Navionics For Lowrance Elite 5 DSI

[conroekro88]

I'm interested in getting a Navionics chip for my Lowrance Elite 5 DSI unit. I found a page on Lowrance's website that says the "Gold" and "Premium" editions in the microSD card format are compatible. Do I just buy either the "Gold" or "Premium" card and that's that, or will I be able to download updates after I buy the initial card? From looking at Navionics' website, it doesn't look like the unit I have is advanced enough to run the HotMaps Platinum or Navionics + programs, but I just wanted to make sure since I don't have much experience with SD/microSD card maps.

 

 

[Wayne P.]

You are reading outdated information.

The Hotmaps Premium regional cards and the Gold cards were discontinued at the end of 2015.

Current products are shown on the Navionics website. Plus a new edition will be out soon that directly replaces the Hotmaps Premium. That will be the regional Navionics+ cards that are preloaded with the Navionics maps (Nautical Charts) and can have Sonar Charts maps downloaded also like the current Hotmaps Platinum, Navionics +, and Platinum+

The new regional Navionics+ cards will be the same price as the discontinued Hotmaps Premium cards. $149.

For a particular lake, every product has the exact same map if each product is updated the same day. All new purchases of any Navionics card includes a year of Freshest Data Updates. Regardless of what day the data was put on one of the map cards, you can have today's maps today.

The discontinued Gold and Premium cards were not renewable after the year of Freshest Data Updates expires. The other cards are renewable annually for $99

The Hotmaps Platinum cards have extra features that is not mapping and some less sophisticated units cannot use those features. Still should read the maps though. I used to have a Humminbird sonar GPS unit that was not compatible with the Platinum cards, but it would read the Nautical Charts and Sonar Charts just like my higher end models.

The map cards are microSD and come with a SD adapter for most brands. There are some not well known brands that use Compact Flash cards. Navionics has those covered also.

 

 

It looks like Navionics is updating their website's unit compatibility list, but once that is complete, you will see what is compatible with your Elite DSI unit.

I do know that the discontinued Elite models cannot handle a lot of data at speed and the chart updates don't keep up with the boat movement at speed. The Navionics+ product can be customized to allow for that by deleting all the data and only load the bodies of water you need= less data to process.

[conroekro88]

I ordered a HotMaps Premium card a little while ago after doing some searching. As long as I'm able to get updated maps (even just for a year) with the HotMaps Premium card, I'm fine with sticking with that. Here's the compatibility page I was looking at on Navionics' website: http://www.navionics.com/sites/default/files/documents/americas_compguide_2.pdf

It was updated at the end of last month. The section that has my unit (Elite 5 DSI) basically doesn't show any compatibility with the newer cards. I do understand what you're saying though about being able to run portions of the newer cards, but I would rather have a card that I know is 100% compatible with my unit. I basically only fish one lake, and I'm sure the HotMaps Premium card will be a world of difference from the mapping that came preinstalled on my unit (which is pretty basic).

[Wayne P.]

That link just brings up the current compatibility chart that is being re-done. It shows the unannounced 2GB Navionics+ cards for non-US waters. 

Yes the Hotmaps Premium you found will work OK in your unit, but slowly.

When you get it, do the registration and update so your Update subscription will start. If you don't use it, you loose it. It comes with a USB SD card reader in case your computer does not have a card reader.