[bassball]

Need some info. on software for a GPS I have just purchased. I see that in the Hotmaps for Michigan Lake St. Clair and parts of Erie are included. I also know there is other chips you can get with St. Clair and Erie (XL editions). What are the difference. Will Hotmaps suffice for normal fishing use?
Also, how much is MapCreate software useful? I want to get the most out of my machine, without getting useless software.
Thanks

 

[djkimmel]

Welcome bassball,
You could call D&R Sports Center at 800-992-1520 and ask someone in electronics.

That's were I've referred some of my friends. I haven't tried any yet, but I will see the Navionics MMC for the Great Lakes a little later this year.

The experts at D&R are recommending Hot Maps for inland and Navionics for Great Lakes because of coverage and detail.

 

[No More Mini]

DING DING

Dan is correct again. I did the beta testing for Navionics on the Great LAkes versions of the charts for GPS (before the MMC card days). I can tell you that detail you will get on St clair and Erie is phenominal on the XL series from Navionics. The Hot spots versions are the same as the HotSpots Fishing Maps (paper maps). You will get more detail with the Navionics, BUT Navionics has limited coverage inland. That is where you will need the HotMaps from Navionics. Both are available at Bass Pro Shops in Auburn Hills.

There is also a new deal coming from Lowrance.....click here to see it.

Mini

 

[Dowd]

The XL chip is the way to go. I tried out both the Hot Spot and XL chips prior to purchase and found that the Hotspot map in your GPS only gets you close. The XL chip will put you right on the spot you are looking for. I called Navionics about this and they stated the way they convert the paper chart to the electronic form is different on both chips. On the XL chips, they "raster the chart" to the electronic form, this takes in consideration the curvature of the earth. While with the Hot Spot version, they scan in the map, this does nothing to correct for the map being flat, so the gps is off by a certain amount.
Navionics also carries a XL3 chip with includes all of Erie, St. Clair, Huron and parts of Lake Michigan.
Another deal to watch out for, In Jan of this year, Navionics stop selling their chips with the Canadian water information. They just started selling the chips again with Canadian info on 3/26/04, see the Navionics web site for more information. I checked with Bass Pro and Cabelas on 3/20/04 and the only chips they had in stock were ones without the Canadian depth info.

 

[bassball]

Thanks guys for the info. It is much appreciated. That is what I figured but wanted to ask anyway.

 

[boatnfish]

Agree, go with the XL classic chip for Erir, St. Cair and the lower part of Huron. It is all on one chip, compared to the three chips you needed for the older GlobalMap 2000's. I use the MapCreate for inland lakes since I really don't care about the level of detail. Depth coutours, etc are great and well worth the investment.

 

[JCOOPER]

The perfect solution is to do what I did and buy both the hotmaps and the classic XL. If you spend any amount of time on inland waters the hotmaps is something that after having, would be hard to live without. If not and the time is 50-50 the lowel level detail of the hotmaps would be ok to deal with, when u get all the inland waters.

 

[foreverbass]

check the lowrance web site...they are putting free maps up there every day and I was talking to one of thier people and they sadi St Clair willbe on soon.

Dan