The Carolinas - HDS NC Coastal Map Comparison

Mainly the Beaufort Inlet area, comparison between a Navionics 645 P+ and the Lowrance Nautic Insight HD East.



http://webpages.charter.net/akelliott/Lowrance%20Nautic%20Insight%20HD%20East%20vs%20Nav ionics%20645P+.pdf

I am interested in hearing opinions also. I am trying to decide between oredering my HDS 7 Gen 2 with insight or just go with the base and get the 645 +P. The fishing areas will be mainly Pamlico, Albemarle, Roanok Sounds, Surrounding rivers, and up to 20nm off shore.

got the nautic insight, love it, cant compare to the other havent had it.

Is there a huge price difference?

Yes!
Navionics is just <$200
Lowrance is just <$100

I spoke with someone at BOE and he claims that the Navionics is worth the extra $. Would still like to hear from some others.

i bought the navionics NC chart. put it in last time but didnt know how to get it to read it! got it fiqured out now and will be ready for next trip. i think i paid $179.00. ill let you know after this weekend

Got my new HDS10 Gen2 from Boe with the Platinum+ card. It is really nice. Kinda now reminds me of the Garmin format/views I have seen. I like the camera pan and angle views as I am running. You can see ahead as if you were flying low in a helicopter.

Used over the weekend and navigated the backside of the sound from Cape Lookout/Harkers Island back to Shackleford Banks area and was able to use the map and not get into the sand! So I say it works very well. There were some nail biting areas, but I looked ahead for the markers and headed in that direction with the light blue depth areas and was successful.

It didn't help that the wind was blowing so hard that it made it tough to read the water from all the churn.

I do like that I can have the Platinum+ on one HDS and the Lowrance Insight on the other with the contours view and fish and chips turned on so you get different results on each map.

I think also, it appears I can have Radar overlay on one unit and Weather on the other. Have to join Sirius first though to make sure, but seemed each unit was independant for controlling the overlays feature.

Really nice system with 2 units!

Oh yeah, also we were out the night of July 4th watching the fireworks display, so navigating in the dark with radar overlay was very nice. I could easily find all the boats around me and the bridge entrance with the radar!

That's where I got my HDS8 and map card from last year. Glad your new unit has worked out. I would say you did very well if you navigated the back side of shack in a 25 footer!

Now if you can just share that route with me maybe I'll try it someday.....:thumbsup:

Thanks Polarred, I had not to this point heard of anyone going this route before, but when I test drove the boat last year before purchase, the dealer said just follow the route and I could do it. But not clear on if he had done it before himself.
Anyway, not sure I want to do it again as I think I might have just been lucky.
Interestingly enough, the route parallel with Harkers was mostly 10 to 11ft deep and pretty straight across. Just the dog leg turns to get to this point was the hard part.