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Caution going to the Bahamas with Garmin charts

Discussion in 'Electronics' started by Pascal, Jan 30, 2022.

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  1. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    During this last trip we got together with a friend who has a very nice recent 80 MY and an experienced captain to run it. The boat has a Garmin system, likely 8 years old like the boat.

    as he should the captain upgraded the charts not aware that in the last 3 to 4 years Garmin has been replacing the explorer charts data with its own Navionics data.

    close call coming into Gtown where the new Garmin charts showed deeper water running along the shore of Stocking instead of the deeper dogleg closer to Great Exuma. The first chart below is Garmin Navionics showing 9’ on the straight route vs under 7’ on the dogleg. Second one is the correct Explorer chart showing as low as 1.1 meter...

    This is one of hundreds of errors in the Exumas alone.

    we have Garmin charts on out plotters but there are 3 years old and very accurate. I knew about this and didn’t update them when I got on the boat

    so if you head down to the bahamas, beware. Keep you explorer charts at the help and cross check your routes. You can also install Aquamap on a phone which uses Explorer charts. C-Map also uses Explorer data and can be used in other plotters like Furuno and Simrad

    A0A1FDFC-6FDA-44F5-A2F3-2EDECB151A70.jpeg 4174CBFF-C2B2-4EC3-B01C-678F345D8043.jpeg
    TahoeJohn likes this.
  2. mike Hartley

    mike Hartley Member

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    I have just updated a Garmin 8215 to a 8616 on boat and Have a Simrad EVO 3 too to watch side by side....and see alot of variances at times between the 2...always try and go with the one says least depth. Thats alot of difference from in an update!
  3. motoryachtlover

    motoryachtlover Senior Member

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    That is why I went with Furuno when updating my electronics. Furuno gives you the option to purchase the explorer charts and download.
  4. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    minuses to have Navnet 3D black box on the 84 which was a lot better than the new Garmins on the 110. The radar had much better range although that could be because the previous owner used a lower power array. And it’s the little things.

    On the Furuno I could put the cursor on an echo on the radar and it would be mirrored on the plotter screen... not with the garmins. The radar target tracking also was much more accurate with furuno.
  5. tusindtak

    tusindtak Member

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    Ft. Lauderdale
    I was in Georgetown a few weeks ago. I was using C-MAP on Raymarine Axiom+. Especially glad I was advised to use C-MAP vs the Navionics based on this post. I followed the dogleg route shown on the chart and had plenty of depth. Thanks for sharing this info.
  6. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Here is another example, side by side Navionics and Explorer This is Galleon Point, a very nice anchorage in the Northen Exumas. I ve anchored there many times with the 84 and now the 110 (red line) yet when you look at Navionics you d think there is no way to get there. Better safe than sorry I guess but better accurate than safe :)

    open the picture to see the Navionics side

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