Insight Or Navionics?

[Scotty58]

Hey guys i bought a HDS 7 gen 2 this winter and will be installing it here soon. I was just wondering what your guys take was on the Insight mapping that comes with it? I've never heard much, all the pros seem to use navionics but $100 to $200 is something i rather not spend if Insight is good enough. Just looking for your opinions on it. And any tips or tricks to installing the HDS 7 in a nitro Z6. Thanks!

[junyer357]

we used the canned insight maps that came on our hds7 for a year or two before we upgraded to navionics. The insight maps are okay for navigation and have some detail of the botttom but have no where near the level of detail the navionics maps to show contours of the bottom. the insight maps (on lakes ive used them on anuway) show channels, and have depth lines every 5ft i think it was. Navionics has 1ft depth changes.

I would try the canned lowrance maps first before going to navionics. Depending on how you fish it may be fine. I use the navionics maps far more than my dad does To look for subtle humps. He mainly jiat uses the gps for naigation, to which stock maps wok great.

[crankbank]

I think it depends on a few things:

 

1. Size of the lakes you fish.

 

2. Amount of lakes you fish.

 

For me, the lake closest to my house is rather small.  After a few trips, I had the entire lake mapped and was really able to take advantage of it.  

 

Regarding the larger lakes I fish, I really wish I had Navionics as it would make things much easier. 

 

Insight has made some advantages where I think it would be definitely worth your time to try that before purchasing.  For one, I believe you can get a lot out of it without spending the $99 on the premium subscription. You are also able to generate the maps for loading back onto your SD card with 1" contour lines.

 

Back to my second point. If you're always fishing the same handful of lakes, that aren't massive, I would take an afternoon or two and try and map the entire lake.

 

Social Maps is another feature Lowrance has been working on improving.  You may be lucky enough to find some of your local lakes that have already had a good chunk mapped.

 

As for installation, I had mine done by the service guys at BPS when I purchased my boat.

[jcoholich]

I have used both and like both for different reason. If I were going to rely on a mapping chip for depth and contour lines I use the Navionics charts. Reason being they push new data into the charts every week so

It constantly is being updated and with the new SonarLogging people all over are uploading there logs into the system to update the lakes quicker and making the contour lines more accurate. I use the insight Genesis more for bottom composition and vegetation. Also I like to be able to scroll back in my sonarlog and see where fish were located and what I missed on my sonar when fishing a lake

[RoLo]

I'd go with Navionics+

 

Roger

[Wayne P.]

I have used both and like both for different reason. If I were going to rely on a mapping chip for depth and contour lines I use the Navionics charts. Reason being they push new data into the charts every week so

It constantly is being updated and with the new SonarLogging people all over are uploading there logs into the system to update the lakes quicker and making the contour lines more accurate. I use the insight Genesis more for bottom composition and vegetation. Also I like to be able to scroll back in my sonarlog and see where fish were located and what I missed on my sonar when fishing a lake

The Navionics data is updated daily " somewhere ".

All you do is check the web site's Web App for current data and update your map card if there are any changes.

[WIGuide]

By me I try to use both. I'll switch back and forth to see which offers the most detail for the lake I'm fishing. Usually Navionics has a more but there are a few that are the other way around. 

[Murphangler]

I would recommend using both for the reasons already explained here.  The one BIG advantage of using the Navionics card (particularkly the Navionics+ card with SonarCharts) is their updated data.  Navionics users with SonarCharts provide data back to the Navionics database, which is then compiled and shared with you, the end user. 

 

Here's a video showing the effect, skip to the 3:04 mark to see how SonarCharts can make a difference.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my75IuTSOZ8

 

Hope this helps, Good Luck!!

 

Murph

 

WWW.MURPHANGLER.COM