Albin Owners Group

Within the last year I installed two new Garmin 943 xsv chartplotters with the Garmin BlueChart G3 pre-installed. Recently received an email from Garmin that they are moving to Garmin Navionics+ charts. Bad timing there... Does anyone have experience with the new Navionics+ charts? Worth the price to upgrade?

We upgraded our 941xs maps last year just because we were still running the same maps that were pre-loaded when we purchased the unit in 2017 & had planned this big East Coast trip last year, which ended up being cut short (another story). So we now have access to a free Active Captain membership & map online. Whether or not it's worth the price to upgrade has a lot to do with how old your unit & the preloaded maps are. Most of our paper NOAA & Environment Canada charts covering the San Juans all the way up to Jervis Intet & Desolation are circa 2016. Speaking of which we hope to return there this coming summer.

Thanks. I just bought the plotters within the last year, so they have the most up to date BlueChart G3 updates. I'll probably hold off on upgrading for now. Panbo just posted a pretty good comparison:

https://panbo.com/garmin-mfds-get-navio ... pdated-ui/

GSSeattle wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 4:05 pm Thanks. I just bought the plotters within the last year, so they have the most up to date BlueChart G3 updates. I'll probably hold off on upgrading for now. Panbo just posted a pretty good comparison:

https://panbo.com/garmin-mfds-get-navio ... pdated-ui/

The plotters came with the BlueChart G3s?

I bought a Garmin 1040sx plotter November 2017 and shortly thereafter a Garmin G2 chart chip from Amazon.
(Realized after a few weeks it was pirated, anno 2012.)
Got my money back..
Bought a real Garmin G3 Vision Chart from the GPS Store December 30th. 2020 with a free update before 12-31-2021.

(1 free update within 1 year, or 365 days ?)

Not sure if the Explorer charts are part of the package anymore, rumor says that Garmin bought Navionics and we are all screwed..

I’m running the navionics platinum + but on a Raymarine Axiom. For me it’s worth it over the built in lighthouse charts just for the relief sonar shading alone.

Norseman wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 8:45 pm

GSSeattle wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 4:05 pm Thanks. I just bought the plotters within the last year, so they have the most up to date BlueChart G3 updates. I'll probably hold off on upgrading for now. Panbo just posted a pretty good comparison:

https://panbo.com/garmin-mfds-get-navio ... pdated-ui/

The plotters came with the BlueChart G3s?

I bought a Garmin 1040sx plotter November 2017 and shortly thereafter a Garmin G2 chart chip from Amazon.
(Realized after a few weeks it was pirated, anno 2012.)
Got my money back..
Bought a real Garmin G3 Vision Chart from the GPS Store December 30th. 2020 with a free update before 12-31-2021.

(1 free update within 1 year, or 365 days ?)

Not sure if the Explorer charts are part of the package anymore, rumor says that Garmin bought Navionics and we are all screwed..

Yes, the upgrade package comes preloaded with BlueChart G3. Garmin did buy Navionics, so I'm guessing they will sunset the BlueChart in favor of the Navionics+. Looks like the package is still shipping with BlueChart though.

Thx Greg.
I am still a but confused, and planning to call Garmin with my confusion.
We sailed the Bahamas for years and found the best charts over there to be the Explorer Charts.
(Sailed with paper charts and a hand held GPS)
Bought my first power boat in 2016 with a big plotter, a Garmin 1040SX.
A year later bought the Albin 28TE and installed the same unit.
Realized that Garmin used the above Explorer Charts in the plotters (if you bought the optional chip)
Great, now we get the best charts for navigating The Bahamas.
Upgraded to this chip: Now that Garmin bought Navionics, or Active Captain or something, I am not sure if I still have the superior Explorer charts in my plotter with the optional chip, OR not?
Do You know?

"Now that Garmin bought Navionics, or Active Captain or something, I am not sure if I still have the superior Explorer charts in my plotter with the optional chip, OR not?
Do You know?"

No clue really, but the comments section of the Panbo article seem to be the most reliable update so far -
https://panbo.com/garmin-mfds-get-navio ... pdated-ui/
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Evan Bauman February 15, 2022 at 11:11 am
The new Navionics charts will load only on MFD’s that are presently sold by Garmin. I have a 7612 and a 942 – both installed in the last 5 years – and neither can use these charts.

Reply
William L. Bowen February 15, 2022 at 1:15 pm
So does that mean that we have expensive paper weights, and that no future chart updates of any kind can be purchased?

Reply
Evan Bauman February 15, 2022 at 1:26 pm
I don’t think so. It appears Garmin is continuing to produce updates for the Bluechart G3 maps. But for how long is anyones guess.

Reply
Ben SteinBen Stein February 20, 2022 at 8:42 am
I asked Garmin exactly this question when I met with them at the Miami show. They’re working on getting me an official statement but the gist of the conversation was that they will continue to update G3 cartography for a long time. They’re aware that some models of MFD that can’t load the Navionics cartography were sold in 2021 and they plan to make sure all owners of G3 compatible MFDs have updates.

-Ben S.