Michael Mirra
Member
Just curious. How often do you update your charts? Mine are 4 years old and i'm wondering how much might have changed.
Electronic charts
- Thread starter Michael Mirra
- Start date
Great Lakes
Well-Known Member
- Oct 11, 2016
- 1,447
- Boat Info
- 2008 - Formula 400ss
- Engines
- Volvo Penta D6-350
I update every Spring
Stee6043
Well-Known Member
My Garmin charts will update just about anytime I sync my plotters with my phone/iPad. So at least a few times each summer I'll get a full update...
Michael Mirra
Member
Is that a subscription you pay for?
Stee6043
Well-Known Member
Nope, Garmin works a bit like Apple. Buy their hardware and the regular updates are included. Their Active Captain integration is, in my opinion, one of the big selling points for Garmin.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
Same here. I routinely connect my iPad to the Garmin network on the boat. Use it when I am downstairs to monitor the boat when the Admiral is at the helm. Anytime I connect, updates are applied.
BEH
Active Member
- Oct 8, 2018
- 333
- Boat Info
- 1990 20’ BR, Humminbird Helix 5, 3K Lb Trailer
- Engines
- 4.3 Mercruiser
Does your IPad have cellular service?
I don't believe this is accurate and it's a frustration I have with Garmin. While the base software updates regularly through Active Captain, charts don't. Chart updates have to be purchased. There is a discount from the full price ($225 vs. $399 for the ones I use). After one purchases an update, there are no incremental updates and going to the next release incurs the update cost. There is one free update offered for pre-loaded charts on a new device.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
yes.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
I always have updates purchased, so they update when I am connected.
My question is what changes that the charts that need to be constantly updated.
There are literally hundreds of chart corrections created every week. Back in the paper chart era, there was at least one Sailor per Navy ship assigned to keep charts up-to-date as a full time job, and that was just for a priority list that the ship might use.
Having said that, the corrections are generally minor updates. More important updates might be the re-positioning of a set of buoys. IMO, unless you know about a major change in your local cruising area ike a channel being moved, there's probably no reason for annual updates. Going for a trip outside your normal cruising grounds would be a better reason to do an update, especially if you will cross chart boundaries.
If you have the Navionics app, getting a subscription will confer continuous updates and can serve as a good check on the installed charts. Now that Garmin owns Navionics, I'm hopeful they will institute a reasonably-priced subscription instead of the one-and-done model they now use.
I think you're seeing a re-load of your existing charts. I think it's left over from the old chart-on-a-card model or an anti-piracy measure. I frequently update and thought I was getting incremental updates but watched the chart version displayed on-screen (also available on a menu) and it's always the same.
FootballFan
Well-Known Member
Maybe so, what you are saying makes sense.
