Cartography matters?

rbw156 · 02 July 2005, 21:48

I took a look at the Navionics (used by Lowrance) & Blue Chart (used by Garmin) today for an area that I know well (Keyhaven). The Navionics chart was incorrect! So much so that I would have very little confidence in using it to navigate into a port that I did not know. Whereas the Blue Chart, while it used a different style & feel, it was at least accurate.

Is all cartograpgy made the same or are some better?

jwalker · 02 July 2005, 22:08

Garmin's previous cartography was Navionics and I, too, found it inaccurate.

jlanng · 04 July 2005, 08:57

On a slightly tangential note, has anyone found any POI's in their UK Navionics cartography?

Pete7 · 04 July 2005, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbw156

Is all cartograpgy made the same or are some better?

Found the Garmin 188c chart of Southern England to be very accurate, Isle of Wight always appears were its supposed to be and I can even zoom into the finger pontoons in Haslar Marina. Haven't noticed any obvious errors and now the chart is 2 years old some of the bouyage may have moved or been changed, but still very happy with it.

Pete

philip · 04 July 2005, 12:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbw156

I took a look at the Navionics (used by Lowrance) & Blue Chart (used by Garmin) today for an area that I know well (Keyhaven). The Navionics chart was incorrect!

I have used Lowrance with Navionics to get into Keyhaven OK - At least nothing went bump !! - What was the error ?

Cheers

Phil

rbw156 · 04 July 2005, 12:23

The main channel was correct about 1/3 of the way into Keyhaven, but there after it disappeared. I appreciate that charts show LAT, but even so it was materially different to Bluechart.

Further, Navionics failed to show Mount Lake and Hawker's Lake. Both of these were shown on Bluechart.

I also noticed that the Lowrance took about 3 secs to redraw with each zoom and also ignored further zooms until the redraw was complete. The Garmin took about 0.5 secs and further zooms were processed in real time. I appreciate that this is more likely to be the processing power, rather than the chart.

rbw156 · 04 July 2005, 12:25

Is it possible to make a backup copy of the charts as the memory cards are very nickable?

jlanng · 04 July 2005, 14:23

Apparently not - there was a thread on this recently

Brian · 04 July 2005, 14:30

If the above comments about Navionics are correct. This is quite serious and would put me off their product.
Does anyone else have any comments, left or right?

bandf · 05 July 2005, 08:45

G'Day all,

I can't speak for the accuracy in your part of the world, but here in Brisbane, the Navionics cartography is streets ahead of the CMap or Blue chart equivalent. I've been selling and repairing Lowrance and Navionics product for quite a while and have no hesitation in fitting them wherever possible. I also sell Blue chart and CMap but prefer the Navionics where possible. In answer to the other points raised - any current model Lowrance plotter should redraw a full screen chart in under a second - if not there may be a software issue with the plotter. Some early software versions were a bit slow, but updates are available free of charge on the Lowrance website at www.lowrance.com

The MMC Navionics charts cannot be copied onto another MMC. The chart is coded to the serial number of the MMC, and will not duplicate onto an MMC with a different serial number. Generally speaking, all electronic charts are copy protected in this manner. However, a backup can still be kept - just copy/paste the file off the MMC onto PC hard drive to backup a copy. Provided the file is saved back onto the same MMC it was supplied on, the backup will work fine. So if you manage to erase or format the card, all is not lost.

Cheers - Chris

Mark Gill · 17 July 2005, 14:05

I run a Powerboat School out of Falmouth in Cornwall UK. My main Plotter is a Lowrance LMS240 Mono with Navionics Classic cartography, which I find to be very accurate, I also have a Garmin 76MapS with BlueChart Cartography instaled, which again is very good. I personaly prefer the Navionics.

scubadiver_ita · 26 May 2006, 10:30

hi guys saw your comment regarding the mmc card for navionics charts. does the same rule apply to compact flash cards too? ( you are unable to copy the files from one card to another? many thanks in advance

Roy Smith · 26 May 2006, 18:47

We had a Garmin188c which was great, we got caught out in fog by the forts (Portsmouth) and the garmin guided us though the dolphin and back to eastney. We now have a raymarine E80 with platuim chart, havant used it much but if i am honest dose not seam as good as the garmin. mybe we are not used to it yet

Stormchild · 26 May 2006, 21:27

I've got a Garmin 188C and data card for the east coast of england - Dove to Scarborough. Had no issues at all with the qualify of the data, the unit redraws extremely quickly and the only issue I've got is that after a few jaunts out in the cold during the last winter, the screen has some moisture / condensation behind it, and this makes it a bit hard to read in bright sunlight. But the cartography is fit for purpose and as accurate as jan 06.