Can I convert Lowrance waypoints to Humminbird?

I think I may have seen something about this in the past, but didn’t pay much attention because I didn’t have a Humminbird. I picked up one of the 997’s that Cabela’s was closing out, so now I’m more interested. I did a little searching, but if this is possible and the info was posted I didn’t find it.

Thanks for the help,

Dave

I’m thinking that the answer to your question is yes. I’m not completely sure on this, but I think if you save the waypoints to an SD card and then put that card in the bird, they should come up. I hope someone will chime in and let me know if I’m right or not.

I saw that special buy on that unit, not bad at all. I’ve got a question about that unit too: since it’s a 997, I’m thinking it does not have the down imaging on it, but you can get a download and add it on. Is that right? If so, how does all that work?

Good luck with this unit, looking forward to hearing all about it.

Response from H/Bird:

If those waypoints are saved in either the *.low or *.usr Lowrance file formats than you should be able to pen them straight from HumminbirdPC and convert them into the *.gpx format to save on your computer and the *.hwr format for loading into your new Humminbird units. <a href="http://www.humminbird.com/support/FAQ.aspx?faqid=36” target=”_blank”>http://www.humminbird.com/support/FAQ.aspx?faqid=36

OR GPSBabel will convert the Lowrance files to GPX format. HBPC will convert and combine the GPX file(s) to the HB proprietary format, and write them to the SD card.

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I’ve got a question about that unit too: since it’s a 997, I’m thinking it does not have the down imaging on it, but you can get a download and add it on. Is that right? If so, how does all that work?

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Di can be added to a 997 by downloading a free update from humminbird,after you register your unit and open a an account.

Correct – The updates are very simple….

Dave, if you get stuck, I can try to help. That HB PC program is pretty cool and it is the program I have used to share those coordinates from our “scouting” days on the water…. Its nice saving those as a .gpx file and then opening that file in google maps… Save it as “my maps”, then you can access your maps anywhere you have access to the internet.

Mike

Thanks for the help. It really was as easy as noted. I opened up Humminbird PC put my card in the card reader and saw a card with arrows, but not sure yet what to do, so I went old school and used the pull down menu for file and open. It told me the files weren’t the right extention, so I used the pull down menu to select Lowrance and it told me it would have to convert them. I hit okay and the file showed up. I opened it, clicked waypoints and there they were.

I suspect it will be equally easy to load them into the unit. Now I just need to find time to get on the water and play.

Brian, it really was too good of a deal to pass up. I’m not a big fan of paperwork so tend to avoid it. I was getting pressure to turn in monthly mileage reimbursement forms for last fiscal year (ended June 30) and finally forced myself to do it. The total came to $1378 (that’s how much I hate paperwork) so I saw it as an omen to get the 997 at $1349. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? I was told that the units they had came from the factory with the updates, but we’ll have to see. As mentioned, if not, they are available as downloadable patches.

Thanks again for the help,

Dave

Sounds good Dave.

I really wish I had the $$ to get that unit, it sure would be nice to have that big screen. I guess it’s good that I can’t find it on their site right now, so at least I won’t be dreamin about it TOO much…

Yep, really easy to do. And you can do this for waypoints from a Garmin device also.

The Humminbird PC software has been pretty good. One thing I didn’t like all that well was changing the names of a large set of waypoints. When I converted over my Garmin waypoints I wanted to change the names so that I knew that is where they came from. It was a little time consuming to do that, I had trouble with pasting text. I also wish that you could import excel sheets (in a format specified by hbird).

Raap