Lakemaster plus vs Navionics

[AJ's Dad]

I have the Humminbird 899 CI HD SI on my Skeeter. I am going to buy a mapping/conture/depth chip for it. At this point I am leaning towards the Lakemaster Plus edition. It has a the capability to overlay actual aerial photographs on the screen along with the conture lines. This should allow for easier identification of creeks and or sterams entering a body of water, as well as make the map look more familiar, by seeing the actual lake. This feature can be turned off as well, and use it like a normal map.

Just wondering if anyone has this yet and if so, how they like it. Also if someone has had Lakemaster vs Navionics experience. Likes and dislikes for both.

Thanks for the help

[hewesfisher]

Can't help with the Lakemaster, but I do have Navionics HotMaps Premium for western lakes and I like it - a lot. Not sure what the overlay does that a regular bathymetric doesn't. I see all the creeks, streams, obstacles, structure, contours, etc. with HotMaps, so don't know what additional info the overlay could provide other than being a photographic presentation of the shore line?

Just checked HB's site for Lakemaster plus, Couer d'Alene is not an HD listed lake - http://www.humminbird.com/WorkArea/Down ... px?id=6539" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. If you scroll down to page 6 of the link you'll see all the HD lakes listed by state. Only AZ and CA have lakes with Lakemaster HD surveys the remaining states are HD only.

[AJ's Dad]

Hewesfisher, good point. After looking at the list it appears there are actually very few lakes that would even have the aerial imagry. My guess is that as lakes are added, a guy could get the updates to the software online. Who knows how long it will take to add a significant amount of lakes before it woule be of any real benefit. Maybe I'll save a buck and get the regular verion.

Thanks for the input.

[hewesfisher]

You're welcome.

[AJ's Dad]

Well after reading hewsfishers comments, I looked further into the two units and made a decision. I pulled the trigger and ordered the Navionics Hotmaps Premium. I like the fact that they have a ton more HD mapped lakes in Washington and they also cover the water in Idaho in HD that I spend most of my time fishing. Another nice feature is that you can go to the Navionics website and actually look at each lake and see what the map is going to look like. Looks like they have great coverage for Potholes, Roosevelt, and Banks lake. Coeurdalene Lake is also in HD. I hope I made the right decision.

[hewesfisher]

Be sure to post back and let us know what you think. I've been using HotMaps premium since 2009.

[AJ's Dad]

Well I got the Navionics Premium chip in the mail yesterday. I updated it and checked it out in the Humminbird. The maps look very good. Now I just need to get out and try it. It will be interesting to see how accurately it displays the bottom conture to whats real. I'm not seeing very many you tube videos on it showing how to use features. Then again it doesn't seem like it has as many features as the Lakemaster. I would love to have the feature that lets you select a range of depth in a highlighted color. Maybe it has it and I haven't found it yet. There was zero info in the box. There is however a place for a CD to have been and there was none in there. Maybe it was instructions and they were left out.

We'll see

[hewesfisher]

No CD, not with either of mine. Don't know if you can highlight a select range of depth, have never tried. I have found depth contours to be very accurate at Roosevelt and the few other lakes we've fished in the past (Sprague, Clear, Silver, Newman). Roosevelt is about the only place we fish anymore and I'm not compelled to retrieve the boat from there to fish elsewhere.