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Lowrance / Lei Mapcreate Tips


user13371

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You can see what I did in an earlier post. I haven't had to try this yet, but the attached is what Lowrance tech support sent me on the topic.

 

Open MapCreate 6.3.  Click on Help/About MapCreate and notate the full version.  It will be 6.3.205 or 6.3.282.

      The .205 version is not compatible with the 2.0 USB Reader driver.  MapCreate must be updated to .282.  This

      update can be downloaded from this site:  ftp.lowrance.com  Locate the MapCreate folder and open it.

      Open the 6.3.282 update folder.  Reader the text file for instructions.  Then unzip the update file. 

Verify the driver is for the 2.0 Reader and not for the MMC/SD reader.  Open Control Panel/Add/Remove Programs.

      Scroll down until you locate the USB MMC Reader program.  If both this and the 2.0 are installed, uninstall the

      incorrect Reader program.  If neither is installed, access the #1 MapCreate CD, open the correct USB MMC

      folder, and use the Setup program to install the correct driver. 

Verify the Reader drive appears in My Computer.  If it does, Windows is recognizing the Reader.  Then open

      MapCreate, click on Tools/Card Registry.  Place the MMC in the Reader.  Then try to register the MMC. 

Note:  PNY MMCs have not generally been compatible with the GPS products.  The Sandisk brand is recommended. 

      Other MMC readers cannot be used with the MapCreate program.  The LEI reader must be used.

 

Despite what they said, I read and write using the Sandisk reader, without using the LEI reader once a card has been registered.

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To prevent my pc from being hacked from any virus or over protected sofware like...

here is a little hint, make your self a backup image of your windows partition with norton ghost or image,then you can get back to your original regitery within minutes if some thing go's roung or any limit counter install to it!!

 

and this is perfectly legal.

Edited by daytrek
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Hi. I'm new to GPS and the forums and was glad to see info on Lowrance and Mapcreate. The info is great so I thought I would post a question for the software experts!

 

I made a retangular map to encompass New York State, without NYC, but with a corner that went up into lake Erie and Canada. This turned out to be about 28MB. I then did a corridor map to get as close to just the boarders of the State without the extra, and this came to about 32 MB. Nothing else changed. Any guesses as to what's going on? I thought the purpose of corridor maps was to create smaller map files focused on a specific area? I called tech support and the guy could only say that I must have included something in the corridor map that was not in the rectangular map, but I don't believe that is the case as I did it a couple of times and tried to be tight on the boarders.

 

Is this just something goofy with the software?

 

Thanks,

 

Chris F.

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... a retangular map to encompass New York State, without NYC, but with a corner that went up into lake Erie and Canada. This turned out to be about 28MB.

 

... a corridor map ... just the boarders of the State without the extra, and this came to about 32 MB. ... Is this just something goofy with the software?

If I understood you correctly. you drew a "corridor" that completely wraps around an area (like a donut, perhaps). This would actually result in a map that includes the "enclosed" area (the donuit hole) as well as the intended corridor.

 

The software is indeed "goofy" about this, but there is a work-around: Don't user the corridor drawing feature if you will be inclosing an area. Just draw a handful of skinny rectangular regions.

 

On the other hand, if you have enough memory/SD card space, just build the whole thing once and be done with it. Life is short and memory space is too cheap to worry about tweaking map sizes :)

 

I've actually built a complete set of US maps from my copy of MapCreate (in convenient sized chunks), burned them on CD, and haven't touched MapCreate itself in months.

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Well, first I just made a really wide corridor that came across from the west and then up to Canada, that covered most of the state. After reading your post, I tried to enclose the area with a narrower corridor, but I'm not sure I got it to work right because I didn't have detail in the enclosed area when I opened it on my GPSr. Finally, I just made rectangular maps big enough to encompas the area that I wanted, like you suggested, and saved it to my new 512 card, which has plenty of room for what I want. You were right, it wasn't worth wasting any more time when I had abundant storage available.

 

Thanks, much, for the help.

 

C

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I did format it. I forgot to add that. I have everything working now. Strange.

Thanks.

I just went through the same problem as you. The card could not be found/written to. To fix the problem, I went to the hardware config. in the control panel. I scrolled down to the USB drivers. I clicked on one and picked disable. I re booted, and tried the MapCreate. It worked. I was lucky enough to have picked the right driver to disable. The best thing with this method is that the driver can be turned back on, and another one disabled, etc. until you find the correct one. Hope this helps.

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I'm really happy to find this site and this discussion. I had many problems using Map Create 6.3, crashing both a WIN98 and XP Pro machine. My XP is gone off to college with daughter, so I've struggled with this thing some more until I ran the LEI Card Reader upgrade at http://www.lowrance.com/software/LEI_USB_F...efault_back.asp

 

Now the problem that pestered both machines is solved. The fix is for both op systems.

 

While here, has anyone figured out a way to save a custom map to a MMC based on a Elite Fishing Hop Spots base map selection? Mine reverts to the less detailed CD collection maps since the Elite has to be removed replaced by a new MMC. When it is removed the program redraws using the stored maps. I wonder whether it's possible to save the Elite maps on the hard drive and open from there.

 

Jim

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...I have everything working now...

I just went through the same problem as you. The card could not be found/written to. To fix the problem, I went to the hardware config. in the control panel. I scrolled down to the USB drivers. I clicked on one and picked disable...

Though not specifically mentioning every possible problem - the second post in this thread (Fixing most common card reader problems) covers what you're talking about.

 

The MapCreate software for some unknown reasons installs an outdated and incorrect USB driver on many systems. I think it's meant to support very old systems (e.g. Win98se) that didn't have native support for mass storage devices. But it isn't needed in any newer flavor of windows.

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I deleted the USB card reader driver Windows found and installed originally. When installing Map Create it installed the LEI driver, but upon rebooting Windows Plug n Play found and installed the old driver again with no way to stop it. Maybe having two conflicting drivers was the problem? After the upgrade I deleted the old driver again and Windows hasn't tried to detect and install the old one again.

 

Jim

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Great thread. Question: How do I add custom icons to the iFinder H20? Currently I use GSAK to create my waypoint files (.usr). I'd like to have icons for traditional/multi's/micros/found etc.

Thanks

 

As far as I know, that is not possible.

 

What I do is use the current icons for different cache status, flag buoy= unfound blue X= found diver down= DNF....

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I’ve been using a 128MB PNY SD card to transfer Waypoints. I’ve noticed $40 SD cards by PNY and pqi, and was wondering if certain cards don’t work in the LEI reader.

I don't know if performance with the LEI card reader is at all brand-sensitive. But I know the tendency of many users is to find a brand that works and stick with it. I've been buying SanDisk for a long time and never have any problems.

I purchased a Kingston brand SD card for my H20 and it would not work. It seemed to register Ok and accept a map file but the GPS would not recognize it. Lowrance support suggesting trying another card so apparently the devices do have a card prefrence of some sort.

(The Kingston card works fine in my PDA.)

 

I also bought two Kingston cards at significant cost only to be told by Lowrance they don't work which is very annoying. Problem is I have wasted 2 of my 5 card registrations finding this out and Lowrances attitude was simply 'oh well'.

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Great thread. Question: How do I add custom icons to the iFinder H20? Currently I use GSAK to create my waypoint files (.usr). I'd like to have icons for traditional/multi's/micros/found etc.

Thanks

 

As far as I know, that is not possible.

 

What I do is use the current icons for different cache status, flag buoy= unfound blue X= found diver down= DNF....

 

Thanks for the reply. I figured out with GSAK can use %ShortName=10 %typ1 %con1 (%Dif/%Ter) for the waypoint name. Equals something like - RoadToRoss T S (1/1) as the waypoint name on the GPS

I also use blue/yellow crosses for found/not found etc. Works fine.

Edited by Team K1W1
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Since there seems to be a growing Lowrance group here (and because the MapCreate software is sometimes a bit buggy), I thought I'd start a specific thread on it. I hope it will stay focused on tips and troubleshooting for Lowrance/LEI MapCreate products.

 

I'll start with a few things I have learned (even though they've been posted elsewhere) to collect them into this thread.

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I just bought the IFinder Hunt C plus and followed the directions for using the MMC card but the system will not let me register the card. I get the following error message.

 

Number: 429 Source: MapCreate Module: frmCardRegistry Procedure: btnRegister_Click() Last Dll Error: 0 Description: ActiveX component can't create object Message:

 

I have called the Lowrance help line but just get left on hold.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

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I also bought two Kingston cards at significant cost only to be told by Lowrance they don't work which is very annoying. Problem is I have wasted 2 of my 5 card registrations finding this out and Lowrance's attitude was simply "oh well."
A couple of things you can do about that:

 

1) See post #4 in this thread. It tells how to save a map that can be used on any SD card you own whether or not it's registered.

 

2) Phone Lowrance (again) and explain exactly what happened, and ask them for the program to reset the card count. It's something they don't publicize for obvious reasons but it does exist - you can only download it from their FTP site after they tell you the exact URL and password.

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I just bought the IFinder Hunt C plus and followed the directions for using the MMC card but the system will not let me register the card. I get the following error message.

 

Number: 429 Source: MapCreate Module: frmCardRegistry Procedure: btnRegister_Click() Last Dll Error: 0 Description: ActiveX component can't create object Message:...

No ideas, just hunches and things to wonder about...

 

1) You are using the LEI card reader, right?

 

2) Did you check the drivers installed for the card reader (see post #2 in this thread)?

 

3) Do you have any other mass storage devices installed on your computer at the same time as the LEI card reader - e.g. other flash drives, a digital camera, portable hard drives, etc?

 

4) What brand of SD card are you using?

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when I hit the create map icon 7 out of ten times I'll get a PLEASE INSTALL A DISK IN READER BE FOR REGISTERING CARD. I have a registered card in the reader at the time. If I hit the map create icon enought times it may eventually make a map or I just start over. got so mad that I deleted the whole program and reinstalled thinking it may be the card reader or some glitch but everything seems good there. any help or suggestions would be welcomed. just a noted, after I removed and reinstalled mapcreate it let me register 5 new cards. thanks deadeye.

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... 7 out of ten times I'll get a PLEASE INSTALL A DISK IN READER BEFORE REGISTERING CARD. ...
I'm guessing you either have a bad card reader, need a firmware update for it, or have a driver problem. All of these issues are discussed in the earlier messages in this thread.
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... 7 out of ten times I'll get a PLEASE INSTALL A DISK IN READER BEFORE REGISTERING CARD. ...
I'm guessing you either have a bad card reader, need a firmware update for it, or have a driver problem. All of these issues are discussed in the earlier messages in this thread.

 

found the link for the firmware upgrade in the thread. download and tried to install. keep on getting message NO SCM USB DEVICE FOUND. sent a msg to lowrance for assistance. thanks to all the knowledgable people that contribute their expertese this forum and website.

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I'm using the Ifinder M&M with the latest firmware (1.5.0) and am completely at a loss on how to edit routing waypoints with the Cdn Topo Mapcreate 6.3. My US Topo route editing works fine, telling me my computer isn't the culprit. When I run the Cdn software and go to adjust a route waypoint, It moves properly, but won't lock into it's new position when I double click my mouse. Trying different things almost invariably ends up with the whole route being deleted. That's pretty frustrating after carefully entering a route with 50 waypoints on it!. Without being able to edit routes, this POS software is pretty much useless to me. I find it hard to believe such buggy software would still be sold after being around for nearly 3 years and still no patch. I emailed Tech, but have not heard back. Naturally, the tech phone # doesn't work from Canada (they didn't have a problem cashing my cheque though... ) :rolleyes:

Has anyone heard of this problem or have an idea on a fix?

TIA

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Thanks for the info on creating maps lee - I just discovered that you can use the at5 maps in the H20 emulator by puting them in the map() subdirctory - the regular registered maps would not load into the emulator but the at5 ones will.

 

The emulator is all I have now because someone broke the side window of my car and stole my H20 - had it for just 2 weeks!

 

But I got an even better deal on a Iway 100m with the turn by turn mapcreate (now on its way here from colorodo) - which raises several question.

 

1. does anyone know if mapcreate 6.3 topo files work in the iway 100m or do I need to crete turn by turn files from mapcreate turn by turn? Someone on another forum said it would work because the turn by turn stuff is in the memory of the iway and it will give you turn by turn with just the base map. Tech support person at Lowrance said the turn by turn map create must be used because it creates turn by turn instructions with each created map (that seems a little odd to me).

 

2. Does anyone know if there is an emulator for the iway 100m- I assuming that if Lowrance had one they took it off the web site when they discontinued production of the iway 100m but because it would have been a downloadable zipfile, perhaps someone has a copy?

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I'm new here but here is my problem. I recently downloaded mapcreate 6.2 but my computer will not recognize the card reader. It says there may not be a driver or this device is not compatible. When I plug it in the usb port it says unknown device. I run windows xp home with sp1 and sp2 downloaded. It is a lei mmc/sd reader and the lowrance website says xp should have a driver. The only driver on their website for this reader is for windows 98. The reader works at my place of work but it is on windows 2000. How do I slve this?

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...mapcreate 6.2 but my computer will not recognize the card reader. ... How do I solve this?
Start by reading the first few posts in this topic :blink:

 

As for your specifci problem though... With MapCreate 6.2 you could use any SD card reader; you don't HAVE to use the LEI provided one. Further, you shouldn't need any driver in XP for this to work. It's possible (likely) MapCreate installed an UNNEEDED driver on your system. Their install package is awfully brain-dead about that and will often put a Win98 driver on XP systems - again, read the first few posts in this topic to see how to remove the unneeded driver.

 

Alternately - you might just have a bad reader. If reading the first few posts in this topic doesn't help, call Lowrance and ask for a replacement card reader.

 

Sorry if I seem to be a bit redundant about reading the first few posts in this topic -- it's because this question has been asked and answered many times before.

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Unplug other usb devices when installing mapcreate 6.3.

 

I bought an iFinder H20 and the mapcreate 6.3 USA topo software with the 2.0 USB Card reader. I could not get the card reader to install on my XP pro machine. It did, however, install on a computer with XP Home - which does not have any other usb devies connected to it. So I removed all other connected USB devices from the computer with XP Pro and the mapcreate 6.3 USA Topo software and card reader installed and worked perfectly with 1gb sandisk SD cards. And both the softwear and card reader continued to work after re-plugging in my other usb devices. seems there is a conflict just in the installation procedure.

 

Then some puke stained smelly social reject broke into my car and stole the iFinder H20. So I bought a Lowrance iWay 100m because it has the turn-by-turn driving directions, is an iFinder H20 in most other respects, and came with the mapcreate turn-by-turn 6.3 software for $10 less than I had paid for the H20 alone (which I would still have if some brain dead going-to-hell creatin had not stolen it from me).

 

But Mapcreate turn-by-turn came with a 1.0 usb card reader and lowrance tech support told me I had to use the 1.0 card reader with that version of the software. It too would not install with my other usb devices attached - so I unplugged them and again had no problem installing the usb 1.0 card reader and no problem using it with mapcreate turn-by-turn 6.3 and 1gb sandisk sd cards.

 

Now, however, the mapcreate 6.3 USA topo will not fire up. Lowrance tech said that was a known problem - you can have both the USA Topo and the Turn-by-Turn versions installed on your computer, but you can only use one of them. That seems easily fixable by a programer but is not going to happen because turn-by-turn will not be updated (the iWay is a discontinued product.)

 

I can probly use the freeware version of altiris virtualization software to isolate the two programs which would allow me to use one while puting the other in hibernation - which I will try as soon as I get some time.

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I have read your first instructions and I can't find any driver that it loaded. Like I said the reader works on a computer at my place of work. I've followed the instructions of loading the two cd's but when I plug in the reader it says unknown device, no driver loaded for it.

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I have read your first instructions and I can't find any driver that it loaded. Like I said the reader works on a computer at my place of work. I've followed the instructions of loading the two cd's but when I plug in the reader it says unknown device, no driver loaded for it.

 

Try these steps:

 

Uninstall any mapcreate and Lowrance software from the computer.

 

Plug in the card reader before trying to install mapcreate again.

 

When you first plug in the card reader to a windows XP machine, you should get a message that windows has found new hardware and then that it is operating - win XP does not need special drivers to recognize the card reader - if all you did was plug in the card reader you should be able to transfer files to and from a sd card in the reader using windows explorer.

 

However, in order for the card reader to work with mapcreate, windows xp apparently does need to have the proper card setup file run, which mapcreate does at the end of the installation. That is why you need the card reader plugged in during installation. A FAQ on the Lowrance web site suggest that you might also need to have a card loaded in the reader if it won't install without one.

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I recently bought a Lowrance H2O and I have not bought any additional mapping software, card reader, or SD card. I hate being forced to use specific software and I can't seem to find a retailer to sell me the LEI Mapcreate software/card reader/SD bundle. I can find it online but I would rather go to a store to buy the hardware and download the software. I am running Windows XP, do I really need to buy LEI's bundle?

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Quick question on Map Create 6.3 map sizes. The little 64 meg card I have works fine with Map Create. I bought a 512 meg SD card (SanDisk) and registered it with MC just fine. I tried sticking several different maps of various sizes, ranging from 450 meg map files to 100 meg files. My iFinder Pro would read the cards, but not load any of the maps. I can save routes and unload/load waypoints, but couldn't get any detailed maps to load. Is there a limit on the size and/or number of detail maps you can have on an SD card?

 

Dondo

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I have loaded maps to a 512 card without problems. From what you describe you have a similar setup to mine, and I can load maps, so it should work.

 

What is your operating system? You may need a firmware upgrade to the SD reader's drivers, but I'm not sure, it doesn't sound like that is the problem.

 

Go into the card (My Computer> "E" or whatever letter you have for the SD reader) and see what the filenames are for the maps, and what extension they have, like .aT5

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I can load the maps to the card using the LEI reader just fine. It is getting my GPS to read the map files. I guess I'm asking if there is a limit to the number and sizes of the map files on the SD card that the iFinder can read. That make any sense? Can you have multiple maps of multiple sizes on one SD card and will the iFinder know when to load each map and, how big can those maps be?

 

I have loaded maps to a 512 card without problems. From what you describe you have a similar setup to mine, and I can load maps, so it should work.

 

What is your operating system? You may need a firmware upgrade to the SD reader's drivers, but I'm not sure, it doesn't sound like that is the problem.

 

Go into the card (My Computer> "E" or whatever letter you have for the SD reader) and see what the filenames are for the maps, and what extension they have, like .aT5

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Can you have multiple maps of multiple sizes on one SD card and will the iFinder know when to load each map and, how big can those maps be?

 

Yes, Yes, and I've never found the limit. (And I loaded most of the South Eastern US on one card, all detail, in multiple different files.)

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I used a 1 gb SD card with an iFinder H20. I made one map that was 800gb. The iFinder loaded the map and seemed to work fine until I started moving around a lot on the map - like moving the cursor from Buffalo to Baltimore - then I started losing the maps and experiencing strange behavior from the unit. I called Lowrance tech and one person told me that the problem was the size of the maps - and that I should use smaller maps. She said overlaping smaller maps would not be a problem because the iFinder would internally exclude duplicate information. Another tech support person told me that overlapping multiple maps would cause erratic behavior and that is why the mapcreate 6.3 software creates corridor maps - before the map is generated the software eliminates duplicate information in the corridor maps. The second tech support person said that non-overlaping maps would work just find and that the iFinder would load the correspoding map into memory when the cursor enter the map boundaries.

 

I never got a chance to test either one because my ifinder H20 was stolen. I replaced it with a Lowrance iWay 100m and the map create turn-by-turn software. I cut the size of my map down to about 400mb and have had no problem using that size map on a 1 gb sd card.

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Continuing the discussion from: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=136543

 

I have succesfully written a map using MapCreate 6.3 to my SD card using a third party reader, the program asked to register the card, which I accepted and it worked no problem. I had formatted the card and created an ID file on it using the Explorer C, and then created the map using MapCreate and the usb reader. Game on!

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I just purchased the H2O C and MapCreate 6 USA TOPO software. My neighbor has a 60csx (?) with unknown software. After watching him use his, I decided the larger screen would be nice so i went my own way. Here is the issue i have:

 

When he selects a place to go (anywhere) and then tells it to "map", the unit calculates and then gives him a detailed route with driving directions ie... turn left in 1.2 miles, go on highway ** for 45 miles, etc.. (kinda like you get from Yahoo or Google maps)

 

When I do the same (at least I believe I am doing it correctly), I get a pretty pink STRAIGHT line from point A to point B, and no detail at all. I am trying to use it for driving directions.

 

Am I missing something or is this the best it gets. I have "skimmed" the manual for the unit and software but this is very frustrating.

 

Is there an Airplane mode that I am in?

 

Is this unit capable of this type of detail?

 

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated!

Edited by WhoFlungPoo
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Lowrance doesn't do 'routing' - which is what I think you are describing. Sorry!

 

(I am a very happy Lowrance Expedition C owner, never thought I needed routing - and I still don't see the need for it.)

 

But I mostly use mine for hiking, so the strait line is about as helpful as anything else would be!

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Lowrance doesn't do 'routing' - which is what I think you are describing. Sorry!

 

(I am a very happy Lowrance Expedition C owner, never thought I needed routing - and I still don't see the need for it.)

 

But I mostly use mine for hiking, so the strait line is about as helpful as anything else would be!

 

:laughing:

 

Is that units, software, or both? If software only, is there another manuf. that is compatible with Lowrance units?

 

Anyone interested in a H2O C and MapCreate software? Purchased on 8/19/06.

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Anyone interested in a H2O C and MapCreate software? Purchased on 8/19/06.

The timing is off! I have been thinking of buying my son an Expedition/Hunt/H2O for CHristmas this year.

Not ready to spend the $ right now, but I'd think selling it would be easy here!

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And one more thing....

 

Considering the price difference, and certainly if you bought it for Geocaching, I"d really think about it before I sold it.

 

Lowrance and MapCreate is good stuff - I have had a ball with mine (but I am not a cacher, I"m a hiker and use mine on trails and driving as well.)

 

There are undocumented features which I am SURE you haven't even discovered yet!

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Anyone interested in a H2O C and MapCreate software? Purchased on 8/19/06.

 

Yes, there is a guy in another thread asking about used Lowrance units! I'll post a link if I can find it!

EDIT:

Not sure if he's asking to buy one, or wondering why no one ever sells their's, but HERE YOU GO!

Edited by WR8Y
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