LCX-27 and Lakemaster

[yarcraft91]

I have a Lowrance LCX-27 (software version 2.3.0) and a LakeMaster Michigan chip (2008). I'm not pleased with how this combination behaves, but maybe it is just acting normal.

I like the Lakemaster charts for Saginaw Bay. I also brought along a chip with some scanned images to display while I was fishing (crankbait dive curves). I found that when there is another chip in the LCX-27, the Lakemaster chip won't load automatically at startup and there isn't an obvious way to force the Lakemaster chart to load. It doesn't seem to matter which chip slot the Lakemaster chip in in- same behavior. It bahaves the same way with both my dive curve chip and a Navionic chip in the other slot.

I'm going to see if Lakemaster or Lowrance can help, but maybe someone here knows a work-around and can reply while I'm waiting on hold for Lowrance support? If there is no fix, I'm going to retire the Lakemaster to a different sonar and replace it with a Navionics chip.

[moccasinboy]

Yarcraft 91
This is Steve from LakeMaster. I just saw your post. I used a 27 for surveying for neary two seasons. I always had 2 chips in the unit and never experienced what you describe except with 2 LakeMaster chips in the unit at the same time, for areas that overlapped. Then, sometimes, the chip in the A slot would over-ride the B chip in the area of overlap. Only a guess, but something in the unit's software might be amiss.

[yarcraft91]

Yarcraft 91
This is Steve from LakeMaster. I just saw your post. I used a 27 for surveying for neary two seasons. I always had 2 chips in the unit and never experienced what you describe except with 2 LakeMaster chips in the unit at the same time, for areas that overlapped. Then, sometimes, the chip in the A slot would over-ride the B chip in the area of overlap. Only a guess, but something in the unit's software might be amiss.

Thanks, Steve. The behavior is very consistent. I wonder if the issue is with the Lakemaster Michigan chip, which has only been available for one season. I have not tried a different Lakemaster chip. I'm running version 2.3.0 of the Lowrance software, if that's helpful.

[yarcraft91]

Well, I just loaded Lowrance version 2.4.0 software- same behavior. The Lakemaster Michigan chip works fine if it's the only chip in the LCX-27c tray, but if any other chip is in the other slot, the Lakemaster data does not load. If I look at Map Data, the only choice under Navionics maps is "Lowrance", but selecting that and hitting "enter" doesn't make any difference.

[moccasinboy]

Well, I'm stumped. "Lowrance" is the correct data set choice to view the LakeMaster chip. Something about the other chips you're using is interfering with the LM map chip. Maybe Lowrance can explain it.
Sorry.

[yarcraft91]

Interesting that it doesn't seem to matter if the other chip is a Navionics map chip, a chip with only JPEG files, even a blank freshly formatted chip. I'm thinking it's a Lakemaster Michigan chip problem- we'll see if Lowrance can figure it out.