Navionics Chip, What Exactly Would I Be Getting?

[TrapperJ]

I have a Huimminbird 798ci HD SI

 

I been looking at the sites and i just cant understand what exactly i would be getting. If i buy the chip, is all it giving me is lake depths and contours?  Does it have like hotspots marked? that would actully be useful? Is it even worth it?

 

Just looking for some input, thanks!

[Wayne P.]

You would be getting about the same thing as the background mapping (ContourXD) that comes with the unit.

 

Some locations will have more contour lines and you will get more bodies of water for the region you purchase.

 

Review the list of waters covered on the Navionics web site for the region you are wanting, to see if what you want is included.

 

No, nobody's "hot spots" are included.

 

Its "worth" is for you to decide.

 

Take a look at the coverage that Lakemaster has for your area, you may prefer that product. Most do if both companies have the same coverage. It has more adjustabity. But you don't get updates.

[Wayne P.]

One more thing you can check with Navionics,.

Go to their web site and click on the Web App.

Select your area and zoom in to a body of water you are interested in and you will see the detail on the map cards if you update it when you get it. A new purchase includes a year of updates.

That way you don't have to guess what the map looks like, you can see it.

[TrapperJ]

Cool thank you for clearifying, i have the iphone app and if that is really all the extent that it is i cant see purchasing it. Like you said since the unit itself has the contour XD right now for me that should be plenty.

[jhoffman]

On my chip I did get extras in my home lake I wouldnt have had like creek channels, the main channel, stumps below the surface that I confirmed at lower level. Also, on a recent trip to another lake I had icons that gave me more information about the lake such as how the shad act and what not. Pretty cool.

[TrapperJ]

On my chip I did get extras in my home lake I wouldnt have had like creek channels, the main channel, stumps below the surface that I confirmed at lower level. Also, on a recent trip to another lake I had icons that gave me more information about the lake such as how the shad act and what not. Pretty cool.

 

Now that would be pretty handy.

[jhoffman]

I bought my elite 4 as a package

 

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Mapping/nautic-insight-pro-2013-en-us.aspx

 

 

For $329 at BPS during their classic I got the elite 4, the card above and a ram mount

[BassnChris]

Ft Gibson is one of the HD........I found it to be better than the supplied map.

Has 1' contours...channels and creeks and other stuff.

I have the south version and if you would like to see it give me a shout the next time you are in Tulsa or we can met somewhere so you can see if it is worth it to you.

I rely on it to keep me in the channel on lakes....especially on Ft. Gibson.........that lake can be treacherous in my opinion.......flying along and all of a sudden in the middle of what you think is deep water you find yourself in a very shallow spot with stumps or rocks that can cause great harm.

I was able to use mine at roadtrip this year on Pickwick. I checked before I left......if Pickwick had not been on this chip I would have purchased the chip that had it. Personally I will not run on a lake without it.

Disclaimer: chip is not a substitute for reviewing other maps and using boat responsibly safely.

[Wayne P.]

I bought my elite 4 as a package

 

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Mapping/nautic-insight-pro-2013-en-us.aspx

 

 

For $329 at BPS during their classic I got the elite 4, the card above and a ram mount

 

 

Lowrance mapping products don't work in Humminbird units.

[Fishing Rhino]

I have the Navionics premium (not platinum) chip.  I cannot say it denotes every one of these, but in some cases it shows submerged bridges, roadbeds, creek beds, emergent and submerged vegetation, as well as flooded timber.

[BassnChris]

Mine is the premium version too.

[Fishing Rhino]

Not all lakes/ponds are in HD.  While the HD maps are pretty accurate regarding position on the water, the non HD are not.  You may be close to shore, and the display can show you as being on dry land across a road that runs along the shore.  In those cases, the maps are only good for showing the general contours with very little detail about the pond.

 

Having said that, you can "mark" your own waypoints on the non HD lakes and use them to return to the same spot (s) in the future.  I think you will need a separate memory chip to store those waypoints. 

 

Wayne can give you the proper scoop about that.

[Wayne P.]

Not all lakes/ponds are in HD.  While the HD maps are pretty accurate regarding position on the water, the non HD are not.  You may be close to shore, and the display can show you as being on dry land across a road that runs along the shore.  In those cases, the maps are only good for showing the general contours with very little detail about the pond.

 

Having said that, you can "mark" your own waypoints on the non HD lakes and use them to return to the same spot (s) in the future.  I think you will need a separate memory chip to store those waypoints. 

 

Wayne can give you the proper scoop about that.

You can create waypoints at any position world-wide, on land, water, HD or no HD mapping.

 

GPS units, whether they are stand-alone or in combination with a sonar unit, store GPS data in the unit's memory.

That data does not get transferred to a memory chip unless it it done manually for storage elsewhere, or to be copied to another unit.

 

The Navionics HD surveyed waters are in a couple of forms. The older HD may have very few details other than 1' contour lines. The newest re-surveyed waters have a lot more details and Navionics is constantly adding more details with the Freshest Data program that you get with the updates.

The Platinum and Premium versions have the same map data if both are kept up to date.

 

The non-HD waters are usually scanned paper maps or obtained from "other sources". They may or may not be accurate in location or details. Basically better than nothing.

 

Another thing you may not know is mapping is not part of GPS. GPS works the same with or without background mapping. They work together but are completely separate. You can have location waypoints, tracks and routes with no mapping. I have about 75 waypoints for a particular body of water that has no digital mapping or even a fishing structure map--a fairly new lake. That location on Navionics is shown as land. I created an outline of that body of water using Google Earth, and converted the outline to Tracks, so I would have a reference point for all my waypoints there.

It looks like this:

 

[Fishing Rhino]

What probably confused me was the ability to store waypoints and courses on a memory chip using the Navplanner2 program.  When that chip is installed, it will show those on the display.  I guess it's an overlay or something like that.

 

I wasn't sure about the memory of the Navionics chip.  But thinking about it, it can store tracks, so why not waypoints?  Thanks for the clarification.

[Wayne P.]

Tracks are not written to the memory chips either. That is GPS data also that is in the unit's memory.

 

GPS data is Waypoints, Routes and Tracks. None of those are mapping data.

 

When you put any card in a unit with GPS data on it, that data has to be installed in the unit's memory to use it.

GPS data is not read directly from any cards, only map data is.

It makes no difference where the GPS data is created (including Navplanner), it still has to be installed in the unit's memory to use/view it.

 

Map data is an overlay on the Plotter screen. Units that do that are called Chart Plotters.

GPS units that record tracks, show waypoints and routes and don't have a mapping feature are called Track Plotters.

There are GPS units that are not Track Plotters or Chart Plotters and just display digital data.

[pmnav12]

Good stuff Wayne!!

[pmnav12]

BTW I know they don't work on Humminbird (at this time but maybe one day) there are Community Edits. These currently appear on Lowrance HDS, Simrad, and Raymarine. These are fishing locations, restaurants, under water structures, tips, marinas, ramps, piles, rocks, trees, etc... that are added to the chart under a separate layer. They are added via the smart phones on Navionics app and then through Freshest data appear on charts. Good way to find local data.