So I jumped on the Navionics website to look through the maps and compare them to the recorded sonar charts from Lowrance.....I was surprised to see the Navionics are not even close to being correct.
I don't understand how the maps were made since they are so far off.
Boatless
Even when you use the community edits version of the maps they are still off as far as contours. Drive over stuff with live map stuff turned on and it will paint a very different picture. But that is one of the reasons they have these features. When 20 people send in recordings they have to merge them together. The recordings can be done at different water levels ect. I will say the same thing happens with the lowrance maps as well. I sent in recordings. A obvious road bed on your depth finder disappears when the recordings come back. 5ft hump... Smoothed out of existence by h genesis map. I mark a good bit of structure that I want to look at from my recliner with my Gen3 in my lap, and then go out to confirm or move my waypoints for those spots within a spot. I end up moving most after I create my own map. Ledges points and road beds are usually off, but close enough for me to identify potential spots. I guess it would be like sighting in a rifle.
Stratos 2003 200 Pro XL
So what's the answer create your own maps by going over the area several times?
Boatless
Navionics + card.
I never download community edits! That's as close to using Assbook or anything else social media related to make decisions. You have no idea what sonar configuration Buffy & Biff were using and then uploaded it. Ducer off-set, angled ducer installation, etc...
The Navionics+ maps have worked well for me from Lake Erie to Okeechobee. Any minor anomalies I find get a WPT. I don't bother with the Lowrance mapping. Anything more finite that that I don't need to know anyway.
I only create my own stuff in the areas that are of interest to me. Off shore stuff (not boat docks and visible cover) that the navionics platinum card shows potential for. The community edits are the only thing available on the private side of the lake that I fish. I have not been over to the public side yet to compare a few spots mid lake that have a bunch of points and ledges in a fairly small area. It will be interesting to see how my live mappings differ from the navionics and the community edits and see which one of the two is closest to mine.
Stratos 2003 200 Pro XL
When they first introduced the web app. Many local lakes that I know have never been mapped suddenly had contours. Trust me the mapping community didn’t suddenly decide to map and share these areas. I also have a local lake that I have a hotspots paper map and nothing on it matches what navionics puts out. Lakes by me don’t fluctuate in depth unless they flood and that is rare
Nitro z21
Ok, I have a + card, are you saying the maps one downloads off of Navoronic's site isn't accurate? And the best way is to use the blank SD card and map the lake yourself?
That's what I am saying but I am not a mapping expert I can only report what I see!Originally Posted by Bassman Ia.
Boatless
the Navionics card is probably good enough to navigate by. But if you want to know exactly where a ledge or a road bed is. Its probably not going to get you right on top of it. It will get you close. Look up videos for "sonar chart live". That's why the come up with this stuff. What you drive directly over top of is going to be more accurate that what they sent you. You keep your navionics card in your unit while you do this, or you take your navionics card out and put a blank card in if you want to use the Lowrance mapping instead
Stratos 2003 200 Pro XL
The biggest reason they end up off in lakes around here is due to vegetation growth, I'm convinced of it. I spend a lot of time tinkering with my units and there are plenty of times in heavy stuff where it loses the bottom, even when idling around at what are ideal speeds for reading sonar. I'm not using really old outdated stuff either; my transducers are installed properly, my settings are correct, and everything is in good working order.
Of course some of the issues are caused by Jimbob uploading logs he recorded with his transducer that has a nick in the cable and that's all kicked up after he ran over a log...
I've found the "best" SonarChart maps (that'd be those which have been updated by consumers) are those that are close to the regular Navionics-provided ones. Then you can be reasonably sure that the updates that have been made by users are just fine-tuning what was generally accurate before. If you see SonarCharts that are way different from the regular Navionics map, you can bet it's screwed up but someone not having their stuff working properly, or I suppose simply having their units tricked by something like weed growth. SonarChart Live helps a whole bunch in either case.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I has this same question last year. For 3 years straight I ran Navionics Platinum South on my Humminbirds. Never really cared much about the contour lines until I moved from southern Louisiana to east Texas and started fishing more lakes. Decided to finally try out Humminbird Lake Master maps. Now having two different maps I could see a big difference in detail and location of the contours. To solve the question of which is better I conducted a little experiment.
I first went into google earth and located a visible hump. I used the route tool to create a route around that hump. Next I did the proper conversions and uploaded the route to my Humminbirds. You can see the results below and form your own opinion. (Sorry for the rotated images):
Raw route of hump with no map card:
IMG_9111.jpg
Route of hump with Navionics map card:
IMG_9112.jpg
Route of hump with Lake Master map card:
IMG_9113.jpg
One more example where I also had the creek included. If you fish Fork and catch any fish on these spots let me know. I still have the Navionics card collecting dust if anyone wants to buy it.
Navionics
IMG_9115.jpg
Lake Master
IMG_9114.jpg
Navionics is terrible around here. So are the others. They look completely fabricated. I mean not even close to the point of being dangerous. I make all my own maps using C-Maps but our lakes are small around here.
- 2019 Ranger Z185 - Mercury 150 Pro XS
Lakemaster makes Navionics look like Navionics faked the map. Have both hummingbird(lakemaster) and Lowrance(navionics) side by side and I can’t emphasize more how much better Lakemaster is. Lakemaster shows all the important little details...creek channels through the flats, where they come into the main river ledges while Navionics shows a gradual slope from the main ledge to the bank. Guys who have hummingbirds know what I’m talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I like my Lowrance units but the Navionics (compared to lakemaster) is so bad comparatively.
Which units? Have you compared the C-Maps with Lake Master?
I am in an are where none of the lakes I fish are mapped so it really doesn't help me much with the cards.
Boatless
I haven't compared the C-Maps and my units are Humminbird 1199 and Lowrance HDS 12 Gen 2. Even on the two companies subscription services which is the most updated versions of their maps...There is no comparison. Here is a snap of the same location. One is Navionics (most updated and current) and one is Humminbirds LakeMaster (most updated and current). I would say there is a major advantage using Lakemaster.
IMG_4653.PNGIMG_4654.PNG
The Lakemaster and Plus are different but which one is correct?
Just realized what you meant....Lakemaster is correct. There is a dam that stretches across the channel and a creek channel that comes into the ledge. I have scanned both and they are really there. According to Navionics, they don’t exist.
Last edited by snookonfly; 02-01-2019 at 08:37 PM.
David
2014 Ranger Z521C
Fishing Lanier, Hartwell, Tennessee River & Coosa River
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