Recently bought the Navionics+ update to the Silver charts that came with the chart plotter. We are planning to do the Great Loop next year so I bought the US & Canada charts. I was totally surprised when I realized that even though I bought US & Canada, I could only download a very small part of that area at one time. The download will only work with a 2GB chip and these charts are so large that I could only fit the Gulf Coast and FL on the chip. Never mind the Sonar Charts, they are even bigger. So to do the Loop, or even just back up to Maine from TX, would require that I download new chart sections repeatedly, and at marina WI-FI speeds that takes forever, sometimes longer. And then on the return trip, redownload the charts to get back to TX.
While they do mention the 2GB limit at the bottom of the Navionics+ section of their web site, even if I had noticed that at the time of purchase, I would not have realized the actual limitation of that size chip with the Navionics+ charts. So now I am extremely sorry that I did not just pay another $100 and buy the Gold charts.
If your cruising is limited to a limited area, Gulf Coast, FL, Chesapeake, then the Navionics+ might be good deal. For extended cruising it’s not the way to go, in my opinion.
Just a heads up,
Bob
While they do mention the 2GB limit at the bottom of the Navionics+ section of their web site, even if I had noticed that at the time of purchase, I would not have realized the actual limitation of that size chip with the Navionics+ charts. So now I am extremely sorry that I did not just pay another $100 and buy the Gold charts.
If your cruising is limited to a limited area, Gulf Coast, FL, Chesapeake, then the Navionics+ might be good deal. For extended cruising it’s not the way to go, in my opinion.
Just a heads up,
Bob
