A friend of mine is looking for a handheld GPS that has topo maps for lakes.  Not just for major lakes within the state but other secondary lakes as well.

Lowrance has a few decent looking handheld GPS units.  It appears on their website that you can only download about 5 lakes in Arkansas.  Does anyone know of another good GPS unit that would have more lakes than just the 4-5 major lakes in the state?

I went to the Fishing Hot Spots web site.  www.fishinghotspots.com.  There are paper maps available for nine Arkansas lakes.  The FHS chip for the Lowrance GPS unit contains topo information on forty-four Arkansas lakes.

In my view, the right way to select a GPS Unit is to first select the map-maker (cartographer), then purchase a supporting

GPS unit, be it handheld or console (I personally dislike combination Sonar / GPS devices, but to each his own).

The cartography war between Garmin (Hot Spots) and Navionics (HotMaps) rages on, and although the US military

employs Garmin software, it seems that with every passing year Navionics gets more accommodating to the American angler.

Anyway, if you like Garmin charts (MapSource) you need to find the "lake list", which I wasn't able to locate.

If I'm not mistaken, one of their best freshwater DVDs at this time is "US Inland Lakes v.3"

If you'd rather own Navionics software, then you'll need the 'South Region' which embraces Arkansas.

By the way, lake names on the list that are bolded are HD lakes (high definition) providing contour lines in 1-ft increments.

The lake list below represents: Navionics HotMaps Premium South Region 2008

http://www.navionics.com/Premium08LakeList.asp?RegionID=2

Roger

Thanks everyone.  Evidently, it was for his father (of which was standing at a counter in Bass Pro ready to buy).  He ended up buying a Lowrance XOG handheld unit that came preloaded with road, trail, and water charts.  It had all the lakes he wanted which are smaller lakes in Arkansas and not main lakes like Ouachita or Bull Shoals.  It's suppose to have Hot Spots loaded on it for fishing contour maps.  He didn't want a depth finder, just a GPS that he can use in an RV, car, or boat.  Got it on sale for about $270.

Thanks again guys!  My bud was very impressed with how fast and how informative the responses were in only a few hours.  I said, "Hey, that's just the guys at BassResource.com.  That's the way they are, great guys and know a lot about fishing."