Lowrance iFinderPro

Question;

I’m going to be looking in the market for a new portable GPS here in the next month or so.

I’m very fond of Lowrance / Eagle products and I like their systems.

I’ve been eyeing up the new iFinder Pros, due to you can load the MMC cards. Plus the price is very appealing.

However, I’ve heard that these units are not water proof?!?! And they do sell a “water proof” bag to put them into.

Is this true?

Anyone have any other opinions on hand held GPS units and what is better than others?

Gary, I can tell you that it does come with a water proof bag. It’s clear so you can see the GPS if you choose to run it that way. I also like the fact that the cigarette lighter adapter is included. You can run Navionics cards on it too. I like the look of it enough that I’m going to use on myself this season. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet but I’ll let you know more after I get a chance to use it.

By the way, the iFinder H2O is coming soon. It is water proof.

Here’s the iFinder Pro details.

Wade;
Thanks for the comment.

I see that you have GREAT pricing!!!

You will get my business!!!

Gary You can download the emulator for the ifinder pro from Lawrance and play with it at home before you buy. I’m sure you already knew this but there was a chance you didn’t. I’ve been playing with mine for about a month and still have some to learn. It is a great unit and well worth it. Only problem I had is finding more chips. Jim

Wade, Do you have any idea what the H2O unit will cost? Also how many maps can a person put on a 16MB MMC card? Do you know how much the cards cost and does the SD cards work ok in the GPS units and are they cheaper? Thanks, Bill

Bill, I’m guessing it will be around $225 but I don’t have my pricing info yet. How many maps can go on a memory card varies by the size of the map, so I can’t really say. One of the best values when your looking to use memory cards is to get the “Plus” model but I know you already have a 16MB card and the MapCreate Software. The Lowrance iFinder Pro and the H2O can take MMC Cards or SD cards. You can get a 32MD card for around $30 – $40, 64MB card for around $40-$50, all the way upto 512MB cards for around $300. If you end up needing an additional memory card jst give me a yell.

Take Care Bill – Wade

For a rough estimate, anybody have any idea of maybe how many 1000 acre lakes would fit on a 16MB card?
Thanks, Bill

Has anyone heard if the Lowrance ifinder H20 is out yet? Or has the pricing at least been announced? I almost bought a PRO model (water resistant with waterproof bag) until I heard the H20 model was coming out in spring. Well, it is finally spring and I’m not sure if is worth waiting for the new model. Has anyone use the PRO model yet? If so, how do you like it ?

I used the pro (non h20) on the rainy last weekend in the rain, I can tell you that mine recieved more water than reccomended !!!! it works fine, personally i think they say “water resistant” just so you dont submerge it, it rained on us for awhile and forgot to put the bag on and it was fine.

this is my first lowrance gps, ive had a gps 12 from magellan for years and it was hard to change but when navionics became compatable it was hard to say no.

i heard the h20 was coming about a week after i bought the pro, was upset at first but i think it will be fine, the cig cable is a great add and it also came with the waterproof bag.

I’m in the same boat, wondering whether or not to wait for the H2O. The bigger question for me was the memory cards. I spoke with a wonderfully helpful person at LakeMaster today and she had this to say.
To get all of their lake info for the Lowrance models you need to purchase two separate cards. Unfortunately, you still don’t get all their lakes. For Minnesota fans, you get 51 lakes on the ProMap list for $200. To get Mille Lacs, and three others, you have to spend another $200 for a separate card. For the Garmin models, you can get the whole list of lakes for a single $200 shot. I’m a big LakeMaster fan — tons of points already in my computer — so this is a bit of a disappointment. Sounds like there might be a remedy on the way but not until this fall. I’ve been comparing iFinder to the group of Garmin 76 units but prefer the look-feel-dual processors in the Lowrance. Still up in the air on this one.

The Fishing Hots Spots ”Navionics HotMaps” Region 10 Chip which is Minnesota and Iowa has Mille Lacs on it plus 55 other lakes on it and sells for 129.99 for Lowrance and Eagle GPS. This would be another option for you.

Thanks, Bill

Well this is my point on this. I have the Ifinder Pro and it is a great unit. I realy like it and the Region 10 maps are great but. I know for a fact that the Lake map for one of the lakes here( Saylorville Lake) is at least 11 years old. We had a flood here in 93 and it washed out the road by the spillway and a new one was put in and it is not on the map. This is not a problem but I thought it should be more up to date. Was out yesterday and it showed I was up on dry land in one spot. Truth is I was about 60 ft. out from shore. This is only one lake . Hope the rest are better. Humps and channel are still close though. Shore line will change with water level change. I think it was still a good investment. Just my two cents worth. Still a great unit. Jim

One more question. Does anyone know how I can set it so it will track (Total Miles) I have read and tried differant things and can’t get it. I like to keep track of my on the water miles for the year. If you are doing this also please let me know where you got the info to set it. What page? I’ve set the total miles but it does not work for some reason. What am I doing wrong ? Jim

Bill, is the Navionics map you mention in regard to Mille Lacs the same one LakeMaster puts out? If not, what is the contour spread 1 ft – 3 ft – 5 ft. I don’t put a lot of faith in digitizing a DNR map. I’m under the impression (wrong or right) LakeMaster’s Reel Bottom and Pro maps were created by actual on-the-water research.

The contour spread is 5 ft. There are things that only the real bottom maps can show that the others don’t as they have a more detailed bottom. But the Navionics do a pretty good job and alot more lakes for the buck. I don’t fish tourneys on Mille Lacs or guide so they work fine for me. It all depends what you are going to use them for-tourneys, guide or fun fish. I fish mostly pool 4 and small lakes so the Navionics are a more of a bonus item for me. They are fun to use. When I was down at Lake Okoboji in Iowa with my son Nate last year prefishing with him for the RCL Walleye Leaque Championship they came in handy. While the tournament was on a friend of mine who came there to fish for a few days with me and I went bluegill fishing as the lake has some nice gills. I had the paper map with me and looked for a bluegill area marked and just followed my way on the GPS Plotter map from the chip to get to that spot and we anchored there and caught a nice bunch of gills. Really neat.
Thanks, Bill