Help, Im in GPS Purgatory!

I’ve been looking at purchasing my first GPS unit and I think I could fix the national defecit before I could make an informed purchase. I want something compatible with the Navionics maps. I fish mostly western WI lakes and the river, but I was thinking about the premium package. I would like to stay under 500, but it will probably be more like 600 after the Navionics. I want a permanent mount on my boat that I can mount so I can see it while driving and turn it when I’m on the trolling motor if that is possible. I’m not loyal to any specific manufacturer so anyone with good experiece and knowledge please help me out with thoughts, experiences, and the best place to buy.

Thanks,

Brad

Brad,click on Jollyann Sales and Marine.He is a site sponsor,plus a heck of a nice person.He’ll be able to answer all your questions.
One thing I’ll add though.When you mount that hand held GPS in your boat be very carefull if your going to be in ruff conditions often.They will pop out of those mounts,hate to see you lose one overboard.
Ryan Hale

Take a close look at the Lowrance 4800. I have one season on mine with the premium Navionics chip and love it.

Of course Jolly Ann has a great price on both the unit and chip.

Lowrance 4800

Good Luck,
-J.

I would take a good look at the new Eagle Color units. Not only does JollyAnne have some of the best service around, he also slays the big guys on price. I have no idea how he does it, but he is under Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops on most of his new units.

Dave

I am waiting with baited breath for the Lowrance LCX-25c to show up in Wade’s shop!
Geronimo

Brad,sorry ,I thought you were looking at hand held units.
You won’t have problems with the larger units and mounts.
Ryan Hale

Hey Bomber!

There will be many opinions on which is the best to buy…but one point that everyone will agree on is that Wade is the guy…not just because he’s a site sponser, but because he want’s you to be a happy fisherman with out paying an arm and a leg. Yeah, he’s a nice guy too….

Of course I have to let you know that I’m the ’05 poster child for Jolly Ann Marine. (I just haven’t come up with a fitting poster…yet )

If it’s anything like the last one, well, maybe posting it here isn’t the right answer.

Brad,

Ma just purchased the Eagle Intellimap 500C along with the Navionics premium chip for me. I don’t have any on the water experience with the unit yet, but I will soon. If you are not in a huge hurry, let me know via PM and I’ll gladly share my opinion on both devices. I really can’t wait to get out and use the mapping function on a lake like Minnetonka(one foot contours).

All my electronics come from Wade at Jolly Ann. BTW, I’m fighting Brian for the poster child nomination!!

John

Could someone tell me how the Navionics chips work? I was looking at the Premium package and it says for WI under Mississippi River Pool 8 (including Lake Pepin). I was a little confused. Does this include Pool 2 and down or only a few pools.

Also how does the chip work itself. Do you load from your computer a single body of water at a time or can you have multiple bodies available at once.

Sorry for all the questions but I want to make sure I am getting what I want before I foot the $$$$

Kooty, that looks like a good unit, I’m probably not going to buy for at least a month so get out and test that darn thing Have you been able to play with the different map features yet?

Again thanks for all the ideas guys. When I make up my mind, I’ll go with Jolly Ann. You can’t go wrong with free shipping and no tax.

Brad

I haven’t gotten to play with any of it. It’s been sitting on the dining table since I got it. I am hoping to start working on it tonight. The garage isn’t heated, so working out there hasn’t been an option the last few nights.

I’ll do my best to answer some of your navionics questions. The chip goes in the GPS unit itself, you activate it on the unit and away you go. If the chip doesn’t have a map for the lake you are on, you go back into the menu and disable the navionics and use the basemap built into the GPS itself. Now, since I’ve never used either of the products, I could be completly wrong!

My goal is to get all the new Xmas presents installed before Sunday, then make a trip down to Pool 4.

For example when I am on pool 4 the GPS will lock in to where I’m at and with the chip in the unit I will see the lake map for the area I am at. As I travel around it will show the lake map for where I am going. It also draws a line showing my path of direction that I have gone. When they say you get pool 8 and Lake Pepin that is exactly what you get for the river, nothing else of the river. There is a different chip for most of the river pools. If you are getting a new unit then I would suggest looking at the new chip for 199.99 that has Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan on it. [could be one more state, can’t remember]. The reason I say to check out that chip is then you have alot of info for the nearby states and don’t have to worry about it later. Let me explain my situation and I think you will understand what I’m trying to say. I have 2 Lowrance 3200 Globalmap units on my Lund boat with a regular locator next to each one. I bought 2 #10 chips [Mn and Iowa] and since I like to take part in the ARM small events which one is in Wisconsin and my oldest son Derek now lives in OshGosh, Wisconsin [Lake Winnebago] I bought the Wisconsin chip too. Alot of my fishing takes place on the river so I bought the new River chip [covers alot of the pools] also. For ice fishing and fishing out of my jon boat I bought a Lowrance ifinder H20 hand held unit that takes the chips I have. With all that I figured I had the perfect set up that I want and need. THEN comes along the new chip that offers 4 or 5 states on it covering Mn. Wisconsin, and Iowa plus Michigan. So I contact Wade about that new chip as it also has a few other lakes that I want also and he informs me that the processers in my 2 Globalmaps aren’t big enough to handle the new chip as it has 3,000 lakes on it. So my choices are to either buy new units and the new chip for both units or I could just buy the new chip and use it in my hand held unit as that little thing has a bigger processer in it than my 2 big units. Well I bought the new chip only for now as I don’t want to change my units which are only a year old. Maybe change one unit down the road, don’t know yet. So thats why I say get what you want so you are set up good. With the new chip you get 3,000 bodies of water plus pool 8 and Lake Pepin and all of pool 4. If you want to fish other parts of the river then buy the new River chip too now so those chips will work in your unit. Computers change faster than a person wallet can get money into it if you know what I mean. And I bought all that stuff just because I spent one day with my youngest son Nate on Mille Lacs and he showed me how great that stuff is. He punched in waypoints and we just followed the line on the map on the unit to where we wanted to go to fish. When we were done fishing we followed a line back to where we put the boat in at. Sweet!!! Just had to have that setup. Boys and their toys. Talk to Wade, pm him, and tell him what you want and he will tell you what you need. His service is great and you can’t beat his prices.
Thanks, Bill

Thanks Guys. Bill, I think the Premium is the chip you were talking about. Even with only the pool 4 and 8 on the Miss, it lists every lake in WI, MN, IA, & MI so I still think its a good deal and I’ll have to pick the river one up later. Thanks for all your thoughts, I really appreciate it.

Kooty, if you come to Pool 4 and looking for someone to fish with let me know, I live right next to Evert’s and I’d be happy to chip in with the gas/launch. However, you can’t let the bass guys know I was chasing toothy critters!

Thanks Again,

Brad

Guys, thanks for the great support here! Wow! Sorry I have not checked in today. It’s been crazy with some of the new releases coming out. I think you guys have given some really good suggestions here…

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I’ll do my best to answer some of your navionics questions. The chip goes in the GPS unit itself, you activate it on the unit and away you go. If the chip doesn’t have a map for the lake you are on, you go back into the menu and disable the navionics and use the basemap built into the GPS itself. Now, since I’ve never used either of the products, I could be completly wrong!

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Kooty is pretty close here. You pop the chip in and follow the manual to tell the unit that the chip is loaded. If the lake you’re on is not listed, you may still get some benefit, with better defined shoreline detail (keeps you on the water instead of the trees).

The Premium Chip is the way to go. It’s awesome. Some GPS units that will run the Premium are:

Lowrance GlobalMap 3500C (just released)
Lowrance GlobalMap 4800 (Jon mentioned this unit and it’s a good one)
Eagle IntelliMap 500C (Kooty’s new toy!)
Eagle IntelliMap 480 (very similar to the GlobalMap 4800 for a little less $)

All 4 units will get the job done.