sadlerbob
New member
A friend has a Geonav Plotter which has navionics cartography but looks like in MMC card.
Can these be obtained or are they obsolete now?
Can these be obtained or are they obsolete now?
Geonav plotter
- Thread starter sadlerbob
- Start date
prv
Well-known member
Are you sure it's MMC and not SD? If I remember rightly they're the same size and shape, though different technology.
Navionics is readily available on SD cards and CompactFlash, but I don't remember seeing it on MMC.
Pete
sadlerbob
New member
Pete
To be honest I'm not totally certain on that point. I know it's not a SD card the slot is bigger. Could be a compact flash card yes.
If it is are they available?
Bob
prv
Well-known member
In that case I don't think it's MMC. Wikipedia says they're the same height and width as SD, but somewhat thinner.
Compact Flash is quite a bit chunkier than all the others and has two rows of holes on one end, to accept pins, instead of flat contacts.
The widely used Raymarine C Series used Compact Flash, so even though the medium is otherwise obsolescent, Navionics is still readily available in that format.
Last time I looked, JG Tech had the best prices: http://www.jgtech.com/charts.htm
You will want "Navionics Plus on CF card for Raymarine Etc.", or if you already have an old card then you can buy "Navionics Plus on CF card for Raymarine Etc. Update card" for half the price.
These are the latest Navionics offering, and they work by downloading the charts from the Internet. The actual card you buy contains only a magic code to prove you paid for it, no actual charts. This means you don't have to specify what area you want when you buy, it's one card for anywhere in the world. You plug it into your computer and choose an area (for example, "Europe") and the card becomes locked to that area. You can then download the chart data for anywhere within that area, and it will be up to date to that day. You can come back and re-download it any time within a year, thus picking up any changes. If you want to stay up to date after that, you can buy an annual subscription (play the dates carefully and you actually need only subscribe every other year for a start-of-season update).
If you buy the update card, then during the download process you have to insert your old card briefly to prove you have it.
Alternatively, if you don't have a good Internet connection, you can still buy the older type where the data is fixed on the card at manufacture. These are the various Navionics Gold etc, as opposed to the Navionics Plus described above.
John Grandshaw (the "JG" at JG Tech) is helpful and knowledgeable on this stuff if you need to contact him before buying.
Pete
nemodreams
New member
If it is a compact flash - yes they still do cards in compact flash - but -
I think this is right -
you can get an Upgrade - at half price for new card. All you need is to have a legit old card. The new upgrades are SD only ( I think )
This means you can use your compact flash for a half price new card ( maybe for a new plotter which would be SD only ) -
the new upgrade downloads onto another SD - and you keep yout old ( working ) card as was. You just can't use it again for an upgrade.
I have an old Geonav handheld - plus a compct flash uk card. I could get an upgrade on to SD for halfprice, if I bought a new main chartplotter - then keep my compact flash in the handheld. Its just that now all new cards - and upgrades, are sold as blank media which is then downloaded with the charts from their site.
I think upgrade are SD only - but you can upgrade from Compact to SD - as above ( with the bonus of keeping the old card )
Sorry - its complicated !
Geoff
I think this is right -
you can get an Upgrade - at half price for new card. All you need is to have a legit old card. The new upgrades are SD only ( I think )
This means you can use your compact flash for a half price new card ( maybe for a new plotter which would be SD only ) -
the new upgrade downloads onto another SD - and you keep yout old ( working ) card as was. You just can't use it again for an upgrade.
I have an old Geonav handheld - plus a compct flash uk card. I could get an upgrade on to SD for halfprice, if I bought a new main chartplotter - then keep my compact flash in the handheld. Its just that now all new cards - and upgrades, are sold as blank media which is then downloaded with the charts from their site.
I think upgrade are SD only - but you can upgrade from Compact to SD - as above ( with the bonus of keeping the old card )
Sorry - its complicated !
Geoff
prv
Well-known member
Sorry, that's completely incorrect, and the rest of your post correspondingly so
I bought an upgrade on CompactFlash last year, and they're still listed for sale as shown on the page I linked to.
The Raymarine C70/80/120 plotters are ubiquitous on AWBs of a certain age, it would be nonsensical for Navionics to give up that market.
Pete
