Fish-Hawk.Net

Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my electronics to a ff/gps unit. I fish on some lakes that aren't included in the available chart products, so I'd like to know if it is possible to either load a topo map into a Lowrance/Eagle or Humminbird unit (to get the lake outline and land references), or import map data like from the Ontario government or from a scan of a paper map.

You can do a lot with some PC mapping software, so perhaps it is possible to create an MMC/SD card with PC software that the Lowrance/Eagle or Humminbird units can read.

Anyone done this?

LT

You might have to get special software ie. Fugawi(spelling???)
Send eyetracker a pm he should be able to get you the info.
I bought Freedom maps from Lowrance and it has all lakes and ponds and creeks from Manitoba to the Maritimes (Topography)

You can purchase Topographic maps on SD or CD for most GPS units on the market. For Lowrance and Eagle you want to look at Map Create Canada or the Freedom SD Map chips.

Many of the inland lakes in Canada have not been charted for bathymetric data so it is difficult to get any data showing contour depths. A few lakes in Ontario and Quebec are included on the Navionics Fishing HotSpots SD map for Canada.

-sheldon

Here is a link for Lowrance - Eagle Software Topo Maps for your GPS.

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Mapping/default.asp

You will need to buy a SD Map chip for your unit. You have to register your
SD Chip before you load it.. You can register up to 5 SD Chips per one card reader that
comes with your 4 CD Disks of the Topo Software.


You can copy approx. half of Ontario and a section of the USA on one
256meg SD Chip... Never hurts to buy a larger card now days, they are cheaper every week..

As you enter your way points in the GPS... you can save them to these programmed chips you made up.
Don't try saving anything to other chips.. thats a no-no

I have a chip in the both units in the boat.. and a chip in my hand held unit for deer & moose hunting in the fall..



Lowrance Software Updates.
http://www.lowrance.com/Downloads/Updates/default.asp


Hot Maps Premium Maps 2007 List of lakes take a look
http://www.navionics.com/HotMapsPremium_07.asp

2007 has almost double the lakes as the 2006 Hotmap..



Enjoy

Fraz


.

Thanks guys!

I was hoping this year's Navionics would cover more of my chosen lakes - but not yet.

I was also hoping that one of the ff/gps combos would accept a map format other than just their proprietary format so that I could take some PC map software like Fugawi and create a topo map of the lake shore and islands and upload that to the GPS unit. That would give me a land/water view of the lake that I could see while out in the boat - no depth info, but I could still mark the safe channels, shoals, and good fishing spots on it. Sadly it looks like each ff/gps unit supports only the manufacturer's specific format and no standardized formats.

Fugawi lets you upload/download tracks and waypoints to Humminbird and Lowrance/Eagle, and others, so I could use Fugawi at home with a topo of the lake to view/mark features and upload the the marks to the GPS. Still wouldn't give me the view I'd like on the GPS while on the water, but it it would be an improvement to working solely on the GPS without any land references.

I don't get a warm feeling from the Humminbird site that their Canada UniMap shows much in the way of of inland topography. Too bad because some of their units looked pretty good to me. Lowrance/Eagle MapCreate looks like it covers our area, though I am not comfortable with their proprietary protection schemes (like having to buy their custom SD chips).

Thanks again for the input.

LT

LuckyTri wrote:Thanks guys!

I was hoping this year's Navionics would cover more of my chosen lakes - but not yet.

I was also hoping that one of the ff/gps combos would accept a map format other than just their proprietary format so that I could take some PC map software like Fugawi and create a topo map of the lake shore and islands and upload that to the GPS unit. That would give me a land/water view of the lake that I could see while out in the boat - no depth info, but I could still mark the safe channels, shoals, and good fishing spots on it. Sadly it looks like each ff/gps unit supports only the manufacturer's specific format and no standardized formats.

Fugawi lets you upload/download tracks and waypoints to Humminbird and Lowrance/Eagle, and others, so I could use Fugawi at home with a topo of the lake to view/mark features and upload the the marks to the GPS. Still wouldn't give me the view I'd like on the GPS while on the water, but it it would be an improvement to working solely on the GPS without any land references.

I don't get a warm feeling from the Humminbird site that their Canada UniMap shows much in the way of of inland topography. Too bad because some of their units looked pretty good to me. Lowrance/Eagle MapCreate looks like it covers our area, though I am not comfortable with their proprietary protection schemes (like having to buy their custom SD chips).

Thanks again for the input.

LT

You can use any SD Chip and program or copy any part of the Topo Maps on the CHIP.... This Chip treat it like a computer disk.. it's reuseable..
You can copy or backup your waypoints on your own SD Chip.


The custom chips are the Navionics you can't copy from or paste anything to them. You can't use these chips for your Topo Software..


Fraz

.

My mistake - I misread the Lowrance site. What you need with MapCreate is the custom LEI branded card reader/writer. From the Lowrance page:

Note: For security purposes, MapCreateâ„¢ 7 encodes maps to memory cards, and will restrict the encoding process to a maximum of five different memory cards. You can create as many maps as you like, but they will only work on the first five memory cards that you register with the MapCreateâ„¢ 7 software.

Note: You must use an LEI branded memory card reader/writer for MapCreateâ„¢ 7 to work properly.

See http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Mappin ... efault.asp

I'm still not a fan of this approach. I see Lowrance's concerns, but I think they could have found a better solution than making you buy custom hardware.

LT