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Old 12-13-2018, 10:05 AM   #1
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Active Captain

Dead or on life support since Garmin acquired it?
I haven’t used it for over a year because we’ve stayed in familiar areas on the river. Last weekend I used the Garmin blue chart mobile on my iPad and the latest reviews on marinas were 2017. Does anyone still use and contribute to it or has Garmin ruined a excellent resource for cruising boaters? If it’s still being used what Garmin app do I need on my iPad and are the C-Map charts still adding the AC data when updated? I loved it for planning anchorages and marina stops when cruising in unfamiliar waters.
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:15 AM   #2
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Garmin has discontinued Blue Charts Mobile and the original Active Captain.

You now need to use Garmin Active Captain, available on Android and iOS.

https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/active-captain/
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:55 AM   #3
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I can still see AC comments on my Coastal Explore...
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Old 12-13-2018, 11:16 AM   #4
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We still use it much as we did. Still very helpful for going to an area and checking the marinas, anchorages, shoaling, inlets, bridges, and locks. Still more complete than the alternatives. We use the web version only.
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Old 12-13-2018, 11:31 AM   #5
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I still use it a LOT on my Ipad and still contribute, but it's much harder.

Garmin made a HUGE mistake, IMHO, in discontinuing the old Blue chart. The new AC app had a ton of shortcomings.

I still use the old Blue Chart for AC for the most part, even though the charts are out of date, and really aren't the best. However, for planning, finding marinas, anchorage, etc., still works well. I can also make comments and create a wpt to refer back to which I love. No other app gives that flexibility that I can find.

Also, I use Aquamap and Navionics. Hopefully they will both be improved and I can end up with one app, but not optimistic. I'm sure Navionics will have AC integrated into it in the future and if they could improve on their user wpts, would be great. But very difficult to work with now.

Aqua map is a great app. It does occasionally crash and it's awful hard to learn... no tutorial worth a damn.
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Old 12-13-2018, 01:56 PM   #6
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I used and contributed to the old AC before the Garmin acquisition.
Was sad to have it go offline as I'm a Raymarine user aboard.
I'm glad to see that new app at least allows access to the info and reviews posted by users. I find that very useful and glad to be able once again to access it when cruising.
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Old 12-13-2018, 02:17 PM   #7
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Some 3rd party nav apps, SEAiq for one, have discontinued Active Captain updates, so you have to live with almost one year old data if you use that app. The Garmin AC website does have current reviews so that website and compatible Garmin apps still allow reviews to be entered. The new Garmin AC website has no where near the functionality of the old AC website.

Garmin has almost destroyed AC.



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Old 12-13-2018, 05:07 PM   #8
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We have the old Blue Charts and AC on our iPad. It all worked great until two things happened; 1) Garmin discontinued updates and support for Blue Chart Mobile and 2) Garmin bought Active Captain.

Since then, while the Blue Charts still works fine (albeit without any ability to update) Active Captain has gone into a strange mode where it takes about an hour to load, then after three or four days, just vanishes, requiring another hour long download. Until recently, there were no AC updates newer than mid 2017.

Lately, however, there have been a handful of AC updates, mostly dated in December, 2018. I'm not sure what that means. I used to be a quite often contributor to AC, but I haven't bothered in about two years.

All in all, our Blue Chart iPad with AC overlay, went from being a first class navigation tool two years ago, to a mediocre one, at best, at present. Thanks, Garmin. I'm sure there was a method to your madness, but I'll never guess what it was.

Let me finish working on that Simrad order.
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Old 12-13-2018, 09:01 PM   #9
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When I did a software update to my iPad my Bluecharts disappeared. No way to get them back. Then I got a new iPhone and they disappeared from that too. Oh well, they were great when I had them.
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Old 12-14-2018, 12:44 AM   #10
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Another example of the Garmin Reverse Midas Touch.

It's happening to inReach and I fear will to Navionics as well.
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Old 12-14-2018, 01:17 AM   #11
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Mx Mariner still integrates the Active Captain database onto the NOAA charts.
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Old 12-14-2018, 07:25 AM   #12
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Just read that an updated Navionics mobile app with AC was released yesterday.
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Old 12-14-2018, 07:29 AM   #13
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Mx Mariner still integrates the Active Captain database onto the NOAA charts.
Yep.

It's an all-or-none toggle, though, so all of the AC markers can seriously clutter the chart when turned on. I've suggested to Will that he allow the user to also select WHICH AC markers to turn on and off; perhaps if more people suggest that to him, he might raise that higher on his to-do list.

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Old 12-14-2018, 11:25 AM   #14
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Thank you for the replies, I still have gbcm on my iPad with the AC data, just no recent AC data. On the rivers changes in areas to anchor can change with every flooding event so user updates are valuable. The problem I have with Garmin is the $50.00 I spent for gbcm and then they screw up AC so it no longer updates reviews. I should of known better because Garmin wants to continually drop support for older products. The Garmin plotter that was on the boat when I bought it was no longer supported and I couldn’t buy charts for it and never found any on eBay.
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Old 12-15-2018, 10:20 AM   #15
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Just updated Navionics app on the iPad. It downloaded all the Active Captain inormation. This is far better than Blue Charts. Now you have the best charts made with Sonar Charts and the AC info is overlayed.
Looks like today things are much different than when all the Garmin and Siegel bashing took place a while back.
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Old 12-15-2018, 10:31 AM   #16
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One thing that could improve is the update feature. Now when you select edit it takes you to the AC website.
The Blue Charts app let you write reviews and then update through the app when you choose.
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Old 12-15-2018, 10:47 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by River Cruiser View Post
Thank you for the replies, I still have gbcm on my iPad with the AC data, just no recent AC data. On the rivers changes in areas to anchor can change with every flooding event so user updates are valuable. The problem I have with Garmin is the $50.00 I spent for gbcm and then they screw up AC so it no longer updates reviews. I should of known better because Garmin wants to continually drop support for older products. The Garmin plotter that was on the boat when I bought it was no longer supported and I couldn’t buy charts for it and never found any on eBay.
Update AC on my iPad using Garmin Blur Chart Mobile.

Gordon
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Old 12-15-2018, 02:01 PM   #18
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Ative Captain Arrives on Navionics Today!

https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler..._hsmi=68351080

Apparently you must be running Navionics 13 to download Active Captain. A slick way for Navionics to phase out older editions.

If you don't see Active Captain on your update, iPad and iPhone users need to install Navionics Boating Marine & Lakes while Android users get Navionics Boating HD Marine & Lakes
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Old 12-16-2018, 12:29 AM   #19
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Another example of the Garmin Reverse Midas Touch.

It's happening to inReach and I fear will to Navionics as well.

Yes. Their support for inReach has not been good.
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Old 12-16-2018, 09:07 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fryedaze View Post
Just updated Navionics app on the iPad. It downloaded all the Active Captain inormation. This is far better than Blue Charts. Now you have the best charts made with Sonar Charts and the AC info is overlayed.
Looks like today things are much different than when all the Garmin and Siegel bashing took place a while back.
I never bashed Siegel. In his place, I would have done the exact same thing. From my twenty something year experience with Garmin, I would say that while they put out a decent (but, not necessarily outstanding) product, they deserve most of the bashing they get.
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