Raymarine charts

billyfish

billyfish

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I've been looking forward to the new lighthouse charts coming on the market for British waters as I have a newish Axiom chartplotter with navionics charts that need updating. So I thought I would wait until they arrived. Tell me if I'm wrong . But I sail the English channel and it looks like I will need 2 sets of charts at the cost of £145 each to cover it unlike navionics which is only one chart !!! I would have got the lighthouse chart if it was just the channel.
 
I've just renewed my Navionics charts. Like you, I considered Lighthouse. Like you, I think the price and coverage are a non-starter.

For me, the added advantage is that Navionics is installed both on phone and tablet, so better continuity if needed.
 
billyfish said:
I've been looking forward to the new lighthouse charts coming on the market for British waters as I have a newish Axiom chartplotter with navionics charts that need updating. So I thought I would wait until they arrived. Tell me if I'm wrong . But I sail the English channel and it looks like I will need 2 sets of charts at the cost of £145 each to cover it unlike navionics which is only one chart !!! I would have got the lighthouse chart if it was just the channel.
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+1
 
Achosenman said:
For me, the added advantage is that Navionics is installed both on phone and tablet, so better continuity if needed.
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To me that's a disadvantage - I'd rather have a variety of chart types. It may all originate with the same UKHO database, but errors in transcription and presentation are not unknown.

Sounds like Raymarine have shot themselves in the foot with chart pricing, though. They'd have done a lot better to reduce the price significantly to begin with, to get some market penetration.

Pete
 
Makes a mockery of their slogan "Explore without limits"!

Do we know what the Lighthouse update regime will be? With Navionics you can buy an update card for another region and activate it from the old one. The old region card still remains usable but not updatable. This way I currently have Europe-West on subscription and UK-Ireland less than a year old. If I update the Europe-West card just prior to end of the current subscription I can then use it to activate a new update card for UK-Ireland. Thus I can keep two regions within a year in date on one subscription (in reality I will probably allow a longer interval before redoing the subscription).

With Lighthouse it looks like it would need five (maybe six) cards to cover the same areas.
 
I am looking at the Charts option on the Raymarine site and it looks as though you just buy the chart for a country or 2 and add to 1 SD card.
bot sure on all the premium content.
although it appears you can download direct to Axiom all their videos say to download to laptop.
 
Imray charts - Please educate me :)
I have Navionics on a Lowrance - don’t know the model and also a tablet with Charts - no updates or subscriptions.
if I could get them on the Axiom that would be enough for me
 
shaneesprit said:
Imray charts - Please educate me :)
I have Navionics on a Lowrance - don’t know the model and also a tablet with Charts - no updates or subscriptions.
if I could get them on the Axiom that would be enough for me
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Have to admit I haven't tried them as I my Navionics free update has just expired. However, I picked up off another forum that the Imray charts can be loaded on Raymarine CPs. Try the "Charts" link in my post above and discuss with your CP supplier or visit RM at the boatshow if you are going.

Pete
 
For me the biggest issue with Raymarine today is that it’s all glossy but technical content and pricing is all hidden, I couldn’t even find how to buy the charts.
thanks for the boat show tip - I hadn’t realised it was on - I can go to see how out of date my boat is lol
 
Bought mine from Hudson Marine. Quite impressed that he didn't try to sell me anything I didn't need and took the time to explain all the options. One Evo auto pilot and later a Element CP. Raymarine do deals for the show but many of the suppliers will also match without needing to go to the show. Don't know if it applies to Navionics though.
 
Pete7 said:
Have you thought about Imray digital charts for Raymarine:
Charts
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These look to be faster charts - which is fine if they are detailed enough. But many of the C series charts listed are at a very small scale - eg 1:155,000 for most of the Scottish ones. This compares the the raster versions of the Admiralty charts I have on Memory Map, which might be at 1:25,000 typically. (Reminder, “small scale“ = covers a wide area without detail).

The C series is useful for passage planning, or in places with few hazards, but with 1mm of chart = 150m of water, they don’t have enough detail for navigating tricky waters like Scottish rocks. One entire bay I anchored in, using the Admiralty chart plus Google Earth, was just 1mm across on Imray, and showed nothing at all except a tiny 1mm dent in the low water line.
Have heard of others hitting rocks shown on the chart, but without enough detail. Not for me.
 
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