Lowrance Elite-5 DSI

[Seafever]

Maybe I can clarify it even further.

There TWO Navionics GOLD cards for Canada Coast .

One is the card they give you with Elite 4 and Elite 5. It is a MicroSD card for both and it is a Navionics GOLD card.

However.......this particular card , although called "GOLD", is one that they custom made for Elite 4 and Elite 5 so that they could offer the low price for the unit.

The OTHER card........which is also called 'Navionics Gold Canada Coast" is a card that you would buy if you wanted a good card with better detail and you bought it by itself.

Two cards......both called "Gold"......both called "Coastal Canada'........BUT...they are not the same.
One is better than the other.

 

[Seafever]

When you first turn the unit on, it asks you if you want to run "Setup Wizard"......normally I wouldn't have but I did in this case.......the Setup Wizard tries to make it easier for people to use by configuring settings for them after asking a couple of questions..

This can be a blessing or a curse.......sometimes it will set you up wrong.......it did on my fishfinder but I went manual after that with way better results.

If you ran Setup Wizard and you want out....then you have to "Restore Defaults" and go in manual on your own.

 

[Seafever]

All I'm saying is:- when you buy the Elite 4 or Elite 5, make sure you can get a "demo" ran of the existing card.

easy to do....and scroll it to places where you fish often so you can see bottom contour there.

On the bundled socalled "Gold" card that comes with these units there won't be all that much.

Then get them to run the stand-alone independant card...and you will see the difference.

 

[jeffywestcoast]

thanks seafever was playing with it till i herd the rings blown setting on my outboard, hopefully back on the water by sat or sunday. giver another go after that.

 

[rockdog]

On your elite 5's, if you go into 'about', it will tell you what version you are running. If you are not running the current version, you can go to the lowrance website and download the current version onto a mini sd card for free. I've updated mine, and a couple of my friends' units. I still have the update on a mini SD if anyone wants to update theirs.

Seafever, I remove my unit after every trip, and I don't have to select which map I want to use.

 

[fish stalker]

ok I think I finally got a clear answer to the navonics card issue!

the card that comes with it is not updateable. It came out 2 yrs ago with that unit. When people go out fishing and travel around these unit memoriz structure info, that info is sent back to navonics and is how they make there updates. So the card that comes with it is all the hyrdographic information that they had 2 yrs when they made it.

ps the dsi version is updateable and not interchangable

 

[rockdog]

The update is for the software that runs the elite 5, not the navionics card. The card doesn't change.

 

[fish stalker]

yup thats what I understood.^ there was a guy wondering the same things as me in there today and got the dsi version. From what I can see you will barley be able to see fish on the dsi unit. I would never be able to use it for dropping prawn traps.. even tho its cool...perfect for lakes. now I have to decide wether to buy from hc and save 30 bucks or buy from wm and get extended 2 yr warrety for extra 69 which includes wear and tear.. ive never been a sucker for that but for this it might be worth it..

 

[fish stalker]

HC dosnt do extended warranty and im guessing neither does trotac. I will go in and see but I dont expect a business to meet someone elses killer sale price. You cant compare a 330 sale price e5dsi with a 2g hds10. I dont go offshore or need a bigger screen that bad! this is peanuts to most guys. just have to decided by tomorrow if the extended warranty is worth it. just for lurkers who are reading this if you buy the e.w on the sale price thats all you are going to get toward future if need unit. so if you get 30 dollar extended warranty you will get the 329.00 toward fixing or replacing unit. if you pay the 69 on the regular price 599.00 you will get the 599.00 towards new unit.

If anyone has experience dealing with west marine with warranty work id be interested in how it went.


yes im a over thinker

 

[Degree of Freedom]

HC may not do extended warranties but nobody stands by what they sell better than them.

 

[Sculpin]

HC may not do extended warranties but nobody stands by what they sell better than them.

Damn straight right there.

 

[Copper Moon]

HC may not do extended warranties but nobody stands by what they sell better than them.

You can always buy with confidence from HC.