I plan on upgrading from a Eagle 320 Fishelite on my Bow to a 480 Elite on the Bow. I have one 480 at the cockpit. Can anyone give me advise on weather to acquire the classic Navionics MMC or the Premium or is there anything out there that's better? From my research, I've compared them by the listing of the lakes and found out there is a big difference. I live in Oakland County and noticed that a lot of lakes are not there either. Oakland Lake but not Woodhall, Maceday but not Lotus, in Livingston County, Strawberry, Zukey and Little Portage but not the rest of the chain. Lobdell but not Bennett in Gennesee County. I've got one old Navionics HM279 card for Mi. that I plan on trading in and I've got a Navionics Hot Maps Gold, (North-2004), but was contemplating the new Hot Map East E-2, which covers Mi. and some Southern states. I fish mostly in Mi. on the St. Clair & Erie but want to do more inland lakes especially in Oakland Livingston & Gennesee County. Can Anyone advise me?
Have you ever looked at the Lakemaster Pro Michigan map. From what I've seen its got a lot of bang for the buck. It also covers a lot of inland lakes. I bought it this past year and unfortunately my older LCX 15mt isn't fast enough to run it to its full potential. I'm thinking of selling it and a MapCreate series 6, USA East and USA West CD set that I don't use. If you'd like to see it in action PM and we'll get together.
Mark
I've viewed the lake listing on the Eagle GPS website and it is impressive, but it doesn't list a lot of Oakland county lakes like Oakland/Woodhall, the Pinkney chain, Lobdell/Bennett. It does have Lower Pettibone which I've been aching to try. The Navionics premium has a rebate on it right now for $ 50.00, which will make it cost about $ 100.00 What are the Lowrance enhanced maps on the Lakemaster card and how much do they actually show. You can put these cards in a unit and scroll to an area and zoom in to see details.
if it works with your system i'd definitely go with the Navionics Premium, I had it and loved it, showed most all of the little lakes I like to fish, many I had never heard of. Its a very good map for Saginaw Bay too, if you ever fish it.
I have both the navionics premium and the hot maps.
I only use the navionics premium becouse it shows depth contours in color and makes for a safer run in shallow waters at 70mph it also is just easier to read!
the hot maps shows the depth contour lines real well and does have stuff like underwater stump fields and old home foundations marked but to be honest I rarely find what they have marked.
right now with navionics having the $50 rebate I would definitley go with the navionics premium, I have the north but I think I should have bought the east becouse I think it has michigan down to kentucky lake and east, I dont get over to wisconsin or minnisota.
Well, I'm still lookin especially since I'm not doing any fishing, but my major concern is the pinkney chain of Lakes, Lobdell/Bennett, Oakland/Woodhall, Maceday/Lotus. Lower Pettibone is not on any Navionics, but is on this other card by a company called Waypoints and sold by L.E.I. I think the companies that make electronics like these sucker us because I've seen the Navionics card change and remove lakes and add lakes. Also the GPS/Sonar makers sucker us by adding features to the units and making old units obsolete. I'm trading in my Eagle 320 Fishelite for the 480 and the company is going to give me $90.00 for it. The new one is $337.00. I need some more input on that card though. Thanks Fellas
I have the Navionics and it's great. But it doesn't have the inland lakes I want. But I did check out the Lakemaster Pro in my boat when I was on St. Clair and Cass and it rocked. Way, WAY more contours than the Navionics St. Clair card and it was more accurate. If I could afford it, I'd by BassCat's in a heartbeat just for those 2 lakes alone.
I agree with Cast n Blast... I took adavantage of the $50 rebate.
It's hard to beat a chip like that for $100.
joshimoto son ;D
I have one in the back of my boat, and I love it!!!!!!! It is also on my x-mas list for the front!
Man I think I spend more money on this stuff not fishing than actually fishing. I'm leaning towards the premium Navionics Hot Map. I wouldn't mind looking at that Lakemap card either. I wonder if one of the outitters like BPS or Cabelas has a demonstration going on. I think Gander Mountain and BPS have GPS seminars. I do know that on the Eagles and the Lowrances, that you can download waypoints on a blank SSD card and upload them to another unit. All the inland Lakes I want to fish on are not on any one card. I want to try Lower Pettibone next year, more of Oakland/Woodhall, more of Lobdell/Bennett and Maceday/Lotus Straberry, Zukey, Big Portage, East Crooked, Woodland, just to name a few. Man it's going to be a long winter.
Well my question about the New Navionics East card got answered today. The New card has all the lakes I wanted to fish in Oakland, Genesee, & Livingston county on them. Lakes like Oakland/Woohull, Lobdell/Bennett, Maceday/Lotus, The Pinckney chain, (Portage, Baseline,Strawberry, Zukey, Gallagher), Woodland, East Crooked. It didn't have Lower Pettibone but what the h___. It even had a few more in Oakland county than the 06 card. I just purchased the 06 card and don't want it. This is a racket to keep you spending loot. I wrote Navionics last year to ask them if they had planned on including more lakes in these counties, but they didn't respond. I E-mailed them back today again. I've got three of those cards that to me are useless.
On the lobdell chain does it show hoisington and the small lake just off bennett?
I don't know if you ever checked out the Lakemaster Pro Michigan Series mmc card but I have one that I will be selling. I just put my Lowrance LCX 15MT on eBay so I don't need it anymore. Post or PM me if interested.
Mark Hill
Card is SOLD
Yes it has Hosington on it too, but it doesn't have all the Oakland, Genesee, and Livingston lakes like the 07 Hot map does. It does have Lower Pettibone it though. Man I'm peeed.
Well, I got retribution finally from Navionics. They ageed to trade that East 06 card I just purchased for an 07. I didn't purchase the card from them because they charge S&H but they took it back. I picked it up from JollyAnn sales in Iowa. I wanted two cards though because I have two Eagle 480's. They sold me another one and I ask them could I trade two older Michigan cards in to get the $50.00 trade in on both. They agreed. I filled out a trade in form from the website,packed the cards in a bubble envelope, insured it and sent it back. I'm happy as a cissy in Boystown. ;D