I am looking into getting a map card for my Hummingbird Helix 5.  I have been searching on the internet to find what cards are compatible with my unit and I have found somewhat vague answers.  I would assume that the Lakemaster cards would work since they are Hummingbird, but I dont want to haul off and get the version 3.0 and it not be supported.  I have also heard that the Hummingbird maps are better than the Navionics, opinion of course, but opinions matter.  So I guess my main question is what cards are supported and which ones are the best?

If you want to use Lakemaster in your Helix, you have to use the 2015 issues. This is the first year Lakemaster has had the MSD size card and it is because of the Helix models.

 

Lakemaster may or may not be more accurate than Navionics for a particular body of water. No opinion just fact. It would only be if the survey is Lakemaster High Definition, not the other two possibilities, LOOK at the Lakemaster Lake listing for the region you need to see if Lakemaster has any coverage at all that you need. 

 

Navionics is updateable and can have two map layers. Nautical Charts is Navionics data, and Sonar Charts is user generated data. You can view the current maps on the Navionics website's Web App. Navionics has used MSD cards since 2010.

 

If you want to try Lakemaster for one body of water, you can purchase some individually with the Chart Select program. That takes an Encrypted memory card of at least 2GB in size to download the map to.

Check the Humminbird Lakemaster website for the available waters for that program.