What is the difference between the Premium and Platinum chips.
I need one to cover the lakes the LakeMaster chip does not cover yet. Is the latest version out 2012 and where is the best price to buy.?

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.

All the major retailers have the product and you might check on line as well.

Tight lines

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I picked up a Navionics HotMaps (South) chip the other day for $99 shipped.

It just has the lakes, not all the useless panorama, 3D stuff. Just my opinion
of course.

This is a valid third option from Navionics.

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Was it a 2011 chip and where did you get it for that price?

Skeeter be sure your GPS can handle the Platium before buying it. Not all can read it. The Navionics website lists the model numbers.

Yep, brand new -- bought it from this vendor on Ebay --

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Navionics-HotMap...8#ht_2312wt_903


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Don't buy Platnium for 3D if you are using Lowrance. I don't know if it works on Hummingbird. On Lowrance it is an exaggeration at best to call it 3D. I honestly feel it is a lie. The 2D data seems good for depth lines, but it has no channel information. I find this later item inexcusable. I honestly find myself using the insight maps more on the water and Navionics mostly for lake study to preset some waypoints. It does work well for that.

Same goes for the Platinum chip on my Humminbird 898c SI. I could not agree more that the 3D feature of the Platinum chip is a HOAX! I have tried everything under the sun to try and get the 3D feature to work, and it simply does not work. Don't even think about actually getting a response to an email sent in to their customer service department about this or any other issue. Out of the 5 or 6 emails that I have sent, I have gotten one response back and that was the typical line telling me that "you don't have the zoom set to the correct level." Well, guess what, I have tried the 3D at every possible zoom level that there is, and it does not work. I do feel like I was taken to the cleaners when I purchased this sub-par mapping chip. Not only because of the 3D lie, but for the detail of some of the maps that are included. My home lake is Lake o the Pines and the map for it is laughable at best. It is not Navionic's fault that Pines my home lake, I understand that, but being that it is not one of their so called "HD mapping" lakes, it is basically useless due to the complete lack of detail. No creek channel detail whatsoever, and if someone would help me with the logic behind having such a horrible rendition of Lake o the Pines, being that it is a fairly popular lake in my opinion, but having the "HD maps" included on other lakes within close proximity to Pines such as the following:

Martin Creek
Lone Star
Holbrook
Hawkins
Monticello
Bob Sandlin
Cypress Springs
Welsh
Lake Sulphur Springs
Murvaul

I don't know, maybe I am missing something, but it is my opinion that the Platinum chip is pretty much useless....and it is $199. Just a warning to you if you are thinking about purchasing a Platinum chip. There, I got that off of my chest.