Hi Steve,
$99 is only for the outdated model of the chip. New chips are $150. You may have to call around to find someone with the older chip (2009) but they are out there. Navionics will then upgrade you for $50 more to the newer chip (so the new chip is still $150 total cost...just you can "step" up to it).
I do like that the newer chip has 1 foot contours but, really, does 1 foot contour make a huge difference when trolling trout/salmon over deep water or even water over 20 ft? The big advantage is if you fish around New England a lot because the newer chip covers something like 7000 additional lakes and something like 500 more lakes in high def.
Ok, now I'm excited. I just pulled the trigger on an HDS-5 combo and also the premium hotmaps chip. It should arrive in a week or so. I just need the big snowbank to melt so I can get my boat out to install it. Shoot, more snow on the way. Darn it, I need to go fishing!!! I'm looking forward to the new world (to me) of electronics. For 1, I'll finally be able to know how fast I'm trolling... Next up on my list, G2's... Then a radio so I can buzz you and tell you that I'm still not catching anything in Squam. :-)
Hi Steve,
$99 is only for the outdated model of the chip. New chips are $150. You may have to call around to find someone with the older chip (2009) but they are out there. Navionics will then upgrade you for $50 more to the newer chip (so the new chip is still $150 total cost...just you can "step" up to it).
I do like that the newer chip has 1 foot contours but, really, does 1 foot contour make a huge difference when trolling trout/salmon over deep water or even water over 20 ft? The big advantage is if you fish around New England a lot because the newer chip covers something like 7000 additional lakes and something like 500 more lakes in high def.
May not seem like 1' contours make much sense, didn't to me either, actually I thought it would make a lake like Squam's map real busy and hard to read. Just the opposite in fact, it increased my ability to fish many areas of the lake before thought to be too difficult. I'd say doubled the fishing area and that says allot for a lake like Squam with more humps and bumps than Carters got Little Liver pills. It "doesn't show every foot", just instead of jumping from 20 to 40 it might have several lines in between the 20 and 40, like 23, 27, 30, 34, etc. wherever it makes sense by what zoom scale you are using.
Not sure what other NH big lakes are high def on the newer versions, but Squam is high def from 2008 versions and newer, if the newer chips have Sunapee and Winnisquam, or whatever lake you fish, go for it.
High definition, color unit with safety contures is like night and day on most lakes over older technology.