Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Lake mapping software

Have any of you looked at the lake mapping software available from Garmin and Hummingbird as a free feature on some of their GPS depth finders? Specifically, Garmin has Quickdraw Contours which maps your lake as you cruise the lake with 1 foot contours. Hummingbird has Auto Chart which does the same thing. From what I understand, these programs are very accurate providing great detail.

As a little background, my lake is 20 acres with probably 50-60% of the water 10 feet deep or more. The deepest area is about 26 feet. The lake was built in the 60's so there is very little visible cover but a lot of underwater stumps, bushes, and trees. I am looking to upgrade my depth finder to a Side View unit to help me identify deep water structure and cover. The idea of having mapping ability is intriguing. I don't know if it is worth the extra money though. Are any of you familiar with this technology?

The only one that I have ever used is Dr. Depth, and that is no longer available. It worked great.

Bill, Reefmaster is what you want IF you want to print maps. It overlays on Google Earth, so the pond map can be layered onto your property map. Dr. Depth was the best go, but Hummingbird bought them out. Hummingbird relabeled it as Autochart. IIRC, it's a little less than $300 for Autochart Pro.

I'm still playing with Reefmaster, but having a shallow weedy pond does mapping no favors.

Al, same problems with Dr. Depth. If the signal gets interrupted, you have to start the mapping process all over again.