NEW Garmin Minnesota LakeMaster ProMaps

Good news for Garmin Owners.

Garmin Press Release:

Garmin Website – Product Page

January 30, 2004

Garmin® Maps the Way to Prime Minnesota Fishing

OLATHE, Kan. — Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN), today announced the release of MapSource® Minnesota LakeMaster© ProMap, a collection of highly detailed fishing lake maps for Garmin GPS chartplotters or handhelds.

“The land of 10,000 lakes is a fishing Mecca for anglers across the country — and now Garmin is offering maps of 51 of the most popular Minnesota destinations in the highest detail available,” said Gary Kelley, director of marketing for Garmin. “Combined with a Garmin GPS, these maps are the next best thing to having a seasoned fishing guide aboard the boat.”

The maps include high-definition, three-foot contours and underwater structure detail — created from meticulous on-the-water surveys. Map details also include islands, reefs, points, bays, access points, marinas, and more.

“LakeMaster prides itself in providing some of the finest lake maps available,” said Mike Wood, the president of LakeMaster. “We’re confident that this great tool will become must-have equipment for any serious angler using Garmin chartplotters.”

Anglers can purchase either a CD-ROM or a pre-programmed Garmin data card to gain full access to the MapSource Minnesota LakeMaster ProMap lakes. Coverage includes:

Alexander (Morrison Co.)

Arrowhead (Crow Wing Co.)

Bald Eagle (Ramsey Co.)

Big Cutfoot Sioux (Cass Co.)

Big Marine (Washington Co.)

Big Watab (Stearns Co.)

Carlos (Douglas Co.)

Cedar (Wright Co.)

Clearwater (Stearns Co.)

Darling (Douglas Co.)

Edward (Crow Wing Co.)

Fish Trap (Morrison Co.)

Forest (Washington Co.)

Geneva (Douglas Co.)

Gull Lake Chain (Cass Co.)

(Margaret, Nisswa, Ray, Roy, Upper Gull)

Hubert (Crow Wing Co.)

Ida (Douglas Co.)

Le Homme Dieu (Douglas Co.)

Leech (Cass Co.)

Mille Lacs (Aitkin Co.)

Miltona (Douglas Co.)

Mississippi Pools 4 & 8

North Long (Crow Wing Co.)

North Round (Crow Wing Co.)

Osakis (Todd Co.)

Pelican (Crow Wing Co.)

Pelican (St. Louis Co.)

Sugar (Wright Co.)

Upper & Lower Whitefish Chain

(Crow Wing Co.)

(Big Trout, Bertha, Clamshell, Cross,Daggett, Island, Little Pine, Loon,

Lower Hay, Pig, Rush-Hen)

Vermilion (St. Louis Co.)

Waconia (Carver Co.)

White Bear (Ramsey Co.)

Winnibigoshish (Cass Co.)

The new LakeMaster ProMap data is compatible with all Garmin chartplotters, including the GPSMAP® 172C/178C, the GPSMAP 162/168, GPSMAP 182/188, GPSMAP 232/238, GPSMAP 2006/2010, GPSMAP 176/176C, GPSMAP 60C/60CS, the GPSMAP 76 series, GPS V, Rino® 120, Rino 130, eTrex Legend® and eTrex Vista®.

I recently added some cool screen shots of the mapping detail of the Garmin Minnesota LakeMaster Maps . There are some very helpful images there that might help you get a better idea of what these maps will look like on your GPS. It also gives a guy a better idea of how different the maps can look on a color unit versus a black and white. The detail looks good on the B&W but that color sure helps sort out detail.

These Garmin LakeMaster Maps will be available in both the CD-ROm format and as a pre-programmed data card. That will mean that you’ll be able to use these with many of the Garmin Handheld GPS, as well as the larger fixed-mount GPS and GPS/Fishfinder Combos.

We’re HIGHLY recommending the Garmin GPSMAP 172C as a great GPS to run these maps on. I’ve talked to a couple different Garmin guys about the 172C and the word is GREAT. I think we’ll have at least one if not a few staffers here running the 172C as well as the Garmin LakeMaster Maps and we’ll hopefully have some detailed product reports for folks this Spring.

Derek J. had asked so I’ll answer for everyone’s benefit… The Garmin LakeMaster CD/data card is available with three-foot contours. If you go to the link here and scroll WAY down to the bottom of that page you can see all the images of the maps in action. If anyone has any questions please let me know. I’ll answer the most common question now… I don’t know when they’ll be in stock yet. But, I will post that info when I have a better idea. Thanks! –Wade

The Garmin Minnesota LakeMaster Software is now available for shipping. They are available as a CD-Rom or you can get them pre-loaded on a data card. Note that your GPS must accept data cards if you purchase that format, otherwise you’ll want to order the CD-Rom format.

The list of lakes and some screen shots can be found on our website here: Garmin Minnesota LakeMaster Promaps

Anyone looking for a good GPS for running these maps can look here: Garmin GPS units

Or, if you need a fishfinder/GPS combo look here: Garmin Fishfinder/GPS Combos

I really like the look of the Garmin GPSMAP 178C combo and the Garmin GPSMAP 172C GPS but Garmin has not started shipping these just yet. They were hoping for the end of March but I hear it may be later than that.

For handheld GPS, I’d suggest the Garmin GPSMAP 60C or the Garmin GPSMAP 60CS . They’ve got plenty of memory (56MB) and a 256-color screen, making these handheld GPS good choices for running these maps. Garmin also offers accessories for the 60C/60CS that turn these GPS into an auto navigation system, making them very versatile.