Chart Plotting at Home

JV II

JV II

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Nov 17, 2007
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I just purchased a Navionics Gold CF card for my Raymarine C70. I downloaded the free Raymarine basic plotting software for my PC. I understand Navionics has something similar. My question is, can I use a cheap USB CF reader to access the data on the Navionics card? I want to plot a couple of trips at home and load the waypoints on my C70 later. Navionics sells an expensive CF reader. I don't know if I'm forced to buy this RaymarineNavionics CF reader. Thanks.
 
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I tried with the Navionics Platinum CF card and a standard reader. It did not work. However, Navionics makes their own $75 reader. I did not have time to try again and again so I called it a day.
 
vanburen said:
I tried with the Navionics Platinum CF card and a standard reader. It did not work. However, Navionics makes their own $75 reader. I did not have time to try again and again so I called it a day.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's what I figured. You saved me the trouble of trying that myself. Apparently the card has some kind of feature that only allows proprietary ($75) hardware to read it.
 
JV - I also run the Raymarine software (on XP using Boot Camp on my Mac) and have also found that my Navionics Platinum card does not read on a standard CF reader. I had purchased the Navplanner software/card reader last winter as my last boat had a Northstar plotter. The free software from Ray is far superior and all of the features of the card work with the program when using the Navionics reader - it's worth the extra investment for the reader (although it's hard to understand what makes it proprietary) :smt001
 
where do you get the navatronics reader?

can you buy it at west marine or boaters world?

or do you have to get it online?
 
Jim-

What am I missing? It's $123 on your site but Raymarine says the MSRP is $75. Are you offering some other items that I'm just not seeing in your link?
 
While I didn't see the BOE product link, TigerDirect came up with a Kit for $129 that seems to include software for the PC to edit routes. I bought the hardware only for $75 from http://www.landfallnavigation.com/ra.html and installed the RayTech software though I havent really done much with it. New to the boat last year and had lots of other things to learn to use.

I would be interested to hear how people find this works out for them though. It seems like a really useful idea.

Chris
 
If you have Raymarine gear I recommend just buying the card reader. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have found the (free) Ray software to be terrific. It emulates the plotter and makes use of all of the card's data. I found the Navionics software felt antiquated, but it was my only reasonable choice for the Northstar plotter at the time. It's a great tool for plotting courses at home and generally giving you the ability to get more familiar with areas you cruise to. And if you briing the laptop to the boat, it can be easier plugging in new courses with the computer than the plotter.
 
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What is the procedure for transfering waypoints back to raymarine? When I tried this, it appeared that the card had to be in the reader the whole time. Do you save the waypoints to hard drive, then put in a new CF card and move them to the plotter? Thanks in advance.
 
vanburen said:
What is the procedure for transfering waypoints back to raymarine? ... Do you save the waypoints to hard drive, then put in a new CF card and move them to the plotter? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

That's exactly it, although I haven't yet made transfers to my new boat's plotter as I'm still two weeks away from delivery, but I saved my routes/waypoints to the default folder on the computer and will load to another CF card to transfer to the E80.
 
Do you guys realize you don't need to buy anything? Raymarine distributes Raytech 6.0 planning software for free. You basically download it to your PC, then go to freeboatingcharts.com and download whatever charts you want. Then you can plan away. When done you transfer the routes to your C or E Series using a plain jane CF card. No need to get the card reader at all. The only thing you need the card reader for is to actually view Navionics charts in your PC. This always seemed like a sure fire way to lose an expensive card to me having to transfer it back and forth from the boat to the house.
 
I have enjoyed being able to read the Navionics card at home this winter to get a preview of the specific data I can count on when I'm cruising to an unfamiliar destination (pilots, aerials, marina info). Once the season begins it's great to know the card can stay on board while I use the free charts for plotting - thanks for the link.

Jim - as an aside, any word on when the Platinum Plus cards will ship and the software update for the E Series will be available?
 
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