Three years running now I’ve stayed at the Casino in Grand Portage. Boat has been left alone. Reeeeeeally hate leaving the boat and truck load of stuff sitting out there but I’m not ready to sleep in the boat yet. Cross the fingers and this year will make four uneventful overnights. Good luck on the Canadian ponds.

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.

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.

Jumping in a little late in the string but … can you guys using the chips with maps right on your locaters download info to the computer and back again? I’m using a handheld Magellan 315 and Lakemaster Software which allows me to dump points for a given lake into the handheld. It, too, is “nuts on” but I still have to deal with a paper copy for reference. The only other downside is that Lakemaster’s data interface, quite frankly, sucks eggs. Once they include some mechanism to dump points into Access or Excel the only thing I’d miss is having the countours right on my X97. But for price ($150 for the Magellan and $100 in software) you can’t beat the portability — getting in another guy’s boat who doesn’t have the electronics. And then there’s the hard water of these long frigid months…

I was dissapointed in reading one of the early responses to your question. Namely, that the FL-18 has a bottom lock feature. Anyone want to buy my FL-8 … It’s time for me to upgrade!

But seriously, I’m struggling with the same question in terms of the LCD and its compatibility with temp variations. I’ve got a Lowrance X-97, used one summer, that I’m in love with and would like to put an ice ducer on it. I’ve been asking around for the past two months and the opinions (few facts) haven’t been very definitive:
* you won’t have any problems
* don’t let the LCD freeze or you will damage pixels and get a garbled screen
* keep the isplay unit in the truck or coat pocket while setting up
* use one of those 4-hour handwarmers, place on the screen while in transit
* LCD is difficult to read in direct sun

I like to run from hole to hole at times and my FL-8 (still for sale) is subjected to the temp variations. At this point I’m not willing to risk my X-97 in those conditions.

JHinty

Thanks to all who took the time to reply. I’m not sure I heard a strong argument for one over the other so I’ll probably follow ‘fowlers advice and set them side-by-side at the store and let my jigging hand make the decision.