Navionics on ebay - second hand

[Mrstarskydean]

What do the wise and the good of this forum think of buying Navionics charts second hand from ebay? Presumably they would need / could be brought up to date with a sub to Navionics? How does does this / would this work? If not, how bad are electronic charts that are not up to date if we have the paper ones as well?

 

[KompetentKrew]

I have a C-Map SD-card for sale at present, UK and Ireland, Channel France and Belgium, Netherlands to the Kiel Canal.

I'm presenting using a pilot book which is more than a decade old.

 

[ithet]

If you buy a Navionics update card you have to use an existing card to activate it. Once the original card has been used for this update it cannot be used for another update, although it will still contain is data. Of you are buying a second hand card there would be no way of knowing of it has already been used for such an update other than trying it out with a purchased update card.

 

[Mrstarskydean]

If you buy a Navionics update card you have to use an existing card to activate it. Once the original card has been used for this update it cannot be used for another update, although it will still contain is data. Of you are buying a second hand card there would be no way of knowing of it has already been used for such an update other than trying it out with a purchased update card.

Sorry for my ignorance, but does that mean you can only update once? Looking at posts on this forum, people do not seem to update frequently. We have bought a Raymarine Element S, we had saved up & our funds did not stretch to including charts, but now we are looking at getting some.

 

[Koeketiene]

If you buy a Navionics update card you have to use an existing card to activate it. Once the original card has been used for this update it cannot be used for another update, although it will still contain is data. Of you are buying a second hand card there would be no way of knowing of it has already been used for such an update other than trying it out with a purchased update card.

I beg to differ.
My current boat came with Navionics charts loaded on the B&G chart plotter (SD card).
Took the card home with me, and used the Navionics card reader and their chart installer software.
This informed me that the subscription had expired.
Then asked me if I wished to renew to update.
Clicked 'yes' and then was asked for my details: name/address/payment details.
And that was it.
Chart now up to date with a subscription that will expire next year.

 

[DipperToo]

If you buy a Navionics update card you have to use an existing card to activate it. Once the original card has been used for this update it cannot be used for another update, although it will still contain is data. Of you are buying a second hand card there would be no way of knowing of it has already been used for such an update other than trying it out with a purchased update card.

I update my card annually by purchasing a new 'update' card. As part of the process, as mentioned previously, the old card is 'retired' and although it can be used as the data is still accessible, it cannot be used as the reference card to update any other cards - it is effectively frozen.
I have sold several cards here with the explicit statement that the card is retired and cannot be activated again as said by ithet.

 

[laika]

Sorry for my ignorance, but does that mean you can only update once?

I tend to buy update cards (normally half the price of ordinary cards) at boat shows where I get a few quid extra off what it would cost to renew online and I get to keep my old card as a backup. Your old card is used to activate the new one. It can't be used to activate more than one but your newly activated update card can later be used to activate another one. So yes: your ability to update for half price (or slightly less with boat show discount) continues in perpetuity but you can only transfer that right to someone else by giving it up yourself.

Can one update online a card which has already been used to activate an update card? That wouldn't be a system I'd design but I've not tried it so who knows?: Does Koeketine know if the card which came with the boat had been used to activate another card?

 

[Koeketiene]

Can one update online a card which has already been used to activate an update card? That wouldn't be a system I'd design but I've not tried it so who knows?: Does Koeketine know if the card which came with the boat had been used to activate another card?

I can not be sure, but I don't believe so.
I don't think the card had ever been updated by the previous owner (he had no idea what the Navionics card reader I found in the chart table was for).

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I can not be sure, but I don't believe so.
I don't think the card had ever been updated by the previous owner (he had no idea what the Navionics card reader I found in the chart table was for).

In so far as to the necessity to update, much depends upon where you sail. Where I live/sail not much changes so no urgent need to update regularly. If we were going on a long trip or lived in an area where sandbanks/channels etc shifted regularly then I would pay the money to update as necessary.

 

[pvb]

I think the answer is - don't buy used cards on eBay.

 

[Halo]

Some bar steward stole my card out of my ray marine plotter. They also stole the mushroom Shaped satellite Sensor. I would not encourage making a market for these cards. Hopefully navionics can now identify stolen cards but they didn’t when mine went.

 

[laika]

I can not be sure, but I don't believe so.

Then without evidence to the contrary my *guess* would be that you can't update a card which has been used to activate an update card. But hey, it's Navionics so who knows what craziness their people have programmed in.

I'm not one who fights the "rocks don't move" position regarding chart updates but each to their own and if people want to buy old chart cards at a discount I don't see why people like DipperToo who provide full disclosure about update status shouldn't sell them. I understand Halo's position but given legitimate supply and demand does exist, inserting your chart card at the beginning of a passage and removing it and stashing it below at the end is probably the best option.

 

[Ningaloo]

stashing it below at the end is probably the best option.

Given that an MFD has a 4 figure price tag, and a chart cartridge costs up to £300 it is disappointing that this is still the "best option" two decades into the 21st century.
I questioned the practicality of having to remove the SD card to load grib files when I bought my boat in 2015. Thankfully that is done wirelessly now but I am staggered that the chart distributors have not found a better way if protecting their IPR.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Deleted: irrelevant.

 

[ithet]

If you buy a Navionics update card you have to use an existing card to activate it. Once the original card has been used for this update it cannot be used for another update, although it will still contain is data. Of you are buying a second hand card there would be no way of knowing of it has already been used for such an update other than trying it out with a purchased update card.

I beg to differ.
My current boat came with Navionics charts loaded on the B&G chart plotter (SD card).
Took the card home with me, and used the Navionics card reader and their chart installer software.
This informed me that the subscription had expired.
Then asked me if I wished to renew to update.
Clicked 'yes' and then was asked for my details: name/address/payment details.
And that was it.
Chart now up to date with a subscription that will expire next year.

What you did was not covered by what I said. You can of course update a card that has not been used to activate another 'update' card (i.e. the card is not 'retired' in Navionics parlance). And a not-retired card can be updated by further subscriptions. An expired subscription is not the same as a card being 'retired' due to activating another card.

But the OP was asking about purchasing second hand cards to update, and I was warning that they might be 'retired' so not able to be updated (with a new subscription) or used to activate a purchased 'update' card.