Been looking hard at getting an H2O do these support the new 2006 Navtronics chips?? Will be using it for both open water and ice fishing so the H2O seems to be the perfect choice IF it supports the new chips.
Thanks
I bought the new H2o Color and it works GREAT, i also got the new 2006 Navionics chip and it works well in it, i dont fish without it 
I highly reccomend getting one 
Thats what I wanted to know. Reeds has them $60 off at the moment so far the best deal I have seen. Is the computer stuff worth the extra money??
I dont have the computer stuff.. so i couldnt answer that maybe someone else can… 
I just ordered one from Reeds yesterday. I have always had Magellan Sport Tracks so I hope this one is good. If you go to the Navionics web site they list the H2O as being chip compatible. I am not sure about the larger size of the GPS since I have always had ones that are smaller. Heck for the price I couldn’t go wrong. If you don’t like it you can always return it.
YES I have the “old” black and white H2O and just put the new chip in yestarday. (jollyann) Have not been on water yet, but it pulls the lakes up and looks like it will be fun. I say go for it. aj
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Thats what I wanted to know. Reeds has them $60 off at the moment so far the best deal I have seen. Is the computer stuff worth the extra money??
I believe you’re referring to the Mapcreate Accessory pack that comes with the PLUS package? If so, it if helpful if you plan to save waypoints, etc to your PC, and is especially helpful if you plan to do any hunting or vehicle navigation with the GPS. See details here.
The H2OC and Navionics Premium is offered as a package for $375 at Jolly Ann Marine
I purchased my unit from wade, couldn’t be happier with the service, or the unit/chip/computer software! The unit is sweet, especially for ice fishing mille lacs!
Before, I purchased mine, I emailed with him back and forth about eight times, I was trying to figure out whether I needed the plus package, – if I wanted the navionics chip or the lakemaster chip. He was very helpful!
Couldn’t beat the price either..
Two way up for jolly ann!
So I’m kinda disappointed. I usually use the lake master MN chip but I just picked up the new NAV prem. chip……These chips don’t come with road maps like the lakemaster lowrance? Is there an adjustment I don’t ahve tuned in here or what. I mean great it has all these lakes but what about the roads to get to them?
Good price Wade whats the total cost with the H2O C, Nav Premium and the pc software?? I would on occasion use it for driving and elk hunting out west.
Yep Matt,
your right……..I have the Nav.Prem.chip and Lakemaster Pro. And your right the Lakemaster has the roads/highways marked on it!!!
Thanks Luke! I appreciate it! 
Its not even as simple as just roads and highways. Most sportman have those big red atlas/gazetteers( i don’t know how to spell that!!!) Anyway, That lakemaster chip has more detail than that atlas by delorme. I was up snowmobiling in the north country and that chip had every little creek, field road, forest road, and firelane marked. It defines urban areas really well too with every road in a town or city marked and labeled. I had no idea navionics doesn’t have it. Thats a huge difference! Thats a selling point right there. Oh well I got it for cheap when cabelas screwed up the advertised price.
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Good price Wade whats the total cost with the H2O C, Nav Premium and the pc software?? I would on occasion use it for driving and elk hunting out west.
Add $85 for the software, card reader, and blank data card.
I like the H2OC enough that I’m keeping one for myself. I run Navionics but it will run Navionics or Lakemaster. We can put an H2OC/Lakemaster package together too.
Matt, when you’re running a Navionics map it overrides the basemap so you lose the streets and highways that are on the basemap. You just have to “turn off” the map to get back to basemap to view streets and highways.
For those of you who really want more detailed streets and roads, spend the extra for the Mapcreate software. It’s really loaded with detail. If you’re not familiar with Mapcreate, the best way to fully understand what it’s all about is to read the manual. It is available on Lowrance website. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page there and click on “view manual”. It’s a PDF file. You guys will be amazed at how much is offered on Mapcreate.
The base map that is preprogrammed into the H2O shows only main highways and other significant roadways. I’m saying that the Lowrance chip is what is responsible for the high detail map I’m describing above. When using the lakemaster chip it also overrides the preprogramed base map only to replace it with the same map you would get off of mapcreate. However mapcreate is capable of producing many more maps of the US, while the lakemaster MN chip is exclusive to the area in which contoured lakemaps encompass. It is impressive. Now if we could just get the land maps of lowrance and the lakes of navionics on one chip,….we would have a popular product. Oh well theres always new chips in the years to come.
I live in New England and have been looking at the Navionics and Lowrance Nauticpath maps for the coastal waters I fish. One of the things I have learned is that the Lowrance Nauticpath map, when loaded, is merged with the base map when it is displayed. As you have noted, that is not the case with the Navionics maps. I know the Nauticpath is only for the coastal waters and the great lakes, but I thought I would mention it since it seems like Lowrance is working hard to expand their freshwater maps as well.
Dan
Matt, you can load your mapcreate map directly onto the unit I believe. Just select that file when until you get to the lake, then go to Map Data and select the Lake Data you want. Just like traveling from Mille Lacs to Winni, they are each on different Sections on Navionics chip so you have to switch when you from one lake to the other 
Thats a good idea, in fact probably what most do. One problem though,……I’ve only used mapcreate to transfer waypoints from my gps units to the PC. Out of all my years using lowrances mapping products I’ve never needed to download base maps. How large of an area can you get into the internal memory so that I don’t have to store it on a card and play card swap. I’ll see if can figure it out.
I could be wrong, but I think you must load the mapcreate map onto a card first and then put it into your unit. When the mapcreate map is selected via the menus, the mapcreate map and the base map are merged and displayed as one. The size of the mapcreate map is limited by the size of the memory card that you are using.
Has this changed on the newer units? I have an H20 that is about 1.5 yrs old.
Mapcreate can not be installed to the internal memory of the H2O. 
Sorry it’s one or the other.
What is this H2O thing that you guys are talking about, I am way out of the loop. I think it is a depth finder but have never heard of it before. Could someone explain it to me please. Thanks, David
It is a water proof handheld GPS unit.
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What is this H2O thing that you guys are talking about, I am way out of the loop. I think it is a depth finder but have never heard of it before. Could someone explain it to me please. Thanks, David
There isn’t any free memory for downloads on the current iFinders. For mapcreate data, you just load it on the blank data card that comes with the package and slide it in the GPS. Obviously, you will have to remove your lake chip at the timie but I have never met any one who needs lake contours and hiway data at the same time. 
I suppose BrianK will be the first. I still don’t have him convinced that we don’t have a detailed map of his bathtub yet!
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