PCI Thank you for the Lowrance GPS Cheat Sheet

[PaulW]

Time to remind about Lowrance HDS units.
Beware
All units after Gen2 use a different format for maps and tracks. The heritage units use .LCM for maps and .USR for tracks. Sure enough they are not compatible for the newer units. You may have noticed that SCORE gives both formats for the race tracks, and that is the reason why. I never would recommend buying anything later that Gen2 because all the files we created and shared for the heritage units no longer work without going thru some kind of conversion program. Another example id Murdock maps which are in the .LCM format and will not load on a Gen3. BTW, even Gen 2 has to have a work around to use the heritage formats, but Lowrance came up with a certain update to cover that issue. Only works for Gen2.
What to do If you still want a Lowrance is to find a used one. Or go with Garmin GPS or go to a tablet which all use the Garmin format.
I wish I would have kept my Lowrance when I sold my Bronco. Turns out that unit (7200C) is not replaceable.

[Wrightracing.net]

I still run a couple of the old Lowrance 5in mono chromatic GPS. The use the .use files. I got them back in early 2000 and I use to prerun and Mark the MDR courses back then. I always had fun making detailed GPS maps out at Plaster City and in Baja.

I was thinking of getting a Garmin USB GPS antenna to run on a Window's Panisonic Toughbook tablet. I definitely want to run a external GPS antenna like the Lowrance.

I need to look into it more, I already have a Toughbook laptop that I use to program race radio's. It would be nice to use for a GPS in a mount in the Bronco.

David

[PaulW]

in the old days my buddy used a Toughbook and it worked fine with the built in GPS wan antenna.
Now days both the offerings from Lowrance and Garmin all have internal antennas and they work great inside a metal truck.
Lowrance is not a good product due to lack of map support. However Lowrance is great for following a provided track like all the racer have access to. Not so good for the average non racer person.