C-Map vs Bluechart - opinions?

[voicilesrosbifs]

Thoroughly unreliable Navman chartplotter is heading for the skip, with no regrets except for having to replace the damn thing well before what should be its time. Offerings from Garmin or Standard Horizon look ok to fill the bill, but one uses its own proprietary Bluechart and the other uses C-Map max - same as the current kit.

The devil I know, the C-Map, doesn't depict our twisty home estuary particularly well, but is ok as long as you watch the sounder and follow a real chart as well. The Bluechart is an unknown quantity to me, and seems more expensive.

Anybody had the opportunity to compare the accuracy & general quality of the two? Also things like support, updates etc. ??

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Thoroughly unreliable Navman chartplotter is heading for the skip, with no regrets except for having to replace the damn thing well before what should be its time. Offerings from Garmin or Standard Horizon look ok to fill the bill, but one uses its own proprietary Bluechart and the other uses C-Map max - same as the current kit.

The devil I know, the C-Map, doesn't depict our twisty home estuary particularly well, but is ok as long as you watch the sounder and follow a real chart as well. The Bluechart is an unknown quantity to me, and seems more expensive.

Anybody had the opportunity to compare the accuracy & general quality of the two? Also things like support, updates etc. ??

A search will find my many praises for Garmin. Outstanding support, very responsive and helpful. However, on cartography issues it takes a little longer to see changes as they are done on a worldwide basis.

 

[Sans Bateau]

In the sailing area I know there are two major errors on the Garmin charts on my 4008, the changes were made several years ago on the UKHO charts that they are allegedly scanned from, emails to Garmin have gone unanswered, I am very disappointed with this, the kit is lovely, but if the charts I know have errors, how can I trust it in unkown waters?

I'd go for equipment use Navonics given a second chance.

 

[DaveS]

I've used cMap for a quite a few years now, initially on a small black and white Magellan and later on a Navman which, in contrast to your experience, has never let me down. I have occasionally found "funnies", but in each case it has proved to be an issue with the base cartography, e.g. sailing through the Cuan Sound and passing the Cleit the chart shows me to be over drying ground but the sounder gives me 10m. A couple of hundred metres later the chart shows over 10m for the full width of the channel, but I've never seen more than 6m on the sounder, and often much less. (Which, given the strength of the tidal stream and knowledge of the lurking submerged rocks, does nothing for the peace of mind.) How does your cMap representation of the Exe compare with the paper chart?

In another thread the idea of overlaying Google Earth images on navigational charts is explored. This could be very handy in exploring "funnies".

 

[ditchcrawler]

Have you considered the Lowrance plotters.I use mine with Navionics charts.They seem to be most like the normal paper charts to me.Just my opnion of course.

 

[voicilesrosbifs]

How does your cMap representation of the Exe compare with the paper chart?

In the upper reaches of the estuary, the channel can get pretty narrow, though I don't think it moves around very much (somebody will correct me on this!). The c-map representation is maybe out of date, but it doesn't always follow the Imray chart and, like you, our tracks show a difference of opinion between our experience and c-map about what's water and what ain't. I have an old Garmin handheld with the most basic display, but it's become the final arbiter of whether we're ( by GPS, anyway) in the channel or out of it.

I'm looking at Navionics also, following nice things people say about the charts on these forums. Trouble is the Lowrance plotters don't seem to come with an external antenna and on Domino the plotter sits downstairs by the chart table - not sure if this is a problem or not, with receivers being more sensitive these days.

 

[richardbrennan]

I have had a Garmin 2010 for some years and have generally been very pleased with it although I have spotted the odd error in the cartography, such as two of the bouys marking the Ryde Middle Bank in the Solent having the same name on my original datacard. I pointed this out to Garmin at a Boat Show and it was subsequently changed on the next update, they also have a chart error reporting system on their website. My main beef is that they no longer offer chart updates for the 2010 which takes the original Bluecharts, they now only offer the G2 or G2Vision series. his leaves me with a perfectly good plotter but charts that are increasingly out of date. When I complained about this at the SBS it was obvious that they feel 5 to 7 years is a perfectly acceptable life for a chart series. I do not know how C-Map or Navionics are in this respect, but I suspect there is an element of pushing sales of new plotters in this practice that would not be there if the plotter manufacturer and chart provider are not one and the same. Having said that, I have bought a new Garmin plotter, rather grudgingly, but I do prefer their kit to the others I have tried.

 

[pvb]

Also things like support, updates etc. ??

Personally, I'd steer well clear of Garmin, simply because it's their own proprietary system which they can simply choose to discontinue, forcing people to buy new kit. They famously did this a few years ago with G-charts, and it seems from richardbrennan's post that it's now happening again. Whilst this may be great business for Garmin, I can't see why a plotter which might have a useful life of 15-20 years should have to be consigned to the skip simply because the charts are discontinued.

The advantage of C-Map and Navionics is that they are used by many manufacturers, and their updating support seems to be excellent.

I use Navionics charts, and find them very good generally. You might consider a Lowrance plotter - these use Navionics and tend to have much better screen resolution than similarly-priced competitors. As an example, the Lowrance Elite-5m plotter has a 480x480 pixel screen - 3 times the resolution of the Standard Horizon CP180. And, at £439 including an entire UK chart cartridge, it's keenly priced.

 

[mcframe]

How old was your C-Map?
Has the underlying cartography been updated/re-surveyed (beyond navmark updates) in the meantime?

I've not looked at recent Bluechart/G2, but the 5 year old version is still OK on my Garmin GPSMap 60 h/h.
(I do like Garmin h/w, and have had out-of-warranty replacements, but we're talking about cartography here)

On the other hand, Navionics on my iPhone is fun for playing about with, but not used underway.

On the gripping hand, I've got C-Map on a fixed SH 180, and will probably update it to the relevant south coast coverage as late as I can before next season.

Yes, I've got both BA and Imray paper charts on board - I'm glad I also got some Tough Charts before they were axed.

That wasn't very helpful, was it?