Lakemaster or Navionics

[ribar]

Hello fallow anglers,
I am looking to upgrade my fish finder for a Humminbird Helix, likely series 7 SI G3. The question I have is whether to go with the Lakemaster or Navionics maps. Looking at other people's posts and videos, the opinions are split.

Given that I am mainly fishing locally around Ottawa and including a few lakes in Quebec, would I need two Lakemaster cards, one for Ontario and another for Quebec?
In that case, would not be better to go with Navionics, although it appears that Lakemaster provides more accurate maps, particularly watching videos from the States.
I appreciate anyone's experience.

[toobinator]

If you can only get 1 chip, I would go with the Navionics. The Lakemaster is great as far as it goes, but really only has the St Lawrence and Big Rideau in hi-def. Having said that, you can do some cool stuff with it that you can's with the Navionics ie highlight a depth range. The Navionics has far better details in the rest of the lakes, plus much more coverage in Quebec. I have both in units at the store so you can see both in action. I also have Helix 7 Mega SIs G3ns in stock as well. I have a helix 7 G2n in stock and on sale too.

Ed
Paddletales

[ribar]

Thank you Ed!

[lape0019]

I currently have both and still prefer Navionics. Apparently the newest version you can download has info from both Navionics and Garmin so I am expecting it to get even better. It's funny though because I have noticed there are some times that navionics is more accurate and others where Lakemaster is. As Ed stated, Lake master really only has two HD waterbodies and the detail is lacking anywhere else. But being able to highlight different depths is pretty cool. If done right, it can also easily show you humps or ditches you may have never noticed before.

If only buying one though, I would definitely go with Navionics right now. In a couple of years, I may change my mind but for right now, there isn't enough detail in the non HD maps for me to want to buy another lakemaster chip.

[ribar]

Thank you lape0019. I'll be going with the Navionics maps as they have been proven accurate and look for the hidden humps with the new Humminbird SI sonar:)
Appreciate your help.

[David Chong]

The new Navionics chip does incorporate the best of Navionics & Garmin data! There are quite a few more lakes on the Navionics chips as well! If you have an old card from C-MAP, Fishing Hot Spots, LakeMaster, Lowrance Insight, Magellan or TrakMaps you can get up to $75 USD rebate when you purchase a new Navionics chip. For full details:
https://www.navionics.com/usa/lp/rebate ... ntent=logo

[ribar]

Great to know, thanks David!

[Ragehunter]

Hey folks,
Does anybody out there have any information on the Navionics app available for Android?
Is it worth the money?
Is it the Navionics Boating HD Marine and Lakes app I should be looking at?
Any information is appreciated.
Thanks.

[jjcanoe]

Hey folks,
Does anybody out there have any information on the Navionics app available for Android?
Is it worth the money?
Is it the Navionics Boating HD Marine and Lakes app I should be looking at?
Any information is appreciated.
Thanks.

I've found it fairly accurate for the price but far from complete coverage. I use it for parts of Georgian Bay and haven't found many places that are off for depths.

[jjcanoe]

Hello fallow anglers,
I am looking to upgrade my fish finder for a Humminbird Helix, likely series 7 SI G3. The question I have is whether to go with the Lakemaster or Navionics maps. Looking at other people's posts and videos, the opinions are split.

Given that I am mainly fishing locally around Ottawa and including a few lakes in Quebec, would I need two Lakemaster cards, one for Ontario and another for Quebec?
In that case, would not be better to go with Navionics, although it appears that Lakemaster provides more accurate maps, particularly watching videos from the States.
I appreciate anyone's experience.

Remember that both of these cards do not include every single lake, check their respective websites to see if the lakes you want have been mapped and included on the card.
If you plan on fishing only the same few water bodies consider going with a finder that has mapping capabilities, Autochart, Quickdraw etc.

[David Chong]

The Navionics mapping covers over 1800 bodies of water in Ontario alone! For a complete updated list of lakes in Ontario, visit the Navionics website https://www.navionics.com/usa/navionics ... anada.html check on "See Lake list>" and select the province or state that you're interested in and see if the body of water that you're interested in is there! Great point by jjcanoe, you can make your own maps by investing in a unit that have a feature like Quickdraw and make your own maps! #NavionicsApp #NavionicsAmbassador #SonarCharts

[jjcanoe]

Just picked up the Garmin echomap 75sv on the weekend, has the lakemaster charts in it, looking forward to comparing it to my navionics charts that I have for my Lowrance which gets moved from the dash to the bow. Can't wait to get the boat out of winter 'boat jail' in a few weeks.
This will be my first side imaging unit, also has Quickdraw.

[David Chong]

Just picked up the Garmin echomap 75sv on the weekend, has the lakemaster charts in it, looking forward to comparing it to my navionics charts that I have for my Lowrance which gets moved from the dash to the bow. Can't wait to get the boat out of winter 'boat jail' in a few weeks.
This will be my first side imaging unit, also has Quickdraw.

If you picked up a Garmin EchoMap 75SV then it would either be preloaded with the Canada LakeVu g2 or g3 maps not the Lakemaster. What year is the unit you bought? If it is a 2018 then it has the g2 mapping which will need to be updated to the new g3 charts. The Canada LakeVu g3 incorporates all the best of Navionics and Garmin data.

[jjcanoe]

My bad Lakeview! I believe it's last years model, no updates for me til I get my boat back and it installed!

[David Chong]

My bad Lakeview! I believe it's last years model, no updates for me til I get my boat back and it installed!

Once you update your charts then you will have the new Garmin LakeVu g3 charts which will have the best of both worlds, both Navionics & Garmin data. You'll love it!