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I'm investing in a GPS unit for the boat and I have a couple of questions for those of you that have GPS.
Is HotSpots the package to buy or is there a better map card for Indiana? Are maps for Geist and Morse included on the HotSpots pakcage?
Thanks,
W. Amos
I got the navionics Hot maps card and could not be more pleased with it. I would look at the websites to see what lakes they have on each card. I know I ended up with the navionics card becuase they updated alot of the main lakes (KY and Barkley) to high detail mapping. It does have geist and morse on there. They have about everything on there and several other states too.
Yep, the Navionics Premium Hot Spots Map Card is the only way to go.... Shows a lot of lakes in high detail in great contour, plus shows the locations of brush piles, log structures and other items of great importance that regular maps don't show...... But a good map and the Hot Spots sd card will work great together for anyone.....
I am not familiar with the Navionice Premium Hot Spots Map Card.
I have the Garmin Mapsource Fishing Hot Spots Digital Maps of Region 9 and 10. These cost $100 each back when I got my gps. Garmin was making good money back then as you had to buy $1000 worth of maps (ten regions) to cover the entire USA. And not all these lakes were on these maps for each of the states in each region.
The IN map only has Monroe and Patoka and not much else. I had to buy two different regions as I wanted to fish KY and Barkley and they are (were) a different region at that time.
Today I think that Garmin has combined a lot of the regions into only three regions that cover the entire USA.
The main thing I learned is that each lake at that time had different details. Some lakes like Reelfoot in TN had 2 ft contour levels. I guess that lake had a better survey that Garmin could use to make the digital map. But Patoka Lake contour intervals were 10 ft. Dale Hollow lake in TN/KY had 20 ft contour intervals. I guess since it was so deep they could not justify using 10 ft contour on that digital map.
I would recommend that you check out any information you can get your hands on before committing to the purchase of any digital lake maps.
Today they may have surveyed these lakes and have better detail on the contour lines. But 20 ft contour lines are not going to show you as much about the lake bottom as 5 ft contour lines.
I have some very detailed maps of Patoka and then I have the Hot Spots maps of Patoka Lake (Fishing Hot Spots Paper maps and the same thing on Cd. I can see property lines and the old ditches in my good detailed maps that have 5 ft contour lines but that doesn't show up on the FHS paper map or digital map.
If they have a web site that shows these maps then take a look at them and see if they are what you need before making the purchase.
Evidently from what the other guys are saying in this thread they have made changes to the digital data use to make these maps.
Good luck.
quote=MsgMills;317254]Yep, the Navionics Premium Hot Spots Map Card is the only way to go.... Shows a lot of lakes in high detail in great contour, plus shows the locations of brush piles, log structures and other items of great importance that regular maps don't show...... But a good map and the Hot Spots sd card will work great together for anyone.....[/quote]
[QUOTE=MsgMills;317254]Yep, the Navionics Premium Hot Spots Map Card is the only way to go.... Shows a lot of lakes in high detail in great contour, plus shows the locations of brush piles, log structures and other items of great importance that regular maps don't show...... But a good map and the Hot Spots sd card will work great together for anyone.....[/QUOTE]
This is the only way to go. Some lakes have foot by foot contour. I have not been on a lake in KY, TN or IN that this card did not cover. Granted I fish out of a boat with a motor, so I am limiting some lakes, but it has been very impresive
I appreciate all of the input.
These are just scan disk cards that plug into the unit right? Is there a place to download individual lakes to a plain jane scan disk card? If not, thats cool, just checkin before I make the $100 investment for a bunch of lakes I will never fish....
Lowrance does have some maps available on their web site I found. Free to download, just scan through the list and pick out what you want. Some of them were actually the HD type with more precise contour lines shown of the lakes.
Well the GPS unit has been installed and I purchased the Navionics Hotmap card. I haven't gotten any farther than playing with the new toy in the drive way but I'm sure it is going to prove to be a valuable tool.
I can say that the only thing I'm disappointed with is the fact that the navionics cards can't be plugged into a PC without further investment.