lake maps

hey there folks, i was just wondering if any of you would know where i can find some decent lake maps for a cheap price. or if that is not possible please let me know. the maps given by the DNR website is not all that good. thanks…

Welcome to the site, fish-4-fun!

As far as lake maps go… I think that you might want to invest in a GPS that takes lakemaster or navionics lake chips! These are a great investment… better information and better at getting on the fish than any paper map will do ya! otherwise, my personal opinion is that just about any map will do as far as just ‘seeing’ what the depths/structure are. Go to Cabela’s and pick up a regional map book.

so about gps, i have seen lots of them that have a wide variety of prices. now i dont know which brand is good, and which brand is worth its money. can anybody give me any info. i know lots of people have gps. i mean i could go and talk with a sales associates, but i want to get a users point of view on these gps thing. thanks.

The Lowrance H20C seems to be the one I have heard the best reviews about. If you don’t need color and want to stay cheaper, you could go with the H20. Visit Wade’s website at http://www.jollyannsales.com Wade has some of the best prices around as well as no shipping or sales tax.

would like to hear some opinions on hand helds as well

The ones I mentioned above are hand held GPS. Here is my next purchase:

H2OC

Maps of what lakes???

I marked this thread as a favorite, because I will be needing a hand held this spring.

i wonder, do hand held gps system tell you the bottom structures too. because i always seem to see it on shows where people would just know the bottom structures by looking at their gps. or am i wrong. and for example do these hand helds give accurate mesures of lake depts. just wondering.

Some will give codes: S, R, G, M (Sand, Rock, Gravel, Mud-Muck). These show up on the map, around the depth numbers.

hey i checked out the lawrance H20, and i believe that we have to buy maps for these hand helds too. i checked out some of the products but they all seem alike. so based on users, which producer would you say sell good maps for quality price.

The good thing about having to buy chips for these… is in the future as technology in mapping increases, you do not have to go out and buy a whole new GPS system. Just sell your existing chip and purchase the new chip.

I know that Lakemaster and Navionics are two of the best. It depends on which lakes you fish the most and what lakes each chip will carry. Lakemaster is now providing some lakes in HD which get the transition areas down to 1′. This is not for ALL lakes. you will need to do a little research and see which chip is best for your situation.

I have had the H2OC with the Lakemaster Chip, for a while now. It has been on four trips to mille lacs ice fishing. I have used many other units, and chips. In my opinion, you will not find better, more accurate, easy to read, easy to operate…gps and chip then the above combo. And this sounds like a broken record..but Wade is the only place I will shop!!

I am looking at one of the 3 previously mentioned units. The Expedition, H2O and H2OC. This thread has been a big help. I’d get the B/W over the C if it has all the same features, but I also noticed the screen is slightly smaller. I’ve never played around with a GPS unit, but if you go to Low Lowrance you can download a emulator of the H2O unit. Pretty cool stuff.

Fish, Something else that you may be interested in if you don’t want to splurge on a gps yet is the LakeMaster Contour Pro software. It doesn’t have every and all lake but it has many. It has the same lakes on it as the LakeMaster MN chip.
Now the Contour Pro software is strictly computer software for at home. It allows you to pull up a lake and study it on your computer. You can also print these maps out while being able to pick the size of the map or zoom in on a certain area. You can create waypoints on your computer, and the maps also have the GPS grid on them. Before the days of digital maps available on GPS, this software was a huge help. I’d recommend it to everyone and especially those who do not have a GPS capable of digital mapping chips. Here is the link to the Contour Pro software. Just scroll down to the MN series and click the links for detailed info.
LakeMaster Contour Pro Software

Using this in conjunction with an H2O and the mapping chip is a deadly weapon

Let me know if you have questions. I’m happy to answer them

thanks alot man be sure to use it and see what happens. i’ll update on this matter later.

Fish,

I just got the H2O for Christmas and a Navionics chip and love it. I have not used it extensively but from what I have seen and tested it should work great when I am on the water. My 2 cents from a novice user.

Good luck