Lowrance And Laptops

[jayheel]

It really seems that lowrance doesn't get a lot of love around here with everyone jumping on the

new Garmin's.

I'm still trying to decide to if I want to get the Expedition C but wondered how well it works with the computer. anyone with experience?

 

does it hook up directly or do you have to use the card reader?

 

how easy are the Map Create programs?

 

thanks

[+DaCacheMonkeys]

Well, I just got two Lowrance units. A Baja 480C for my Jeep, and an Expedition C handhelo.

 

The Baja is way cool, big screen, locks up solid, very bright display, rugged and a great design. You have to put cards in it. By reading the specs, the only limitatiion to the card size is the number of files on it. I went out and got a 2 gig card, and it will not read it. It says "unrecognized MMC Format". Called tech support and they gave me an RMA to send them the card, and see if they could get a solution. They said they would send me 2 1 gig cards.

 

They said up fron that it should work though. Before I sent it off, the Expedition C came in, so I put the card in it, and it worked fine, ,,,, sooo its not the card. I called back, kind of failing to see the sense of me sending in a card, when they could get one on their own, but this point was lost on the person at Lowrance. I decided to send it anyway to more or less force them to fix the problem, or deal with it at least.

 

The Expedition C is ok, but it does not appear to be too rugged to me. The rubber plug that covers the AC adaptor plug won't stay in place. The face of the unit is glossy finished, as well as the screen. It was in the passenger seat and I guess it flipped over on its face whilst I was bouncing down a hill. Just rubbing on the fabric seat for a minute scratched the screen. Not impressed with its ruggedness at all. But wanted to be able to use the same maps etc.

 

The mapping program is ok, you can only register 5 mmc cards to use with it (their form of copy prot) and you have to have one of the original cd's in the computer to run the program. (more copy prot). The units read the maps as soon as you put the cards in them. I first did a map of about 1/3 of the US. It took 3 hours to process it. They later said you should use smaller areas, and apparently you can have multiple files on the card, and the unit will load all of them.

 

This is not clear in the docs from what I have seen, but it could have been in there so don't quote me on that.

 

The Baja is a keeper. The Exped might become backup.

 

JJ

 

 

It really seems that lowrance doesn't get a lot of love around here with everyone jumping on the

new Garmin's.

I'm still trying to decide to if I want to get the Expedition C but wondered how well it works with the computer. anyone with experience?

 

does it hook up directly or do you have to use the card reader?

 

how easy are the Map Create programs?

 

thanks

[jayheel]

thanks for sharing your experience

 

it just seems that lowrance doesn't get any respect and i wondered if that was because of their product or becuase they don't advertise like

garmin and magellan

[Fox-n-Hound]

jayheel,

 

If you do a search for Lowrance, you'll find just about everyone who has a Lowrance handheld really likes them. I have 2, an H20c and an iWay 100. They are great receivers. Superfast lockup, stays locked up, Great resolution on the screens, great accuracy. 9 times out of 10 on caches, when I am standing on the coordinates the cache is under my feet...no kidding!! You won't be sorry getting a Lowrance! I'm not! Feels like quality in the hand! The software is very simple, the GPS takes a little use time to get used to the features. Some would say complicated, I would say feature rich. This makes it a little longer on the learning curve. I've used the others, I'm not going back! A wolf in sheeps clothing! Great GPS!

 

Steve

[jayheel]

thanks steve,

that's the kind of info I'm looking for. my guess is that there are not

as many lowrance users and that's why there are not as many opinions.

but you're right most of the posts by lowrance users are positive.

i think i'm going to go ahead and order the expedition c. although i wish i could get it a local store instead of online.

thanks again

 

chad

[Fox-n-Hound]

jayheel,

 

Yes you do have to use the LEI reader and remove the SD card, but, I don't find this to be any more or less inconvienent than hooking up the GPS to the computer. Downloading waypoints and converting them to .usr files is a little bit of a pain in the a**, but GSAK handles this job nicely. It took me about 30 mins. to convert every cache waypoint within a 20 mile radius of my home, 81 to be exact. Once thats done you never have to do the conversion again unless you need some new ones. The GPS does everything else so nicely I find removing the card to be a minor drawback! I got mine from a fish finder seller on the web. I got the H2Oc plus for 298$ which I thought was a deal. You can see they've raised their prices!

 

http://www.fish-finders-gear.com/ffg051261.html

 

Steve

Edited March 16, 2006 by Fox-n-Hound

[jayheel]

thanks steve,

 

good luck

 

hopefully i'll be out there soon

[Fox-n-Hound]

jayheel,

 

Here is a good price on the Expedition C.

 

http://www.shipdog.com/product.asp?i=LOWIFEXPC

 

What do you think?

 

They also have other models. Handhelds are under automotive GPS's.

 

Steve

Edited March 16, 2006 by Fox-n-Hound

[jabber1]

I picked mine up for $214 at http://buyeretail.com but I see that source is up to $227...still pretty good. $240 seems to be the standard on the low end. I have the Expedition C and its great. The screen is awesome. Still have to pick up the laptop connection but I may wait a bit to see if lowrance comes out with with a USB connection. I would assume that'll be coming soon.

[jayheel]

thanks,

i checked out both of them.

i just wish i could get 3 different ones, compare them, keep one and return the others. problem is most online places don't like this and none of my local stores carry any of the new models yet.

[+ogeoISplash]

jayheel,

 

Yes you do have to use the LEI reader and remove the SD card, but, I don't find this to be any more or less inconvienent than hooking up the GPS to the computer. Downloading waypoints and converting them to .usr files is a little bit of a pain in the a**, but GSAK handles this job nicely. It took me about 30 mins. to convert every cache waypoint within a 20 mile radius of my home, 81 to be exact. Once thats done you never have to do the conversion again unless you need some new ones. The GPS does everything else so nicely I find removing the card to be a minor drawback! I got mine from a fish finder seller on the web. I got the H2Oc plus for 298$ which I thought was a deal. You can see they've raised their prices!

 

http://www.fish-finders-gear.com/ffg051261.html

 

Steve

I have a question. We have two lowrance units, the ifinder pro & the hunt. But I do not know how to get my query from gsak into my lowrance because there is not a choice for the lowrance unit in gsak. How did you do it?

[+Airmapper]

I have a question. We have two lowrance units, the ifinder pro & the hunt. But I do not know how to get my query from gsak into my lowrance because there is not a choice for the lowrance unit in gsak. How did you do it?

 

It is in the newest version at least. Look under GPS, and drop down to "Export to Lowrance .usr"