Bob La Londe wrote:
Got my map create software yesterday. Came all the rest of the
manuals for
the new boat. Finally I was able to load maps for my area. I was a
little
bit disappointed. Nowhere near the level of detail as my Garmin
maps. On a
positive note the names of several areas and features were listed
that the
Garmin stuff shows clearly, but doesn't show the name. On a major
plus side
for the Lowrance, it locks on and centers the location when you power
it up
within a few seconds. The Garmin GPSMap took as long as a minute or
sometimes two before it would lock onto the satellites and center the
location on the map.

Anybody know if there are more detailed maps available for the
Lowrance GPS
Maps?

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com


Bob,
Lowrance seems to be more interested in selling pre-loaded memory chips
than software. I have used both Garmin and Lowrance. IMO Garmin has
better mapping(although they do take longer to lock like you mentioned)
but its hard to beat Lowrance for sonar. I have lms332c units up front
and in console.

On the front unit I use the "enhanced lake maps". These are pretty
good detail (better than the "mapcreate" maps and are free.

On the console unit I have the FHS "elite" chip $99 direct from
Lowrance. This one has much more detail and underwater structure. I
would say the "elite" pretty much compares to the garmin FHS cd. The
only gripe I have with it is that you can't plan a trip on the computer
and load the waypoints like you can do with the Garmin.

I have not used the Navionics chips to compare them to the elite but
have heard they have quite a bit of detail.

I still take my handheld Garmin in the boat when I fish just to be able
to upload to my computer later and study.

Shane