advise for the best chip lowrance hds 5 gen one

okay guys , push has come to shove. I have this unit with out a chip( and I don’t want say why the unit doesn’t have a chip)..what is the best chip that WILL WORK that I can buy for this unit.. new , used, what ever.. You guys always seem to know , and never once has your advice been wrong for me.. thanks in advance.. I am truly listening.. but I have to make a move asap.. I have limited beans, so I only want to buy this chip once.. but the unit does nothing for me on the river without a chip.. thanks again..

If you are in MN I know the Lowrance Lake Insight Pro chip will be a VERY good choice for you. Since I do not fish in ND, SD or WI much I cannot comment on how good/bad they are in those areas, but for MN/LOW/Rainy River the Lake Insight Chip is identical to what was on the Lakemaster Chips (it was multiple chips with lakemaster to get all these bodies of water). If you travel deep into LOW on the Canadian side, Navionics might be a better choice. About half of the lake is in 1 foot contours on the Lake Insight Chip BUT the North Half has nothing. Navionics has at least the major hazards and humps all marked with depths randomly throughout. But isn’t mapped with the 1 or 3 foot contour lines.

Wow.. guys I was really hoping for a better response.. I fish the river.. and then fish the river.. and I fish the Mississippi river.. my boat hasn’t been off the river in over 10 years.. I really could use your advise.. thanks..

go to the navionics website and look at web app you can look at the river and see the map detail. Then reserch their chip to see which one have that detail. I have the navionic North chips in my HDS7 gen1 and my gen2

I used a navionics last year for a couple months and didnt care for it but that was likely because I was so used to Lakemaster.When Im on the river if it wasnt for wanting to know my speed I wouldnt even use the chip or the gps for that matter.Either chip will give you a general idea but definately nothing to rely on.The accuracy of either chip as far as depth goes with having the changes in the water level and structure over time isnt the best by anymeans.

do they still make a lakemaster for this unit ? or do I have to buy a used chip?

I read somewhere perhaps on this board a recent lowrance hds update renders the units unable to use lake master chips since they are owned by minnkota hummingbird.

The last lakemaster chip that would work was 2011 or 2012. Trust me, the Lowrance Lake Insight Pro chip IS THE SAME! I have them both and compared them side by side.
I don’t fish the river South of St Cloud so I don’t know how good it is there, but if Lakemaster was any good, then the Lowrance Chip will be the same.
Regarding the SW update, that is completely true that a recent SW update renders the Lakemaster chips inoperable. I believe it was version 3.5 of thereabouts. I know my Gen 1 units are at an older version than that and my Lakemaster chips still works fine in them. It does not however work in my Gen 2 touch which is on version 4.0.

oldrat wrote:

Wow.. guys I was really hoping for a better response.. I fish the river.. and then fish the river.. and I fish the Mississippi river.. my boat hasn’t been off the river in over 10 years.. I really could use your advise.. thanks..

You never said where you fished initially so that would have been helpful information for those responding.

I apologize for not giving my primary use location.. I am sorry.. But I do need a river chip..
thanks again…

If I had time I would take some screen shots of my lakemaster and Lowrance chips (or even the Navionics one I have) of the same area of the Mississippi for you to review and compare. I don’t right now because I am getting ready for a Canadian fishing trip next week. Maybe when I get back if you haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

The new insight chips are pretty good for the mississippi. Also, Navionics+ is really good.

Go with the Navionics + you can prover the mapping on Navioncis.com click on the webapp, once here zoom in on the areas that you like and click on the sonar icon on the lower left for the high def sonar charts view.

I know my buddy bought an used gen1 last summer and I gave him an old lakemaster chip and it worked for him.I still have the old Lms units and bought the last lakemaster chip they had available before the changeover,end of last summer borrowed my buddies elite5 for awhile and pretty sure the chip he had in it was the navionics gold chip.