Howzit guys

I am interested in purchasing the Lowarnce Elite-5 DSI Fishfinder/Plotter from the US.
I see it has mapping and it can be used to mark waypoints.

So my question is...If I bought this unit and got it shipped down to SA, would I be able to load some of the SA dams onto an SD card and then start marking waypoints on our dams?

I am really interested with the feature of marking waypoints but the units sold in SA are at least double the price.

Lowrance geofences their gps units.

You'll have annoying warnings flashing on the screen when using the GPS. You'll need to go to the local supplier if you want proper functionality. And no, there's not a known workaround.

Do your homework well before bringing in electronics from the USA...sometimes they cannot operate properly in Africa.This is a facility that is built into the unit and cannot be changed...apparently to protect the local market from importing cheaper units,not really sure.But get the unbiased opinion from somebody in the know and not just from the dealers.

Actually this is such a rip off for them to leave you option less.

Its almost like the cellphones that was locked on a certain network a few years ago. So if you weren't happy with your service provider then you needed to get a new phone as well.

JMG I imported a 4 x dsi for R1600. I bought a hand held gps and it works fine for me. If you import a unit with gps and chartplotter you can't use the chartplotter, I've heard that the gps still works but can't confirm this. If you ask me it's a ripoff cause if you import, the unit's cost is half the price than local.

may i ask why are you buying a GPS fishfinder if you already have a hummingbird fishfinder with down scan imaging and are you going to put both on your kick boat?

@BBB

Want to get a colour unit that you can also use for marking waypoints.
Selling the other one

on a kick boat?

yep. It doesn't need a massive battery so it will fit

Howdy JMG
I have the same Elite 5 DSI unit and you will battle with a kick boat Unless Arnie or Rambo is behind you with some tree trunk legs to get the required 3 Kph constantly in a straight line in order to get the best out of the machine
As far as I know mapping in SA is limited to the outline of the dam only, more detailed maps available from fishtec are for Natal waters so instead of a yellow screen you get to see a blue screen
The GPS on board the DSI unit is lacking at its best on slow speeds so with a kick boat you could be as far as 100m away from the spot and the finder will still tell you that you are bang on Target, Something I have discussed with John and came to the conclusion that a hand held GPS from Garmin is more accurate than any GPS Combo finder on the market - Go Figure
But it is your choice, just a heads up

Alright thanks for the advice!
If I pair up with someone with a boat for tournaments and such I guess I could hook it up to their rig.
Will decide what I will do.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I'm concerned that you're ignoring the impact of geofencing on US bought Lowrance equipment.

from http://www.tacklebox.com.au:
"Geofencing is a GIS term whereby software identifies a region on a map. Lowrance have a geofence programmed into the new units that identifies (via GPS) where the unit is, and if the unit is an American bought unit, and the current location is outside of 30 degrees West and International Dateline East of the Americas, the unit will revert to US imperial units only and flash a message on the screen continuously saying "This unit is not set up in this area please contact authorized dealer". The cursor on the map function will also point to the centre of the US. This does not happen on the international units, which are sold outside of the US."

So no meters, kilometers or Celsius; everything in miles, feet and Fahrenheit.