lowrance and Navionics map chips

[mfo]

  Does anyone have working with both" Lowrance fishing hotspots PRO, and Navionics Premium". I have seen the navionics pro and on the non-HD lakes the contour lines are roughly 5ft apart which is nothing to write home about. I haven't seen the lowrance maps but they appear to have  their version of HD maps and then just enhanced maps  and i was wondering how  the 2 chips stack up in terms of features and accuracy.

thnx

mark

[acar555]

I have used both, but in my immediate area, the navionics chips offers way more lake than the hot maps chip, so it isn't even a comparison.  The navionics premimum will have hd lakes on it with 1 ft contours with rest usually with 3 ft to 10 ft contours.  Some of the hot maps chips I have used were 20 ft contours but did lable structure better that the Navionics chip did.  I feel with over 4 times the number of lakes mapped the navionics chip is the way to go.  more bang for your buck. Accuracy is right on.  

[Long Mike]

I have also used both.  Navionics wins, hands down.

[senile1]

I have heard that Navionics, while more detailed, requires a lot of extra button pushing on the Lowrance sonars, as opposed to the Lowrance Fishing Hotspots.  It is also my understanding that Navionics can show details down to one foot increments while the best that Fishing Hotspots can do is five feet.  I'm willing to do the extra button pushing for the improved details, but I wanted to confirm that this information is correct.  Also, how much extra button pushing are we talking about?

[Wayne P.]

senile1, the only extra button pushing required for Lowrance units is to tell the unit to use the inserted Navionics software. You do that once the SD card is inserted and don't need to do it again unless you tell the unit to not read the Navionics card. That procedure is outlined in your manual in the mapping section. Not all bodies of water have the 1' contours, only the HD surveyed ones.

[Jig Man]

senile1, the only extra button pushing required for Lowrance units is to tell the unit to use the inserted Navionics software. You do that once the SD card is inserted and don't need to do it again unless you tell the unit to not read the Navionics card. That procedure is outlined in your manual in the mapping section. Not all bodies of water have the 1' contours, only the HD surveyed ones.

You bet and none of the lakes I fish are covered by good 1' Nav yet so I went with Hot Spots Pro.

[Wayne P.]

Jig Man, I really don't like the 1' contours for a couple of reasons. First, for regular navigation, its too much clutter on the screen. Second, the accuracy is not absolute since it seems the contour lines between the actual survey points are filled in for a general contour of an area. I know of several places that the software contours are completely opposite of the actual contour such as a long point represented on the map is really a steep drop off and some places show a steep drop when a long sloping point is.

[senile1]

Wayne P. and Jig Man:  

So do you guys prefer the Hot Spots maps for these reasons that you mention.

[Wayne P.]

senile1, I tried both Hotspots and Hotmaps Premium East in 2006 and preferred the Hotmaps due to the bodies of water contained. I got the Hotmaps Premium South 2007 also.

The most important choice one has to make is to be sure the waters you are interested in are included.

The 2008 version of Hotmaps Premium has more lakes that I fish regularly, but I haven't purchased that version. I probably won't upgrade any more since I have gotten away from the tournament scene and glitter rockets. Small bodies of water (1,000 acres >)are what I concentrate on now. My GPS usage now concerns saved waypoints and a map is not even required for that.

I defer to Jig Man for his opinion of the newer versions.

[Long Mike]

Both Wayne and Jig Man have valid points,  but it has been my experience that both the Navionics and the Hot Spots cards have mapping errors - some of them serious.  Both cards have their advantages and disadvantages.  My personal preference is have a map with the close interval contour lines. If clutter is an issue it's very simple to zoom out a couple of steps until the 1' contours disappear.  My vote still goes to Navionics.

[TommyBass]

Regardless of what your unit may tell you, the best accuracy you are likely to receive with a civilian gps is 3 ft.  And really I wouldn't expect anything better than 10 ft in many scenarios.  Nearby trees and high shores will create short commings in these areas.  Granted, a 10 ft accuracy (lets say you put the gps right in the middle of your boat) on a 20ft bass boat would mean the sought after area is still within bow to stern of your boat.  Having something with 1 ft accuracy is all but useless unless using some sort of military equipment / satellites. Whats this mean?  Basically if the map is giving you 1 ft contours those contours may or may not be correct, depending on the suppliers gps equipment.  But other then giving you a visual reference, your not likely to use their exact gps points to find them within anything smaller then 3ft.  

Just so you know