Chart/plotters and maps.

[Andy56]

Hi Guys, its been close to two years since I last posted. Life has changed drastically. Sold my haines signature and moved to Thailand. Cant get anymore different than that, lol.
Naturally, I am planning for my new boat. Chart/plotters have gone through a transformation in this time all right. I had a HDS7 gen1 +hds5m on the HS. The structure scan was good to us but a bit of a waste for me in PPB. Screen resizing was a pain on the hds5. It actually was big enough to see what info I wanted for my eyes, but I was constantly zooming in and out. Now Chirp is the rage! I know I need two displays and the bigger the better. Hate wearing glasses! The list is down to garmin 7410xvs + 7407 or Hds9 gen3 +hds7gen2 touch. The next part of the equation is maps. Garmin is an unknown quantity for me. I just read that navionics isnt compatible with garmin and on the garmin site there isnt anything for this part of the world anyway. Lowrance does have navionics with the ability to make my own custom charts. This is a biggy for me as most likely thats what I will have to do, a pioneer of sorts, lol.
Transducers the last part of the puzzle. with the garmin I only need one for downvue/sidevu and normal but with the HDS I need Lss2 and a chirp tx for normal.
Am I getting anything wrong here? Any improvements on my choices? Anything I have omitted? It looks like $4000 (about), so need to be very careful what I choose.

[Volvo]

I would go the Garmin , have a Garmin combo at present and had a Navman which packed it in or just about did anyway so purchased an Elite 9 Chirp as i wanted a backup unit(kinda wished i hadnt ) The sonar part of it works a treat but the map is Ssssooooooooo sllloooowwwww to update its refresh rate it isnt funny!!!!!!!!.Most the time you onlyhave 3/4 of a mapping page and rest of the time its trying to refresh!!!,
rang navionics and was more or less told to axcept it or leave it!!! in a nutshell....

[Andy56]

Whats the mapping like on Garmins and what maps come standard, if at all?

[Volvo]

To get top mapping with the garmin my advice would be to get the g2 vision card . Better detail as well as other benefits eg 3d for what its worth.
I bought the g2 vision back when i bought my garmin n quite happy i did.

[Andy56]

thanks.
Garmin has made one big stuffup on their maps information. If you know nothing about garmin maps, you are on your own. I have spent the best part of two hrs trying to get some info off any garmin site. Sheesh, it shouldnt be so hard to spend your money, lol.
If you buy a garmin 7410xvs, you can buy G2 vision card for Thailand east coast. How hard did it have to be to get this info, hahahaha
Moose, do you post to thailand?

[chocolatemoose]

sorry, just catching up...ive discovered netflix usa

[chocolatemoose]

i do andy.. also, hows thailand?

[swof63]

i do andy.. also, hows thailand?

While you may have to get moose to send you a sounder, you probably can pick up a tranny locally pretty cheap.

Sorry.

[chocolatemoose]

what system are you looking at?
i should mention a thingo i have atm with a brand and something. but.. i shant

[Andy56]

I am leaning towards the lowrance because of the InsightGenesis. Building my own maps seems like a good idea for places with insufficient detail, ie thailand.

[Lovey80]

Andy what seems to be the problem you've been having with Garmin maps? Are you using the Garmin Homeport program to manage your marks etc?

[Andy56]

I think you misunderstand. No problems per say, but very hard to find info. as to whether I can make my own maps/charts. And I have also left emails with support, but as usual, no replies.
Just basic info like what maps are available is like pulling teeth from a croc. You keep getting sent to US or Europe who then are only interested in US or europe. ahhhhhhhhhh
InsightGenesis appeals because I can make my own charts. Does garmin have this too? I ask the question because from what I have read, its not obvious.

[chocolatemoose]

no they dont andy unfortunately. so far only lowrance/simrad and Humminbird
the humminbird system is called autochart. and works pretty well. doesnt allow for ASSS many options as insight genisis but. something to consider

[Andy56]

Thanks Moose. Thats all the info I need. Its a lowrance system for me.
Why couldnt i find the info on any garmin site?
Had a look at the Hummingbird but their tec talk is not the same as we all know, ie broadband sonar, chirp etc. They use their own proprietry jargon with no tec specs readily available. BIG marketing fail, lol.
For all of Lowrances faults, and there have been over the years, at least you get info!