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Old 03-15-2018, 07:52 AM
rmatei rmatei is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
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Default Are Canadian Lakevu Maps worth it

Looking at the Garmin EchoMap Chirp cv series and wanted to know if any users can comment if the option for the Canadian Lakevu maps is worth the extra $150 or should I just get the base model and make my own with the gps contour map capability
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Old 03-15-2018, 07:57 AM
raw outdoors raw outdoors is offline
 
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I have tried lakemaster / navionics so like $500 in cards and I wouldn’t have gave them $50 they are pretty much useless in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It’s nice they show the lakes but there is no detail. A guy can be fishing in 20 feet of water and the map says your on land. I will end up doing all my own mapping this season.
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Old 03-15-2018, 01:07 PM
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old dog old dog is offline
 
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Old 03-15-2018, 01:43 PM
Walleyedude Walleyedude is offline
 
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There is only one source of bathymetry data in Canada that I'm aware of, and that's the federal government, so all mapping should be pretty much equally terrible.

There's a couple of reasons why bathymetric mapping in Canada is terrible in general, and they both have to do with the fact the federal government is in charge of all mapping and data through the oceans and fisheries department.

The first issue is that all mapping that currently exists was done by the feds, and much of it dates back to the 50s and 60s, when a lot of it was quite literally was done with a hand auger and a lead weight on frozen lakes, often on a 1 mile grid. There is zero money available for the updating or improving of this data, so what you have is what you get.

The federal government is also the main reason why Navionics, Lake Master, Garmin, etc... have not conducted any bathymetric surveys or provided any detailed lake mapping like they do in the USA. #1, there's a massive amount of red tape and hoops to jump through to get permission to do the surveys, and #2, the federal government charges a large royalty on the sale of any map data that's produced and sold, effectively taking away their profit margin. Those two factors will pretty much ensure that you won't see any mapping produced and sold by the sonar or map companies for the fresh water lakes in Canada, particularly western Canada, unless there's a change in legislation.

They've worked around those rules with the crowd sourced maps - CMAP Genesis, Navionics Sonar Charts, etc... by claiming the data is voluntarily supplied by the users, and they are only the middle man, and thus are exempt from the royalty.

The size of the market is obviously a factor too, they're not going to sell as many maps in AB/SK as they are in MN/WI, or AL/TX, so the potential return on investment isn't there to warrant the upfront costs and hassle involved.

I have no experience with Garmin, but from what I've seen, the Navionics+ mapping is the best of the worst by a fair margin.
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Old 03-16-2018, 06:16 AM
rmatei rmatei is offline
 
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Thanks guys/gals, sounds like a waste of money to me. I will just use the quick draw contour mapping capability and make my own for the lakes I fish.
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Old 03-16-2018, 07:15 PM
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curtis_rak curtis_rak is offline
 
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Location: West of Edmonton
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Default Are Canadian Lakevu Maps worth it

I have a Garmin unit with LakeVu. The maps aren't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than not having any maps at all.

I use the QuickDraw Contour map to "fine tune" the LakeVu maps. The reason I like both is that it takes a long time to map an area of a lake with the QuickDraw. Mine doesn't work if I'm travelling faster than about 7mph, so if you think your going to paint a picture of an entire lake in anything less than an entire summer on the water your dreaming. I also find that with QuickDraw, depending on the structure of the bottom of the lake, you need to go over it twice from different approaches (for example a long underwater ridge needs to be mapped lengthwise and sideways to get a real accurate picture of the drop off)

I mapped an under water structure at a local lake that's about 800m long by 40m wide... took me probably 4hrs of gridding to get it just right.

Long story short, I don't think the 100-200 bucks for maps is a waste of money. Would I navigate at night with those maps, probably not, but It's a nice decent supplement to your custom maps.

If you want to know more feel free to PM me.


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