KSnapper

My experience is the basic maps that come with Lowrance units suck at very best. The navionics maps I have bought are marginally better. I feel that 1 foot contour intervals is a minimal requirement for a map chip that you have to pay extra for. I have a Great Plains Mapping chip which is excellent detail for Kansas and Missouri Lakes. It has 1 foot contours of course, but it also shows old railroad beds, road beds, foundations, plus the creeks and river beds are shaded accurately for navigation through the adjacent trees.

I have just bought and installed and started to use a Lowrance Elite 7 Ti with "Total Scan" ($700). I wanted to "play" with it to get up to speed and I too tried to use it indoors and had no response from it other than it did turn on. I took it and the small 12 vt battery that I was powering it with outside to a table I have outside but under an roof overhang. Still no response. Then I took the outfit out to my boat in the driveway under open sky and it responded. I figured the problem was all about not having a good GPS signal from the satellites. I contacted Lowrance about this BS and I have not heard one thing from them. I am about done with Lowrance. They continue to disappoint.