spring time
Well-Known Member
ok guys what do you run for electronic charts navionics or c-map.
Navionics or c-map
- Thread starter spring time
- Start date
Waterwolf2230
Well-Known Member
I use a Navionics chip but have been steadily mapping areas that I fish regularly with Lowrance's Insight Genesis. It is remarkably more detailed and accurate. I think I uploaded 97 maps last summer just on Wilby Shoal/Green/Red can area. It would be nice if others started doing the same
I attached some comparisons from the Navionics Webapp for my maps in Wilby area and for the north side of Grant's Reef which I just started mapping towards the end of the summer. I really like with Insight Genesis how you can also track bottom hardness. Just my .02 cents.
I attached some comparisons from the Navionics Webapp for my maps in Wilby area and for the north side of Grant's Reef which I just started mapping towards the end of the summer. I really like with Insight Genesis how you can also track bottom hardness. Just my .02 cents.Attachments
Birdsnest
Well-Known Member
I use a Navionics chip but have been steadily mapping areas that I fish regularly with Lowrance's Insight Genesis. It is remarkably more detailed and accurate. I think I uploaded 97 maps last summer just on Wilby Shoal/Green/Red can area. It would be nice if others started doing the same
Wow that is very interesting. What exactly are you using to do this with, system, sonar etc???
Waterwolf2230
Well-Known Member
I have a Lowrance Gen2 Touch and as I fish, I record the tracks onto a SD card. The more times you go over a spot the more accurate the detail becomes. I then upload these maps to the Insight Genesis website which is owned by Lowrance. They overlay my map with those from others to make one big map. Well actually you can choose to make the maps private but I never do, that is probably for tournament fisherman. I think if more of us did this it would be awesome. https://gofreemarine.com/insight-genesis/ There are a lot of videos on youtube.
I did about 12,000 acres last year. Sandheads, tunsall, Epson, thrasher, polier, etc.
It's very simple to use birdsnest, push record while trolling, start and stop recording several times through the day. Put SD card in computer and log into gofree and wait. Download back from social maps and use that card on your new unit. It's the best map out there as it was directly from sonar. It also records all the weather and stuff from local weather stations, automatically offsets for tides etc.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum...ht-genesis-anyone-using-it.59752/#post-813097
It's very simple to use birdsnest, push record while trolling, start and stop recording several times through the day. Put SD card in computer and log into gofree and wait. Download back from social maps and use that card on your new unit. It's the best map out there as it was directly from sonar. It also records all the weather and stuff from local weather stations, automatically offsets for tides etc.
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum...ht-genesis-anyone-using-it.59752/#post-813097
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CBsqrd
Well-Known Member
What head unit will you be using it on?
I had Navionics+ on my Lowrance Elite 7 on my previous boat. I had no problem with maps, they were easy enough to read for the most part, but I wasn't able to take advantage of the features that an HDS unit like WW has would have provided and are pretty cool. There was an option for displaying "community data", but I found it was far too cluttered to be useful. Depending on your unit, you may have better features with one or the other.
Our new boat that we picked up over the winter came with a Furuno TZT 14 (C-Map) and Garmin GPS Map 5208 (Garmin's proprietary maps). The boat is going back in the water at the end of this month, so I haven't used either unit extensively. But after playing around with both units after installing the charts for BC, I have been impressed so far with the C-Map on the Furuno. I have both the C-Map regular vector charts and the fishing charts, which provide more bathymetric detail (but less navigation and other data) and may add the raster charts for BC as well. It will take a bit to get used to the different formatting C-Map uses, but happy so far and haven't noticed any downsides yet.
Not a fan (yet) of the Garmin charts compared to the C-Map on the Furuno (which is admittedly a newer and higher performance unit). I think they would look better on a bigger and/or higher resolution screen. I also need to spend some more time setting up the Garmin display and removing some of the clutter to get it to my liking.
Navionics (and Lowrance) are the most popular options locally and you will be able to find support / service easier if you go that route. One issue I found with C-Map is it is almost impossible to find examples of how the local charts look. I held off on purchasing the maps until after I had the chance to play around with the maps at the boat show. I'd recommend going to your local dealer and try to demo both side by side if that is an option. The dealer will may have some good advice and/or steer you one way or another.
ziggy
Well-Known Member
Have you compared your Insight charts with the Navionics Sonar Chart? Might be a more apples to apples comparison?I use a Navionics chip but have been steadily mapping areas that I fish regularly with Lowrance's Insight Genesis. It is remarkably more detailed and accurate. I think I uploaded 97 maps last summer just on Wilby Shoal/Green/Red can area. It would be nice if others started doing the same
Whole in the Water
Well-Known Member
Navionics is the way to go IMO.
No comparison, the map you make from sonar recording is way better. You can view everyone's maps at gofree/social. Zoom in to straight of Georgia and click the dot near sechelt. Now open navionics and do a side by side. Pinnacles that show on insite do not show on navionics webapp.
Waterwolf2230
Well-Known Member
Yes I have, I get that the WebApp is far less detailed but it was all I could do for a comparison. Making a map in Insight Genesis is as accurate as it gets. I have found several areas where Navionics shows a specific contour that doesn't actually exist and visa versa. The problem is that it takes time to make. I actually find it kind of facinating making the maps and analyzing them after. Each pass over a certain area adds detail. If more people subscribed to the practice we'd all be further ahead. Take for example on the NE corner of Wilby Shoals, Navionics shows kind of an underwater island which shows in a blue circle. Well that just doesn't exist, its a peninsula. What it does is with extreme accuracy to be able to troll a specific contour. By this time next year, I plan to have the entire area of the Green/Red can mapped as well as start on Kitty Coleman are.
Sir Reel
Well-Known Member
I have a Furuno NavNet VX2 and use C-Map charts. I asked Furuno tech support about changing to Navionics as I was more used to in in my Lowrance models.
They replied with this:
C-map seems to be the most preferred by customers. Just off the top of my head it runs about twice as fast and offers support for Sirius weather. I haven't seen and would not recommend reprogramming back and forth. You would be much better off updating your C-map unit to the newest software.
They replied with this:
C-map seems to be the most preferred by customers. Just off the top of my head it runs about twice as fast and offers support for Sirius weather. I haven't seen and would not recommend reprogramming back and forth. You would be much better off updating your C-map unit to the newest software.
good map!!! not to many holes
I am struggling with the choice as well, YouTube shows some big time comparison differences between the two. I have always used Navionics, but I am really liking what I see with Cmaps Genisis
Im pretty sure its not possible to use both. I wish people in my areas- French creek would start to use it that would make my choice way easier.
Im pretty sure its not possible to use both. I wish people in my areas- French creek would start to use it that would make my choice way easier.
Tyler Brinks
Member
As others have said, you can view the Navionics ChartViewer to see exactly what you will see when you purchase a card. Here is the link to see if the area you are going is covered and the detail you will see on your plotter.
https://webapp.navionics.com/
The pictures at the beginning of this thread use a "base map" for comparison; not a good comparison. To the best of my knowledge, every vendor now offers 3 levels of maps:
(1) Built-in base map that is free. Works for navigation but not too good for fishing/bottom contours
(2) Region specific maps on chips/SD cards. Cost is about $300 per region. Has bottom contours every 3-6-12 feet depending on depth with shallow depths having more detailed contours. Until proven otherwise, the data used comes from the same government sources.
(3) Real-time capture-live data with contours every 6-12 inches if desired. To the best of my knowledge Furuno/Nobeltec is the only solution that compensates for depth differences due to tide, and for transducer orientation issues such as boat/transducer movement due to various effects of waves on whether or not the transducer is pointing straight down, and where the transducer is mounted in relation to boat centerline and center of gravity in 2 axis.
The result of such artifacts can be seem in the upper right corner of waterwolf's screen shot labeled insight genesis wilby shoal and appear as cross-hatching where the contour lines are at 90' give-or-take from each other.
The Furuno/Nobeltec solution also allows data from different capture sessions to be deleted. FYI this solution is close to $10K in cost.
This info is intended to inform, not disrespect any other solution.
If it were me I'd go with the region specific map & prioritize other issues such as cost & screen size above live mapping. FYI the Furuno tech support staff refer to mapping as more of a toy than a tool.
(1) Built-in base map that is free. Works for navigation but not too good for fishing/bottom contours
(2) Region specific maps on chips/SD cards. Cost is about $300 per region. Has bottom contours every 3-6-12 feet depending on depth with shallow depths having more detailed contours. Until proven otherwise, the data used comes from the same government sources.
(3) Real-time capture-live data with contours every 6-12 inches if desired. To the best of my knowledge Furuno/Nobeltec is the only solution that compensates for depth differences due to tide, and for transducer orientation issues such as boat/transducer movement due to various effects of waves on whether or not the transducer is pointing straight down, and where the transducer is mounted in relation to boat centerline and center of gravity in 2 axis.
The result of such artifacts can be seem in the upper right corner of waterwolf's screen shot labeled insight genesis wilby shoal and appear as cross-hatching where the contour lines are at 90' give-or-take from each other.
The Furuno/Nobeltec solution also allows data from different capture sessions to be deleted. FYI this solution is close to $10K in cost.
This info is intended to inform, not disrespect any other solution.
If it were me I'd go with the region specific map & prioritize other issues such as cost & screen size above live mapping. FYI the Furuno tech support staff refer to mapping as more of a toy than a tool.
