I currently purchased a Humminbird Helix 5 SI/GPS unit and none of my old navionics cards will fit / work
My old cards were (Old card for the Great Lakes (SD Format), and hotmaps Canada (non premium.. still not sure if this chip should be working but I cant get the maps to load). Anyway.. I was pretty set on purchasing the Lakemaster great Lakes card but then I contacted Navionics and was offered a trade in to get Nav+ for the same price as the lakemaster card with trade in.

Question is: I read on this forum that the Helix 5 is slow reading the gps with a "full" sd card thats why i'm still leaning towards the LakeMaster.  How bad is this slow read? I purchased this unit for my kayak and small fishing boat (40hp motor) so in either vessel i'm not going at super high speeds.

What would you do? I do not plan on getting an iPilot motor, the shading feature on the lakemaster looks great, main lakes will be St. Calir / Erie / Lake Nipissing (i'm out of luck for this one if I get the lakemaster).

Slow speeds would not be an issue, idle/trolling motor.

Any full capacity map card will slow the unit down.  The best option is to get the Navionics Update card ($99) and activate it with one of the cards you have. The Update card is the discount version of the former Navionics+ 2GB card. After activation, the Update card becomes the Navionics+ card.

Both of those cards have no maps, you choose what locations to download to the card for anywhere in the US and Canada. If you just fish a few lake, only put those on the card and not places you don't go. If you get too carried away adding locations, you can delete all on the card and do it over. In addition to the Navionics Nautical Charts ( Navionics data), you can download the Sonar Charts map layer which is created from users' sonar logs.

Like all other new card purchases, you get a year of Freshest Data updates to update your card and add/delete data to it.

 

Additionally you would need at least the Helix 9 to use the iPilot Link feature if that motor type is in your future.

I use the Navionics hot maps in my Helix 5 and like it.

Thanks for the info! Seems like a solid path to take.
I misunderstood about Nav+, I thought it auto filled your SD card... but if you pick and choose that's great.

14 minutes ago, spartyon8 said:

I use the Navionics hot maps in my Helix 5 and like it.

Yeah, this concerns me a little as my HotMaps Canada wont load the charts in my Helix... According to Navionics it should be working. They gave me some instructions to check my card for damage. Not sure.. it's an old card non premium / platinum just "hot maps"

I see, mine is the premium version.

Hotmaps is the previous year's data of Hotmaps Premium.

I have a Hotmaps Premium East 2009 and a Hotmaps East which is 2010. They have the exact same data.

Since your card is microSD, it is at least a 2010 version when the Freshest Data program started. It should work in the Helix unless you damaged it or the unit card reader is faulty. Get a blank microSD card of any size, put that in the unit and turn on Snapshot in the Accessory menu.

Push the MARK button to see if it will write a picture file to the card. The waypoint number will have a S prefix such as S001.

Additionally you should have the current software installed which is version 7.730 that was released 8/3/2015.

One more thing, make sure you completely insert the card in the reader, it clicks into place with spring resistance. When you remove the card, you get the spring assist when you push on the card to release it. Your issue could be improper use of the card reader.

 

 

 

Thanks for the tips, I'm guessing the card reader on the Helix works properly since I updated the unit via SD several days ago but I'll try the snapshot on a blank card too.

I'll have to look into the card tonight make sure it still functions on my old unit.

I will say this, it can be a little tight getting the card to seat fully if you have sausages like me.