flpper
Well-known member
Seems I may have bruised some feelings (unintentionally, of course).
For those of you who are considering buying one of the GPS/Charts Sd cards. Here are some truths and tips I'm offering up based on personal experience.
Truth number 1; Each individual product has features unique to that product. Some are patented and copyrighted. None of the cards incorporate all of the desirable features in one card. Each has it's own strengths and weaknesses. Before you purchase ask folks you know who have the different products and find out what products have the features you would like. Also ask them to tell you honestly what are those strength and weaknesses they feel about the cards the have.
Truth number 2; the guys that are marketing these cards are in business to make a profit (duh). The more they sell, the more they make(another duh). So they aren't gonna make a sale to you if they tell you the product they want you to buy has incomplete surveys which lead to blank areas you may want to fish.(i.e. if you want to fish Mud Creek or Crow Creek on G'ville, and you want an LM card, you have to buy it before you find out those are two of the blank spots I mentioned). So they ain't gonna tell you that. And guess what? Those cards are electronic media, so no refunds if you are disappointed.
Don't assume that the cards are "updatable". Or that the updates that may be offered are free forever. To my knowledge Navioncs Platinum is the only product (as of the present) that are updatable. You receive one year of free update when you purchase it and have to "renew"(at a price) after one year.
I have been told by LakeMaster(Johnson Outdoors) that new releases (updates) are issued yearly and that surveys are based on user input. So if you buy a 2013 LM SE card with the incomplete data for G'ville, you have to wait until *at least* 2014 for the next card to come out. And, as of the present, your 2013 card is not upgradable so you will have to buy the new edition which may or may not have the full data on G'ville. (another $125 gamble)
I'm not discouraging anyone from buying any of these tools to help you fish better; I have both Navionics and LakeMaster. I'm just encouraging those of you looking for these products to do a little reseach, and you won't be disappointed.
For those of you who are considering buying one of the GPS/Charts Sd cards. Here are some truths and tips I'm offering up based on personal experience.
Truth number 1; Each individual product has features unique to that product. Some are patented and copyrighted. None of the cards incorporate all of the desirable features in one card. Each has it's own strengths and weaknesses. Before you purchase ask folks you know who have the different products and find out what products have the features you would like. Also ask them to tell you honestly what are those strength and weaknesses they feel about the cards the have.
Truth number 2; the guys that are marketing these cards are in business to make a profit (duh). The more they sell, the more they make(another duh). So they aren't gonna make a sale to you if they tell you the product they want you to buy has incomplete surveys which lead to blank areas you may want to fish.(i.e. if you want to fish Mud Creek or Crow Creek on G'ville, and you want an LM card, you have to buy it before you find out those are two of the blank spots I mentioned). So they ain't gonna tell you that. And guess what? Those cards are electronic media, so no refunds if you are disappointed.
Don't assume that the cards are "updatable". Or that the updates that may be offered are free forever. To my knowledge Navioncs Platinum is the only product (as of the present) that are updatable. You receive one year of free update when you purchase it and have to "renew"(at a price) after one year.
I have been told by LakeMaster(Johnson Outdoors) that new releases (updates) are issued yearly and that surveys are based on user input. So if you buy a 2013 LM SE card with the incomplete data for G'ville, you have to wait until *at least* 2014 for the next card to come out. And, as of the present, your 2013 card is not upgradable so you will have to buy the new edition which may or may not have the full data on G'ville. (another $125 gamble)
I'm not discouraging anyone from buying any of these tools to help you fish better; I have both Navionics and LakeMaster. I'm just encouraging those of you looking for these products to do a little reseach, and you won't be disappointed.
