot of water but with that being said the countours are there and you can use the Lakemaster to highlight the reefs or deep holes depending on how you use the highlight features. I really like mine and those folks that keep talking about the navionics, well I have both and Lakemaster has pulled from behind and moved into the lead. The biggest difference I see in Lakes is that navionics includes lakes all across the south and Lakemaster is just Ok/Tx which is fine with me, I don't go to Alabama to fish anyway. I do think that lakemaster has more HD lakes than navionics but I really have not sat down and counted but I know that the lakes I fish around Dallas are all HD. The bays are not HD but if you use the good maps first navigating the bays with the Lakemaster is no problem. I hope this helped with your question.
Gary
PS.....ONE THING I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH - MAKE SURE YOU GET VERSION 2 - EVERY BODY OUT THERE HAS VERSION 1 AND IT DIDN'T EVEN HAVE LAKE LAVON ON IT. VER 2 IS EXCELLENT.