[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by ProfessorLongArms

GPS with navionics will give you topography lines, some basic points of interest, navigation details, etc. Without, you'll just have blank map. I find them to be *ok* in terms of accuracy

Without, you can definitely make your own waypoints, routes, etc.

I've never bought a-la-carte, but just happened to be getting a WestMarine item that was bundled with it.

I've gotten used to having it over the years, but it's more just saying "I want to check out the 50-80 foot range" and have a rough estimate of how far I'll need to paddle to get to that line. Prolly trivial at best.

I'll say something akin to Garmin's Quickdraw (I think other manufacturers have something similar) is pretty amazing and I'm getting more value out of it every time I use it. It basically draws contours on to your map *as* you go, with your sonar data. Looking back at that data can be really useful.

Almost without fail, whenever I discover a pinnacle or depression, I tend to find fish on it. It can be really cool to have to get a feel for an area. It's almost always more accurate/detailed than the Navionics data as it paints over it too.

+1 When I first started using Navionics sonar charts a few years back, their was a lot of fantasy land contours. They have improved significantly as a result of anglers sharing data online.