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Well my Garmin issues continue...

My father picked up a copy of Garmin's Bluechart Americas for me today at Bass Pro. The software seems very detailed and seems to compare to the Navionics software. I selected the region that would have Toledo Bend, which is the border of Louisiana and Texas. Nothing comes up. I looked on Garmin's site and it appears that the BlueChart G2 Vision software might cover the area. If you look at the coverage map, it is hard to tell if it covers Toledo Bend. This is the only region on the software that could possibly cover this resevoir. I am at my wits end and am considering bringing the Garmin back to West MArine and looking at a Hummingbird or Lowrance.

Do any of you have a Garmin gps with the BlueChart G2 Vsion software? If so, can you tell me if it pulls up boat lanes in Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn Resevoirs? Garmin doesn't open until Monday and they have been uneducated about this region in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Still hunting for a GPS with the Toledo Bend boat lanes huh? Wish I could help you with that. Are you guys heading to the lake this week?

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If Toledo Bend is a lake, I believe you need to get the inland lakes version, not the marine blue chart which is only offshore.
Inland Lakes region 4

If you view the list of lakes HERE, I believe you will find Toledo Bend Reservoir TX/LA

Hope this helps.

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CES:

Still having issues but making progress, maybe... We are going toToledo Bend over New Years. How about you?

Kamie:

I bought the inland lakes software first and it isn't doing the trick. I have resorted to calling Garmin again on Monday.

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Go to the options menu on the GPS, make sure it is set to read the card and also make sure you have "most Detail' checked. It also makes a difference as to what zoom level you are at, so play with that and you'll see a change in detail

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Tom:

My father and I did that today. We made sure it was reading the caard and we made sure that we were using the most detail. I just can't figure it out.

If Hummingbird and Lowrance software can show the detail I'm looking for, then Garmin has to do the same. I can't imagine that it wouldn't.

I think my only course of action is to call Garmin on Monday.

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Did you get the Garmin software situation figured out today?

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CES:

My Garmin and I are through. I talked to West MArine and they have agreed to take it back. I spent most of the morning on the phone with 2 reps at Garmin, a salesman at Bass Pro, a salesman at Cabela's, a salesman at West MArine and lastly, a salesman at a local commercial marine elctronics shop in New Orleans. Result: Garmin does not offer ANY software that will cover Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn Lake boat lanes. I heard it straight from 2 Garmin reps.

At one time, Garmin had software called (I think) Recreational Hotspots. That software had the boat lanes for Toledo Bend. My father has a copy on his computer. After all of the wasted time I have spent dealing with this stuff, I thought I would just move the software onto a chip and put it in my Garmin. No, can't do that. Garmin has it covered. The old software is not compatable with the new units like mine. Out of luck once again.

I stopped at West Marine (another West MArine). I looked at the Hummingbird 788ci. The guy couldn't even bring up the map. I left totally frustrated.

I have furthered my research today. Lowrance seems to make a unit that will do what I want. Bass Pro has a unit that has the software I need, at least this is what I am told. They have one on display with the software installed. I am going to stop on my way home and see if I can bring up the lanes in TOledo Bend. If it has the boat lanes, I am buying it. Hell, I might buy two in case one breaks! That's how fed up I am with this stuff.

I am no electronics genius, but it seems to me that whoever sells this stuff should be trained to do so. I am stunned how many people sell gps and software in the retail industry and don't know what they are talking about. I get a different answer at each different store. Maybe the governemnt should put the marine electronics industry on their buy out list. They'll go right behind GM. LOL

In the end, I am lucky enough that I can return the Garmin to West MArine for a refund, I can get a refund on the Bluechart Americas software my dad picked up over the weekend, but I am still stuck with the Inland Lakes Southcentral chip. If anyone out there is looking for this chip, I will sell it to you for half of what the retail price is.

To you Garmin users, God bless you. I sincerely hope you have a better experience than I have.

Be on the lookout tomorrow. If you see the earth crack open, fire shoot up and freeze, it can only mean one thing. I found what I am looking for and the earth is coming to an end or hell froze over. :)

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I understand your frustration. Being somewhat new to boating and never having bought a chart plotter, I sorta assumed it was like a GPS for a automobile and would would have all the maps for the US waters if bought in the US.

I was very surprised to find most have just a "base map" that is almost useless and you have to buy cards at over $100 each for just a region in the US, with coastal and lake being separate.

I did some research before buying and it was difficult to decipher exactly what came with each unit. I finally found the Humminbird 788ci NVB. The NVB part is important because it denotes it has the "Navionics Value Bundle" which includes all North American Regions including Hotmaps for lakes (Which is what has Toledo Bend I took screen shots of). The normal 788ci has only the basemap. So for an extra $150 over the normal 788ci it has a few thousand $ worth of Navionics cards in it. It was basically the lowest priced Sonar/Chartplotter with that level of maps built in.

My next sonar/gps will probably be a Lowrance HD series, these seem to have Navionics gold data built in, but its actually hard to pin down exactly what they have, they are also more expensive than the Humminbird and seem to have 3d relief data called "Insite".

In any case all the manufacturers need to be more clear on what they have included and whats not, and honestly the NVB on my Humminbird should be the base map for any chartplotter.

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JHarrell:

Yeah, I agree with you-very frustrating.

I am probably going with the Lowrance because it seems a little more user friendly. The screen seemed a little easier to read as well. It is larger than my Garmin for sure.

I plan to post to this thread tomorrow evening and let everyone know what I went with. Everyone has stuck with me so far so I owe them that much. LOL.

Thanks for your help and insight with all of this.

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Well folks, I have climbed and conquered my mountain. I stopped by Bass Pro on the way home today and purchased the Lowrance HDS-5. I was able to use the demo and they put the Navionics Inland Lakes HotMaps '09 demo chip in and there it was, Toledo Bend boat lanes! My knees buckled and I came close to shedding tears! :)

I panned over to Toledo Bend, checked out the lakes and rivers in my area and the detail was fantastic. I told the young man behind the counter I wanted it and said to ring me up for the unit and the chip. Result: bought the unit but they were out of chips. Of course, none of the sporting good stores around me have them. They went like hotcakes over Christmas. I'm just going to order the chip online, which shouldn't be a problem since I now know what I'm buying.

I really like the Lowrance. It seems real user friendly and I like they way you can navigate through the pages on the screen.

Thanks for all of the comments and Happy New Year folks.

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Congrats on getting things sorted out.