I just bought the Lakemaster Texas/Ok because of this thread and I had some questions about the product so I called Lakemaster the tech I talked to was in no hurry to get off the phone answer all my questions and even explained several items clearly even though I was not real savy on the chips as this will be the first one I ever had. If this was an example of how they do bussines I know I will be pleased with thier product

Thanks for the kind words. This thread is not about who's better but to show what the products can do and the features and coverage they have. Both are good products. It's your hard earned money and you deserve to see the differences so you can make the best choice or choices for you. IF you ever want images or comparison please PM me or email me at: imonem@ctcis.net and I will give you as equal apples-to-apples comparison of the areas you want.

LakeMaster has some great features to make it easier to concentrate on our number one goal of catch more fish and spending less time concentrating on looking at the map to find the details. Be sure to check out both products before you buy and take them for a test drive at your dealer. And get what's best for you. Again Thanks for the comments...here to help you get the most out of your investments!

Just an end-user here, but I've seen Doug's posts here and BBCBoards, etc, and my feelings on this thread in particular, but overall as well.
Doug, thank you, in almost every situation you come off as a support of the Lakemaster product, but with an open-mind, and willingness to help, on any of the products. Other than responding (understandably) with a bit of vigor to some of the posts here, you are an incredibly neutral and fair spokesperson for your product.
Having said that, I use Lowrance, and Navionics (and the built-in Insight, although not much). I'm not likely to change, because I'm not willing to re-invest, and honestly I think Navionics value is overall better. Not features, value. I've been asking for 2 years now for a way to do level offsets, and have posted major errors on Lake Lewisville (my home lake) of the type that could ground you on humps because they are off by 3-6ft on depth. (I think they have since fixed that, it appears they scanned LL when it was low and didn't correct for it, so I put the "shallow shading" at 16ft (or whatever the 2nd level is) just to be safe.
Guess what I'm saying is don't get sucked in by the negativity (and you seem to be moving away from responding to that, which is good), you are helpful to the community at large and we all appreciate your posts when you help ALL users of all products. And since I'm not likely to now, or anytime in the future, be an HB/Lakemaster user, that's about as unbiased a compliment as I think you can get.

Thanks for the kind words...it's always been my first and foremost to help others as much as I can. I was blessed with some special people to help me get started and sharing Tips 'n Tricks and on-the-water experiences to others is my way of Thanking those special people in my life.

That is why I love my LakeMaster because it has been a great tool to help me in success on the water. It was a huge factor in my success at the Table Rock Lake BASS Open and learning more and more uses everyday. I know you love other products but next time you decide to upgrade take a look and get what's best for you...it's your hardearned money that you are spending and deserve to gets what's best for you. If you ever have any questions on the products I use and believe in feel free to ask!

Speaking of tips here is a neat use of GPS Mapping to help you catch more fish when targeting depth oriented or structure oriented fish. The features of LakeMaster make this so easy to do.

http://youtu.be/ouLFAMeLvmY

First of all I'd like to thank you for all your help to everyone on this forum. I am puchasing a new Humminbird 858c HD Di and have a Navionics Gold chip from my older unit. I'm really impressed with the looks of the Lakemaster chip bit haven't found any images showing the inshore or coastal areas. I'll be using it in Florida and wonder if you have any experience with the Lakemaster inshore fishing. I usually fish in 3-20ft. of water. Thanks for any help.

Where would you like data from can you give me some aproximate locations or GPS Coordinates and I can get you examples. LakeMaster AL/GA/FL Region Card includes Coastal waters so you get both with one card.

The Baby Blue color is the coverage area for Coastal Waters:

Thanks a lot Doug. This is the GPS numbers I fish a lot of:

N 29.39.584 W 83.25.468 this is Deadmans Bay in Steinhatchee, Fl.

N 29.31.417 W 81.50.712

Really appreciate this.

Bobby

The Second Coordinates is Lake Ocklawaha and is not yet covered by LakeMaster on the Version 1 Charts.

That's great. Thanks a lot Doug I really appreciate it. I guess I'll need to keep my Navionics Gold chip too but I'll purchase the LakeMaster when I get my new 858 Di HD. I hope to order it tomorrow. I hope LakeMaster will start upgrading their maps like Navionics does but it's probably a long time in the future. Good luck to you and thanks for all the help.

Fish alert,
Thanks for the lat longs. To give a comparison, I might suggest looking at the Platinum chart rather than the Gold for what you are doing. Both offer daily updates on freshest Data but since you are fishing might want to look at differences.

This your deadmans in Gold detail with the latest in Navigation safety detail as of yesterday and spot soundings


This is an image as Platinum Plus. if you are fishing the backwater creeks that are considered "not navigable" the sat overlays will show you all the creeks so you can run and fish them. Caught a lot of redfish and baby tarpon up that way in these areas. Only way you can see them far enough up is with that layer on with a Navionics Platinum. My good freind Rick Murphy does a ton of this. Also with SonarCharts you can add new one foot detail to that. more on that later.



This here is a shot of Fish N Chip detail turned on. We have one foot contours in many places for fishing data. Not the shoals showing up for saftey and fishing. also to the top part a little 6' hole. at low tide, we know what that means. loaded with fish. or even high tide. this again is seen on the Navionics fish N hip/Sonarchart layer.


if you fish North of there, here are two more good areas. I actually won a redfish tourney not too far away from these spots.



same area with fish n chip/SonarChart detail (FYI this will work on Humminbird)
better detail of contours on exact depth and also the 3' hole that appears and how it slopes off the sanbar contours.


if you want to see any other areas, you can also visit www.navionics.com we have a chart viewer on the front page. take a look at ANYWHERE you want to see. this wont show the SonarChart layer right now but your Hot Maps and Gold

Sorry forgot... on SonarCharts, to explain. On a Platinum Chart this is the ability to use your Humminbird unit, record sonar while you fish, upload that sonar to the webstore, come back 24 hours later, do a freshest data update and have one foot contours for not only your area but ALL areas that the Navionics Community shared to give you one foot chart from yesterday for real time up to date data.
examples:
Since you are in Florida this was a Gold before with two boats running sonar


this is an after:


another area further up riover
before:


after: notice the hole in the bend that wouldnt have been seen before


so in a simplle pic it works like this for Navionics sonarCharts:


a little more detail than requested on your lat longs but wanted to explain the Navionics SonarChart feature on Humminbird

I have both Lakemaster and Navionics, and prefer the Navionics because what Pmnav posted above much clearer and way more detail deeper and shallow water. The satellite overview is also a huge bonus. Freshest Data and the new Sonar Charts is an awesome addition you can now have the best and most up to date maps available

Get both then you get the best of both worlds...like I've said all along and even the Brand Manager for LakeMaster stated the same...I own both Navionics and LakeMaster. I use LakeMaster when they both have coverage on the Lakes I fish but you fish with more than one lure so why limit yourself to just one map. Heck I use lots of mapping and satellite services when I plan my fishing events.

With LakeMaster when the Tide is low you can use the Water Level Offset Feature to reduce the depths by the amount of tide. When it rises you can adjust it back that way you know exactly the water depth on the map and the land area at the current water level...it's not just a inland Lake Feature.

Lake Level Offset helps...So this don't happen to you...

""clearly lakemaster is a good product but does us no good if we have lowrance and i am not switching to a humminbird. why can't lakemaster product be supported on lowrance? this would be better for consumers.""(quoted from poster).......

. Why on earth would lakemaster do this? what could they possibly gain? why would they just throw away, at least half of thier marketshare, to go exclusive with humminbird? You know what I think?? I think humminbird bought a distress. Can you tell us Doug?

Haha nice image Doug!
Agreed, if you can afford both, go for it. More info is always better than less!!
With money being tight for some these days and have to decide, check out the local dealer and ask to see both in person. Decide for yourself on your own what works for you. I also believe the person you mention said "may the best chart win", so if you only do want one, choose the one that is the best for you and your needs