Garmin buys active captain

I suspect they will start selling it to companies that ingest the data for their products, while keeping it free for individual users. In my mind, thats the only monetisation model that will avoid driving away the crowd source contributors.

Currently, the only ones that pay for AC are marinas that want to increase their profiles.
 
It looks like the first product of the takeover is out: https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/active-captain/

I've had a quick play and it seems a bit rough round the edges, it linked ok to the on board system (after I upgraded their software) and downloaded routes and waypoints ( I haven't tried the reverse yet). However on both my mobile and tablet (both Sony/Android) it refused to download charts to the SD card (despite apparently having the option in settings to so do) which is a bit of a pain as the internal storage is rather full.
 
Typical, a month or so ago I purchased the charts for the "Bluechart" App to run on the iPad now they bring out an App that will use the charts I already had for the plotter. :(
 
All sounds very good, but won't install on my 4th generation iPad "due to hardware incompatibility." It works fine on my iPhone 5s and I can load my Garmin charts from my plotter, but realistically what use is a plotter on a screen that small? It seems Apple are starting to "kill off" older devices, a bit like Microsoft have done for years.
 
I have not got it working yet, I loaded the App to my iPad Pro and an older iPad mini but the plotter (new June 2016) needs a software upgrade and whilst in the future software upgrades can be done via the iPad the upgrade has to be done first and that needs a PC and the card from the plotter.

Edit: Plotters require V10 software only issued in October.
 
Last edited:
I haven't tried it yet with my plotter, I'm not holding a lot of hope of it connecting. I have an Echmap70s which for some reason wasn't compatible with Garmin Helm. I was told by Garmin it would work with the Garmin BlueChart app, but that would have needed buying a new set of charts so I didn't bother.
The Echomap70s isn't listed as compatible with Active Captain, but once loaded on my iPhone and logged in to Garmin it showed my Echomap device and UK charts which loaded on the phone. I have an additional power lead and the plotter at home so I will get up to the latest s/w release and try it. I now have a mini chart plotter on my phone, it's a shame the iPad is now too old at 4 yrs old to load Active Captain as it would have been a useful backup using the same Garmin charts.
 
Strange that Garmin's premium weather (Gribs etc.) is available on Bluechart but not, as far as I can see, on ActiveCaptain which is clearly using the Bluechart software code. Also that the tide and currents button has gone missing (tidal info is still available at stations etc.). I do however notice that the two icons at the bottom of the screen are offset to the left as in Bluechart, leaving space for the tides button to be added.

Performance on my oldish iPad mini is very poor, on the latest iPad Pro 10.5" it is pretty good but not as good as on the plotter (GPSMAP 722) - you need quite a lot of horse power to drive this App.

Edit: Your plotter needs to be registered if you want to download charts from the web that you purchased on a card and registered. The registration of the plotter is another story, Garmin Express does not work on either of my PCs and registering via Active Capitain failed - but it did automatically inform Garmin Support and they sorted the issue so my plotter is now registered but not the VHF, AIS etc.
 
Last edited:
JohnDL said:
...that needs a PC and the card from the plotter...
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. You need a card that fits in the plotter, to carry the update. Doesn't have to be the card with your charts on. The update is copied onto the card by the installer and is detected when you plug the card in. Did it on mine (GPSMap 820) last week, took 3 hours to update all the devices on my boat, so don't start it if you're in a hurry!
 
Last edited:
Scala said:
Nope. You need a card that fits in the plotter, to carry the update, which is copied onto the card by the installer. Not the card with your charts on. Did it on mine last week, took 3 hours to update all the devices so don't start it if you're in a hurry!
Click to expand...
Yeh OK sloppy explanation (I keep a 2nd card in the plotter), but you do need the PC to down load the update onto a card which I did not have with me when I went to the boat today. The download does warn not to use the card with charts on it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top