GL: Worth it to update Navionics Charts?

[Joseph Roy]

My charts were update about 12-18 months ago and my subscription has expired. As best as I can tell it costs about $200 to do a chart update online. I wonder if it is worth it. What do you other boaters do about these expensive updates.


Thanks, Joe


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[Bob McLeran]

Don't use Navionics!!!

US NOAA charts are free, both ENC and BSB. Pay for Fugawi or even better
(IMHO) PolarView NS once and get free charts whenever they're updated.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida
Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog
Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/

On 5/14/2017 6:29 PM, Joseph Roy wrote:
> My charts were update about 12-18 months ago and my subscription has expired. As best as I can tell it costs about $200 to do a chart update online. I wonder if it is worth it. What do you other boaters do about these expensive updates.

[Jim Healy]

Joe,

I agree with Bob. There are several excellent programs that use the free NOAA and USACE charts in the US. In addition to Polar Navy and Fugawi, SEAiq, Coastal Explorer and OpenCPN all come to mind. SEAiq is available on all platforms (Mac OS X, Windoz, iOs and Android), so it only involves a single User Interface learning curve. There's no reason in today's world to pay an annual fee for free charts.

Jim

Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary, currently at Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, FL
http://gilwellbear.wordpress.com <http://gilwellbear.wordpress.com/>
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436

[Bob McLeran]

I forgot to mention OpenCPN - thanks for the reminder, Jim.

We actually have used Fugawi and OpenCPN prior to switching to Polar
Navy (all three use free NOAA charts). We stopped using Fugawi in 2013
when their "new and improved" version 5 couldn't accept input from WiFi
- up until then, it was our go-to nav program running on a Windows
laptop. We then tried OpenCPN, but it's difficult to use when planning
routes because it takes so darned long to load the next chart you want
to look at - I don't know what the problem is but it occurs on all four
of our laptops as well as my desktop which is a speed demon!

Now we're using Polar Navy, and have been since 2013 when we dumped
Fugawi - it still has a few drawbacks (can't get it to load in "Live
Ship Mode" and tracks are separated by days, for example), but otherwise
we like it. One of its nice features is that it will update charts with
just a couple of mouse clicks; same with AC (Points of Interest) data!
It's great for route planning with the AC data and easily updated charts.

For a couple of years we ran all three simultaneously on the same laptop
to get a feel for the differences - fed by WiFi (OpenCPN and Polar Navy)
and a USB connection (Fugawi) from our VesperMarine AIS. We finally
settled on Polar Navy as the most user friendly.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida
Blog: http://mvsanderling.net/Blog
Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/

On 5/15/2017 2:46 PM, Jim Healy wrote:
> Joe,
>
> I agree with Bob. There are several excellent programs that use the free NOAA and USACE charts in the US. In addition to Polar Navy and Fugawi, SEAiq, Coastal Explorer and OpenCPN all come to mind.

[RWP via Great-Loop]

Come on you guys! Joe just asked advice about updating his plotter chip. He didn’t want to buy a new computer system, rework his whole helm station or take a class in free NOAA charts!

OK, here’s the deal. The boat I have in Maine, a Parker 25, had a Lowrance plotter aboard when I bought it. It only had the S.Florida chip in it so it was worthless to me. I was almost ready to scrap the whole thing and switch to Garmin but I did some homework first. This is what I found out. If you use the Navionics+ chip, the initial cost is $199 for the first year. For that money you can update as often as you wish. At the end of your year you can re-subscribe for another year for approx. 1/2 price. If you feel you need satellite overlay, 3D view and panoramic photos on screen, then you need the Platinum+ and that’s $399. For me running, around Penobscot Bay, I just didn’t want to hit something. The water’s deep up here but it gets real hard around the edges!

Their methodology is interesting. You buy the ability to download the entire US and Canada but you actually download only the areas you intend to use. This is a memory saving scheme, which I appreciate. Cruising at 25 kts, I don’t want slow refresh rates!

I’m putting the boat in the water soon, probably next week. I’ll update the charts for free before then but won’t buy the update until August.

BTW, even though they don’t like Raymarine and Navionics, Jim and Bob are really pretty nice guys!


Regards,
Randy Pickelmann
Morning Star-lying Stuart, FL
Cool Change-on the hard, Thomaston, ME