Lowrance HDS-8 Base USA, Maps?

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10-19-2010, 06:20 PM
justinp61

Lowrance HDS-8 Base USA, Maps?

I'm looking to purchase a Lowrance HDS-8 Base USA. Who has the best maps?
10-19-2010, 06:53 PM
CatFan

Depends a lot on the lakes ou fish. Personally, I'd get the Lake Insight chip for the unit. I have the built in Insight, which is good, but I hear what's on the chip works at better zoom levels.
10-19-2010, 07:37 PM
justinp61

Kentucky, Barkley and possibly Smithland pool. I can be in anyone of the three in about 15 minutes.
10-19-2010, 08:28 PM
CatFan

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinp61

Kentucky, Barkley and possibly Smithland pool. I can be in anyone of the three in about 15 minutes.

First of all, I hate you for living that close to all that good fishing. :p

I really like my Lake Insight on Kentucky and Barkley. I'd have gotten the chip instead of the built-in, but I couldn't find the chip in stock where I could get it locally. The 3D shading is really nice trying to find a channel going into west side bays on KY, and can really make it easy to visualize points and ledges.
10-19-2010, 08:42 PM
justinp61

Thanks, I didn't mention that I could be in the Tennessee River in 5 minutes and the Ohio And Cumberland rivers in 10:D.
10-21-2010, 08:53 AM
beagle man

lake insight mine is built in the unit and it works great in the missouri waters.
10-21-2010, 08:15 PM
tripp@BOEmarine

Navionics makes the maps for the HDS system. From my experience they are still building their database of lake surveys, and the list of available lakes http://http://www.navionics.com/Lake...HMPlatinum.asp is pretty impressive. If you don't see your favorite lake, you can call Navionics and they will send you a screen shot! Try it, it is convincing.
10-22-2010, 07:37 AM
beagle man

tripp is correct, I forgot I have the nav.platinum in the front locator, verry detailed, and when you zoom in still see everything, either one will work great.
10-22-2010, 01:24 PM
justinp61

Thanks guys, it looks like the base map is the way to go.
10-22-2010, 01:34 PM
tripp@BOEmarine

Base is REALLY basic

Just as a heads-up, base maps are pretty useless. All of the shoreline is geometric (no contours, just straight lines). We ususally sell the base map with a chart card. That gives the best chartset. The insight is much better, but still not a lot of detail compared to the chart card. I will try to post some screen shots as examples.
10-22-2010, 03:25 PM
justinp61

Tripp, I plan on buying a card for it later. I bought a used HDS-5 today to put on the bow, when I get the 8 I'll link them together, and later a structure scan.
10-23-2010, 09:07 PM
rnvinc

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinp61

Tripp, I plan on buying a card for it later. I bought a used HDS-5 today to put on the bow, when I get the 8 I'll link them together, and later a structure scan.

Hope that solves your interference problem...R King swears by his Lowrance's...
10-24-2010, 05:40 AM
justinp61

I called the plant last night from work and left a message for King to call me, but never heard anything from him. Some of the guys at work have them, I've looked at some amazing shots from them.

Hows the deer hunting going? I start vacation Tuesday, hopefully it will cool down some.
10-24-2010, 05:51 PM
rnvinc

Haven't even been in the woods yet...I just can't get motivated...

Did the interference problem go away with changing brands...??
10-25-2010, 05:52 AM
justinp61

I don't have my hands on it yet. The guy I'm buying it from is upgrading and will hopefully have it off his boat in the next week or so. I'm not going to run the universal sonar though, it will have a traditional transducer on the trolling motor.
10-25-2010, 04:44 PM
rnvinc

Will the us2 not work with the Lowrance ..??
10-26-2010, 05:45 AM
justinp61

Yes it is, but I have to buy a cable.
10-26-2010, 09:28 AM
rnvinc

So. I take it you're not interested in trying the us2 with the Lowrance...??

Seems to me that the us2 would the bee's knees if that option were already on your boat...
10-26-2010, 01:34 PM
justinp61

If it would hook up to what I have, yes. The one I'm buying comes with a new transducer and I've never had an issue with a transducer cable.
10-26-2010, 04:03 PM
rnvinc

But.. what you may find out with these higher sensitivity units is that interference problems are (sometimes) but not usually caused by the xducer...

The most common culprit is the 12v power cable...either from the battery to the head unit... or the batteries to the trolling motor .. or other electronics bleeding into the DF 12v power (or a combination of all three...)

If ( and this is a big IF) if the interference is in your boat's 12v wiring...then no xducer change or xducer configuration will fix the problem....until the 12v wiring problem is fixed....
10-26-2010, 08:11 PM
justinp61

The depth finder is fine until I step on the trolling motor, the higher power setting on the tm the more interference it has. The 12v wiring is on one side of the boat and the 24v is on the other side. I will unhook the transducer on the hb unit and run the tm, my guess is the display will be fine.