Stand alone chart plotter

[MadJigga]

So I’m outfitting my new to me boat. New main and kicker. New wiring. New almost everything. I think I’ve decided on a stand alone sonar. I looking for advice as far as a chart plotter is concerned. I’ll probably run a transducer to it as a backup. I’m thinking 9” for the chart plotter. Any info on best maps with best contours? It’ll be on my Grady, primarily used for fishing on the lower island but some up island trips planned as well.
Thanks

 

[casper5280]

My only comment would be get one that is Radar combatable. Just in case you ever go down that road

 

[tubber]

I was on a friend's brand new boat the week after fishing around Florencia Island in my boat.
I wanted to get in tight to the Tofino side where I knew it was about 50' deep. His brand new Garmin plotter had us in 20-30 feet when the depth was actually 80-90' So it took a few tacks to get dialled in.
The chirp and screen images were awesome. Maps are off in some spots is what I am trying to say. Sorry i don't know the model numbers of the unit or the charts, but he has a 12" up front and a 9" out back networked together.

 

[macro]

I have both a bird and a lowrance. Bought the bird because it can build its own maps without having to speed 100$ a year on navionics.

Not sure what else can live map these days. But its a super useful feature.

 

[gungadin]

There is of course another way. Have two sonar/chartplotters and dedicate one for plotting and one for sonar. That way if one fails you always can use the other. The chartplotter can be an older model with newer maps. The one you use for a chartplotter can even have a different transducer, just turn it off until you need it. Just a thought for you

 

[bigbruce]

There is of course another way. Have two sonar/chartplotters and dedicate one for plotting and one for sonar. That way if one fails you always can use the other. The chartplotter can be an older model with newer maps. The one you use for a chartplotter can even have a different transducer, just turn it off until you need it. Just a thought for you

That's exactly what I did. Older Garmin 720s now used for Sonar and new Garmin 742xs for charts when fishing. I use the 720s charts when I need my radar which runs on the 742xs. Great having the flexibility to mix the units for charts, sonar and radar.

 

[Tyler Brinks]

I have both a bird and a lowrance. Bought the bird because it can build its own maps without having to speed 100$ a year on navionics.

Not sure what else can live map these days. But its a super useful feature.

Garmin also allows you to do live mapping. For the Navionics mapping, you get a free year of subscription with a new card. I do most of my live mapping with my ipad with Navionics and connect the ipad to a Lowrance unit.

 

[macro]

Garmin also allows you to do live mapping. For the Navionics mapping, you get a free year of subscription with a new card. I do most of my live mapping with my ipad with Navionics and connect the ipad to a Lowrance unit.

What happens to your live maps if your navionics subscription expires?

 

[Tyler Brinks]

That's kind of a two-part question since you can do SonarChart Live on an app/tablet connected to your graph or just on your graph. On your electronics, it stays right there as an overlay. On the app, you gather info from your chartplotter and it saves it on your device. Once that device is back to your home (or wherever) wifi it uploads to Navionics to improve the map the next time you update your card.

But to answer your question, you must have a current subscription on your card to use advanced features like SonarChart Live, SonarChart Shading, etc. The data itself should stay on there though, you just can't do it anymore.

On the app you also need a current subscription to use SonarChart live.

 

[agentaqua]

I like the suggestions from Gungadin and BigBruce. It is a good idea to have 2 (if you can afford it). It's nice to have a transducer that accommodates speed - with a plotter w bought charts AND another one with a CHIRP and for fishing and making your own charts. There's been lots of discussion on other threads about the pros and cons of Garmin verses Lowrance products - if you use the search button. and the technology changes quickly, too...

 

[ericl]

According to the tech support folks at Furuno, making your own charts in salt water is a difficult & expensive task:

You need to compensate for depth differences caused by tide levels

You need to compensate for the fact that as the boat pitches/rolls with the waves, the transducer angle to the bottom & therefore the measured depth change very often (depending on sea conditions).

I have researched who has the best maps to great extent & come away with the conclusion that ALL the map vendors are a black hole when it comes to the truth. A have the opinion that their source data comes from the same place - government surveys.

 

[macro]

According to the tech support folks at Furuno, making your own charts in salt water is a difficult & expensive task:

You need to compensate for depth differences caused by tide levels

You need to compensate for the fact that as the boat pitches/rolls with the waves, the transducer angle to the bottom & therefore the measured depth change very often (depending on sea conditions).

I have researched who has the best maps to great extent & come away with the conclusion that ALL the map vendors are a black hole when it comes to the truth. A have the opinion that their source data comes from the same place - government surveys.

Their base maps may come from government data. But navionics and C-MAP are both gathering data from the end consumer and building their own databases. They may not be perfect, but they are getting better all the time.

 

[agentaqua]

According to the tech support folks at Furuno, making your own charts in salt water is a difficult & expensive task:

You need to compensate for depth differences caused by tide levels

You need to compensate for the fact that as the boat pitches/rolls with the waves, the transducer angle to the bottom & therefore the measured depth change very often (depending on sea conditions).

I have researched who has the best maps to great extent & come away with the conclusion that ALL the map vendors are a black hole when it comes to the truth. A have the opinion that their source data comes from the same place - government surveys.

EXCELLENT post, eric1. My exact displeasure with the Lowrance/Genesis combo.

You can do it - you have to keep setting depth offsets (originally designed for lakes and seasonally fluctuating water levels) ev 5-10 min or so at mid tide times - maybe ev 15m or so nearer the apexes of high and low. You can read-off one of those online ones and/or print the tide cycle off ahead of time. It's a pain - but can be done if you are prepared ahead.

 

[ericl]

Another issue is xducer transmit frequency; the non-Furuno stuff use a higher frequency that hits depth limitations before the Furuno.

 

[macro]

Another issue is xducer transmit frequency; the non-Furuno stuff use a higher frequency that hits depth limitations before the Furuno.

Not an issue, unless your fishing in over 1000ft of water...

Also can be rectified by using a higher power transducer. Most units now support all the popular frequencies

 

[ericl]

Not an issue, unless your fishing in over 1000ft of water...

True but............ I was talking about the side scan xducers used for bottom mapping; should have clarified.
I know that with Nobeltec bottom mapping you can use a regular xducer but if you use the Furuno DFF3D black box/side scan xducer you get roll/pitch compensation built into the xducer & the Nobeltec s/w compensates for tide heights. The DFF3D stuff also captures about 50x the data points per second versus a non-DFF3D solution.
This chart recording solution is a combined Nobeltec/Furuno package. The Furuno tech support folks seem to regard it as more of a toy. You need a Windows computer to run the Nobeltec on, plus additional Nobeltec s/w modules making this at minimum a $7K US labor-intensive toy all-in.

 

[agentaqua]

$7K - WOW! That's a serious investment. I guess if it helps you catch fish - as a charter operator or a commercial fishermen - maybe one could justify that outlay. On the other side of that spectrum as cost investment - Garmin products with CHIRP start as low as $300. I personally like the $500-900 range. I can afford that and you get most options with maybe the exception of a large screen.

Interesting newer technology that you described eric1 - about the Furuno DFF3D Multi-Beam Sounder Module & paired with a Furuno 3D transducer. Just looked it up. Way beyond what I can afford - but pretty interesting stuff: https://www.furuno.com/special/en/fishfinder/dff-3d/

 

[Tyler Brinks]

Their base maps may come from government data. But navionics and C-MAP are both gathering data from the end consumer and building their own databases. They may not be perfect, but they are getting better all the time.

+1 on this. There is only so much government data available and there are countless bodies of water with zero mapping besides what has been done by boaters using Navionics. There is a small lake that I fished that was a blue hole before and now this is what it looks like thanks to a mapping event we did with our bass club.

 

[TipUp]

We have the 2018 version of Navionics on a 12" Simrad unit and aren't overly impressed with the accuracy of the contours (i.e the chart shows a depth of 120 but the depth sounder reports 80 feet).

 

[zurk]

just get a cheap tablet (simbans tangotab is what i have) for $100 with a $35 ram mount and boating HD. For that money you have a 10 inch screen which works great as a chartplotter.