Navionics+ - US and Canada Compatability

[pasquini]

I purchased my Lowrance Elite 5 DSI with the Navionic+ US & Canada Bundle a few years back. I am upgrading my ff to a Humminbird Helix 7. Can I use the old Nav+ card from the Lowrance or do I need a new one. The card is registered to the Lowrance unit.

Thanks

[lape0019]

That's a good question that may be hard to answer without trying.

I somewhat recall this being an issue with older Lowrance/Navionics Gold bundles but I am not certain on the Navionics plus card bundles.

Do you have any friends who have a helix that may be able to check if it works in their unit? I think that would be the easiest and quickest way to figure it out if no one can confirm here.

[pasquini]

Was just checking the original documentation for the Lowrance unit. It was bundled with "complete Navionics Gold Coastal Data for both US and Canada. Plus 125 major Canadian lakes"

[toobinator]

Purchased on their own the answer would be yes. As part of a package I'm not sure. I know the newer packaged Nav/Gps combos, the card will only work with that brand, but that was started only a couple of years ago. If you want to find out, bring your chip to Paddletales and we'll put it in a demo unit and see if it reads it.

Ed

[pasquini]

Just to close the loop on this, I took the Navionics Gold chip which was bundled with my Lowrance Elite 5 DSI to Ed and we tried it in a Humminbird Helix 7. The unit recognized the chip and was able to access the detailed maps on it.

A big thank you to Ed for helping me answer the question and while I don’t need a new map chip I think I am going to take his suggestion and purchase the Navionics + Regions chip which has significantly greater detail in the charts. Also as Ed pointed out, if I sell the Lowrance unit, it is much more marketable with the chip than without. The base map in the Lowrance is basically useless.

Thanks again Ed.

[lape0019]

That is great to hear.

And I must say I agree with ed. The Nav+ cards are not compatible with the elite 5 DSI so at least with the gold card with it, you have some mapping capability. I learned this when borrowing a buddies Nav+ card so that I could have maps of something the gold did not cover ( I bought the DSI before the bundles came out so the gold was the card I chose). With Nav+, you will get most lakes (not just navigable waters like you do with the gold) as well as more defined lakes. It is a wise upgrade.

Having wrote all that, I also like the features on the new lake master charts so I will have one nav+ and one lake master for this upcoming season.