How do I sync Navionics with Lowrance HDI 7

Hey yall. I just got a boat with the Lowrance HDI 7 fish finder on it and recently discovered Navionics and their sonar charts for lakes. Is anyone familiar with this unit and know how to sync them both? Any help would be appreciated.

Jake

Is the card a premium or platinum? The Lowrance 7 HDI only accepts the premium. All you should have to do is put it in the card reader and it should show the Charts....Go into setting and make sure you have Navionics checked.

If you want to view Sonar Charts, the Navionics product has to be Navionics+ in the early version that is a 2GB card-no maps or the current version that is a 16GB card--preloaded with US and Canada Nautical Charts.

Or you can get the older 2GB version by purchasing the Navionics Update card and activating it with a map card you have. Then it will become the Navionics+ card.

Some have purchased the new 16 GB preloaded Navionics+ card and had issues with the unit's slow processor. They deleted all on the card and only loaded the locations the needed. That is done via your account when you register and do a Freshest Data update to get the Sonar Charts maps.

The map viewing capability may be like the low end Humminbird units that are not Platinum compatable, BUT those units will read the Nautical Charts and Sonar Charts on a Platinum card, just not the other stuff that card has like satellite overlay, 3D and photos.
Still you would have the slow map processing of that unit since the Platinum is 16GB.

Are you talking about just the sonar charts layer on the card or are you referring to sonar charts live?

Thanks for your input everyone, great info. I discover Navionics yesterday as a phone app only, didn't realize they made SD cards to load sonar charts into the HDI 7.

Just to clarify - I need to visit the Navionics website and purchase their premium card, and since my unit is slower, it is recommended to wipe the card clean and only load the lakes that I plan to fish?

Corey Stanley, I only plan to use the sonar charts layer so I will be able to mark humps, sunk bridges, road beds, etc.

No, Sonar Charts is NOT a feature of the Hotmaps Premium regional cards. It is Nautical Charts (Navionics data) ONLY.

Navionics+ is the ONLY version that is customizable and has the Sonar Charts feature. You can have all the pre-loaded data it comes with plus you can download Sonar Charts after you get it. You can also delete all the data and only download the locations you want--Nautical Charts and Sonar Charts.

The Hotmaps Platinum regional cards have the Sonar Charts feature also but you cannot customize it. It won't have any Sonar Charts maps until you do an update and select to download them.

Marking bottom features is a GPS function, and has nothing to do with mapping. The unit will do the waypoint creation with or without any background mapping. Mapping is not GPS and GPS is not mapping.

Great info! Thank you. I will make the Navionics+ card purchase and I'll be good to go.

Wayne hit it pretty well.....a little more on the NAv+, the reason behind it being slower in any one unit is because some units simple cannot process large amounts of data, the old Nav+ card came to you blank and was only a 2GB card, but it made it where you could not simple plug it in and fish, then update once you got back home or to a computer. The new preloaded Nav+ comes to you as a 16GB card with all of the US with premium only data. This allows you to plug and play until getting to your computer. Once you put the card in your computer to update, it wipes away all preloaded data and you download on the areas you want to fish as well as the Sonar Chart data for those areas and you can keep your download size down around the 2GB range to keep your unit running faster.