Rip off Navionics charts updates

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haydude

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If there is something that really irritates me is when I am openly ripped off.

I have a three years old Navionics Gold chart and I thought it is about time to update. Only I do not understand why they charge £100 for a simple update which I believe should be free for at least the first five years.

Is there any way around paying that much?
 
Put it in the context of the publication of a new (paper) Admiralty Chart Pack for your region (RRP about £45). When the new pack is published they stop giving NtMs for the previous edition. So, if you want to be sure your charts are bang up to date, at some point you have to bite the bullet and go out and buy new.

Now, recognise that a Navionics Gold chart covers a greater area than a single Admiralty Chart Pack and suddenly, in comparison, it doesn't sound quite so bad. At the end of the day a Navionics "upgrade" is really a new set of charts. It is just that they have recognised that, as an existing customer, you deserve a discount.

As an existing customer, you don't get that with Admiralty paper charts!

Not sure whether that is saying that £100 for a new Navionics cartridge is cheap or £45 for an Admiralty Chart Pack is expensive, but I'm sure you get my drift.
 
Having spoken to Navionics at the boat show, I understand that when you get the update, you can update the chart yourself online in a standard CF reader/writer.

From an email I received..."This costs £95.00. You can then register your chart online for the latest updates, which you can download for 12 months at no extra charge"

I am waiting for the update to be returned and will se how well the online registration and update process works.
 
I have just done the exact same exercise with a three year old CF card and XL9 chart.

The way I look at it is this. If I had paper charts covering the same area and I had to manually update them all how long would it take? Suddenly £94.99 inc VAT looks very cheap compared to value of my time.

And now that you can download updates from the net and update the charts yourself from a PC its going to get even cheaper.
 
How up to date are the Updates?

When I bought a new Navionics chart it didn't show the causeway to Eriskay, or the bridge to Scalpay, both of which had been in existence for about ten years, at the time. As a bonus, it showed an island in Loch Scavaig which doesn't exist, so I suppose I got something for nothing.:D
 
haydude said:
I have a three years old Navionics Gold chart and I thought it is about time to update. Only I do not understand why they charge £100 for a simple update which I believe should be free for at least the first five years.

?
Click to expand...



What makes you believe it is free ?
 
NormanS said:
How up to date are the Updates?

When I bought a new Navionics chart it didn't show the causeway to Eriskay, or the bridge to Scalpay, both of which had been in existence for about ten years, at the time. As a bonus, it showed an island in Loch Scavaig which doesn't exist, so I suppose I got something for nothing.:D
Click to expand...

Difficult to say whether that is the fault of Navionics or the producers of the paper charts. At the end of the day, people like Navionics don't have survey vessels to do the work for them, they get the info off the RHO etc.

So, if the same problem is still showing on the paper charts, you should blame the Admiralty, not Navionics.
 
Like the visitors' buoys in the entrance to Langstone, which are still in the latest charts and pilots, but apparently haven't existed for five years or more.

Pete
 
I updated the Navionics charts last summer.
Before doing so I checked they included the fairly recent changes to the Chichester Bar beacons.
They did and so I upgraded. I don't think though that they included the changes outside Newtown Creek. (Red bouy is now a west cardinal.)
 
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