navionics

[ranger7717]

i'm a bit unclear about chart cards for fish finders....are all cards compatible with all units (lowrance, hummingbird, raymarine, garmin) ?

[Wayne P.]

No. Garmin is not Navionics compatible any more. Used to be but they decided to force owners to use their mapping if they wanted any.

Navionics is compatible with 18 brands including Lowrance, Humminbird, and Raymarine.

The compatibility list is on the Navionics website.

Like Garmin, some brands have their own mapping products, check their websites for those products.

The Humminbird ONIX unit I have is compatible with Lakemaster, Navionics, and C-Map. My other Humminbird units are Lakemaster and Navionics compatible.

Before you purchase any digital mapping, check the coverage it has to see if the waters you want are included. A mapping product is of no use to you if doesn't have what you want, how you want it, where you want it. You can view the actual current maps that Navionics has on their website's Web App. You may can get the list of waters covered for other mapping brands--Lakemaster has a list on their site.

 

 

[ranger7717]

will a lowrance ( or any ) unit with gps show me that i'm on a body of water( and the shape of it ) or does it have to have pond / lake information from a card .... a car gps will show you water as you drive by it 

[Wayne P.]

16 minutes ago, ranger7717 said:

will a lowrance ( or any ) unit with gps show me that i'm on a body of water( and the shape of it ) or does it have to have pond / lake information from a card .... a car gps will show you water as you drive by it 

That "pond" would have to be on the background map the units has. The background auto map has no depth contours, different map product.

Some digital map products for marine electronics do have more "stuff" than just the bodies of water with depth contours. Some units have included a lower quality background mapping than what you could have via memory card.

If you look at the Navionics WEB APP, you will see lots of locations with just an outline like an auto GPS unit has. I recorded data to have HD contours created at a lake like that.

Before:

After:

[ranger7717]

how did you record....with genesis ? 

[Wayne P.]

If you are on a pond that just has the outline, the GPS will show you are there with the position curser. In this case the boat icon:

If you are on a pond that has no outline on the background map, the GPS will still show your position with the position curser:

In either place, you can save a GPS Waypoint that will allow you to return to that exact location from anywhere in the world.

 

13 minutes ago, ranger7717 said:

how did you record....with genesis ? 

Insite Genesis is a Lowrance product.

For that lake, I recorded sonar logs with my Humminbird units, and uploaded them to the Navionics website's Sonar Charts server. Navionics processed my sonar logs and created the contours. Then I updated my Navionics map card to get that processed map. Sonar Charts is a shared map data process and is added to their data base for anyone to use. It is a free service and the maps are free to anyone that has a map card with the Sonar Charts capability. It can be viewed on the Navionics Web App and is included with the Navionics Modile App for smartphones and tablets.

[ranger7717]

thank you very much for the help.....one more question ( please ) i'm looking at all the brands out there, and i like the gen 2 touch, but having to buy a side scan transducer is pushing me away because of the added 2 - 300 dollars.... if i find a lss-1 transducer, can i use that on the gen2 touch?

[Wayne P.]

Yes, the HDS Gen2 Touch models will support the LSS transducers without the LSS data box.

The LSS-1 transducers were discontinued several years ago. Good luck finding one of those.

If you can find a package deal with the LSS transducer, that would be the best choice. It would be the LSS-2 version.

[ranger7717]

still looking at my options....next question : i've seen cheap hds7 on e-bay , just the head unit. i assume these would be what they call gen 1....if i buy that along with a new ( or older) structurescan box and transducer , i'm thinking they will all work together, and i will have sidescan?