Gps unit for fishing ?’s

I was wondering what everyone is useing. Im in the market for one and i was wondering what everyone uses and what they like about it? And does anyone one know if gps units that would for both hunting and fishing?

I’m looking for a unit that i can get lake maps for and can uses for marking stand locations and other misc spots.

Thanks everyone.

Mike
I use a Lowance H2Oc. I believe this would be an option worth looking into. It is easy to use, and if you get stuck on something, many people on this site will help walk you through most issue on using it.

I run the Lowrance Expedition C and love it. Finding old spots fast, finding new spots to fish laying in bed watching TV. I can’t imagine trying to fish anymore without one.

Thanks for the info. I know lowrances are a good unit,And have been looking into them as well. does anyone use garmins?

The big difference between the h2oc and the Expedition C, the expedition adds a barometer, altimeter and a magnetic north compass. Meaning if you lose satellites you will still atleast know what direction you are heading with the compass. A nice feature when you are hunting under a heavy tree canopy. Lowrance units will except the standard Lakemaster and Navionics chips.

Garmin units have some nice topo software available for them, good for hunting. The lake maps you need to use Garmins version of the Lakemaster. Same info has the standard Lakemaster chip, Garmin just doesn’t update the chips has often. You will not be able to use Navionics chips.

Difference in the chips:

Lakemaster: gives you all the streets and back roads for the state. It has some really nice HD maps for the popular lakes. And it automaticly loads.

Navionics North: has more lakes per state then Lakemaster and again offers some really nice HD maps. And you get 6 states, ND,SD,MN,IA,WI,MI. The down fall here is the unit is not capable of reading the whole chip at one time, you have to go into some simple menus to load the area you want (not a huge deal). Such as NW MN, SW MN.

The best way to decide what chip will work best for you is to go in to a store have them put the chips into separate units so you can compare the chips side by side on the lakes you fish.

I think most of us choose the lowrance because of the ability to run either chip. And alot of us use Lowrance GPS/finder combos on our boats. The menus are the same and we can easily transfer the way points form our boat unit to our handheld and back.

Alot to think about!

Hope this helps!

Ryno

Great post, Ryno.

Mike, I would suggest that you go with the Lowrance units, whether it be the H2OC or the Expedition C, simply for the fact that the map options are better for fishermen. With Lowrance you can choose between Lakemaster, Navionics, and Lowrance’s own mapping software.

thanks for the info. you explained alot I will probally go with a lowrance. but i think i am going to check them all out this weekend and see what works best for what i am going to do.

And again thanks for the input.