Garmin and Active Captain-A Cautionary Tale

When the Active Captain app was released I spoke to several members of the Garmin team at the Ft Lauderdale boat show. They assured me that the data transfer function would work with my two Garmin 7215 chartplotters. Additionally the compatibility charts for the app showed it would work. But when I got home and tried it, it did not work.

After receiving the latest app update I have tried again and find that not only does it still not work, but they have CHANGED THE COMPATIBILITY CHART to show it won’t. I am sorry, but this is ridiculous. I am NOT going to upgrade my hardware at great expense to make it work with this app. The discontinued Blue Chart Mobile still transfers perfectly, but it’s lifespan is limited. Clearly Garmin could make this work with AC, but choose not to.

I am well aware that the 7215s are discontinued and that their processors can’t handle the Helm function or AC software updates, but there is no reason in the world for them to disable data transfers.

Sure glad I purchased and installed the Garmin PICO adapter a few months ago. It’s now totally worthless.

Oh, and by the way, importing data into the AC app is so full of bugs that isn’t going to work either. I guess I will go with another vendor next time I update electronics.

Does AC still work with other apps like CoastalExplorer or Furuno TZ? I haven't used AC since I got banned some time back, so for me none of it works anymore.

twistedtree said:

Does AC still work with other apps like CoastalExplorer or Furuno TZ? I haven't used AC since I got banned some time back, so for me none of it works anymore.

Click to expand...

We just use it free standing. They still haven't taken the flash functionality into the non-flash version, nor have they addressed the complaint of it not remembering where you were. I use the flash version and that's it.

BandB said:

We just use it free standing. They still haven't taken the flash functionality into the non-flash version, nor have they addressed the complaint of it not remembering where you were. I use the flash version and that's it.

Click to expand...

So a browser on Windows or OSx?

I wonder how much of this is simple incompetence, vs the beginning of the end of AC as a plug-in for non-Garmin products. I expect all the non-garmin products will sooner or later become "incompatible" and stop working.

Sigh. It's starting to look like my fears of how Garmin would handle AC were not misplaced. I wonder when my InReach will be declared "legacy" and no longer work?

twistedtree said:

So a browser on Windows or OSx?

I wonder how much of this is simple incompetence, vs the beginning of the end of AC as a plug-in for non-Garmin products. I expect all the non-garmin products will sooner or later become "incompatible" and stop working.

Click to expand...

On Windows and Android.

Note that the facebook page is quiet.

The regular monthly news from Active Captain, the last one was October 11 talking about the cutover to the new servers.

Seems to me the re-coding and other activities have ground to a halt. Perhaps they're finding Navionics more fun to get involved with. Active Captain is so unimportant to Garmin and that's just not good.

BandB said:

On Windows and Android.

Note that the facebook page is quiet.

The regular monthly news from Active Captain, the last one was October 11 talking about the cutover to the new servers.

Seems to me the re-coding and other activities have ground to a halt. Perhaps they're finding Navionics more fun to get involved with. Active Captain is so unimportant to Garmin and that's just not good.

Click to expand...

Or Jeff has thrown a tantrum and stop working, or left, or whatever.

twistedtree said:

Or Jeff has thrown a tantrum and stop working, or left, or whatever.

Click to expand...

If only... Fingers crossed for this.

Buyouts where the seller stays around don`t usually work. From his posts here, Jeffrey seemed to be in a permanent tantrum, be it real or feigned.

I have lived this scenario. Back in the day I owned 4 of 32 Jewelry Stores run by a group of 7 friends. We were independent but the common name earned us big discounts and allowed us to buy big ads. We all did well. Then a big firm came along and made us all an offer we could not refuse. It was all the stores or no deal. As several of the guys were older or in poor health so we all sold. I retired at 39.
Three years later the big firm closed every store and let all the employees go.

BruceK said:

Buyouts where the seller stays around don`t usually work. From his posts here, Jeffrey seemed to be in a permanent tantrum, be it real or feigned.

Click to expand...

It could be working great but I worry that one of the Garmin people decided to eat meat.

BandB said:

Note that the facebook page is quiet.

The regular monthly news from Active Captain, the last one was October 11 talking about the cutover to the new servers.

Click to expand...

Thanks for mentioning that. My last newsletter was on November 1 and I was just about to make a post asking if others had same experience. I actually checked the AC web site to see if I was still signed up for it and there was no change. Perhaps Defender yanked their sponsorship. Wish they would tell us something to explain the black hole.

twistedtree said:

Does AC still work with other apps like CoastalExplorer or Furuno TZ? I haven't used AC since I got banned some time back, so for me none of it works anymore.

Click to expand...

Still works with MaxSea TimeZero on a laptop. And MX Mariner and Plan2Nav on Android tablets. At least as of the last time we updated markers on all those, a couple weeks ago by now.

My Furuno MFD (pre-TZ) is older than any wireless capabilities, so I can't get AC markers to that... but never could, anyway.

-Chris

AC posted some time back that the newsletters were finished and that Defender would do a separate monthly special. I get it every month

BandB said:

.......... nor have they addressed the complaint of it not remembering where you were. I use the flash version and that's it.

Click to expand...

I was wondering about that. There doesn't seem to be a place to ask for help and Jeffery banned me from the AC Facebook page because I disagreed with him on something and had the nerve to post it.

Jeffery is a great programmer but he should leave PR to someone else.

BTW: I only use Active Captain on a PC so I've never tried some of the things mentioned here but I have noticed that many of the marina markers (and I would assume the other markers like hazard markers) are misplaced by what appears to be several hundred feet. Not a big deal for a marina but it makes the hazard markers unreliable.

Also, in many cases, restaurants with no overnight docking are marked with marina markers. This is a PITA when looking for marinas. I mentioned this to Jeffery and he told me I didn't have to use Active Captain if I wasn't happy with it.

I’m going back to relying more on Salty Southwest Cruisers Net and the Waterway Guide.

Pgitug said:

I’m going back to relying more on Salty Southwest Cruisers Net and the Waterway Guide.

Click to expand...

They are good but printed information gets out of date pretty quickly. Also, you don't get marina rates and user reviews.

meridian said:

AC posted some time back that the newsletters were finished and that Defender would do a separate monthly special. I get it every month

Click to expand...

If they are finished with the newsletters, wonder why they still have a profile choice to sign up for them.

Haven't received anything from Defender.

Pgitug said:

I’m going back to relying more on Salty Southwest Cruisers Net and the Waterway Guide.

Click to expand...

aboatman said:

They are good but printed information gets out of date pretty quickly. Also, you don't get marina rates and user reviews.

Click to expand...

AC is going to get out of date pretty quickly too, if people take a "wait and see" attitude about Garmin's ownership. Its independence from big for-profits was what led to AC,'s success, IMO.

I, for one, am not thrilled doing free research, analysis and writing for Garmin. They already get more of my money than I think they've earned.

I may be biased. I've been involved in other volunteer programs where I put in a lot of time and effort, only to have the results of those efforts sold to some faceless MegaCorp for top dollar.

On another note. . .we recently installed the new Garmin app with AC integration, chart, maps and helm interface on an Android and an iPad. We had two rather simple but me not able to sort out issues which resulted in two calls to Garmin support. Both reps were very patient, got me through both issues and all is working well now with our 7610's. New is always a challenge and in both cases we found a small item that was not in their support notes which they were glad to add and move on to the developers.
No complaints here.

Garmin issues aside-

For those of us in the PNW, what does AC provide that otherwise isn't available? AC's following seems largely Atlantic side related.

CaptTom said:

AC is going to get out of date pretty quickly too, if people take a "wait and see" attitude about Garmin's ownership. Its independence from big for-profits was what led to AC,'s success, IMO.

I, for one, am not thrilled doing free research, analysis and writing for Garmin. They already get more of my money than I think they've earned.

I may be biased. I've been involved in other volunteer programs where I put in a lot of time and effort, only to have the results of those efforts sold to some faceless MegaCorp for top dollar.

Click to expand...

I think you are biased.

People who use Active Captain don't really care who owns it, they just care that it meets their needs. As for reviews, it's at least partly an ego thing. It's a way to get people to read what you write and a way to try to impress people.

Many of the people who write reviews (all Internet reviews, not just AC) are clearly idiots, but there is some good information to be gained from some of them.

As long as the marinas and anchorages are displayed on the charts or satellite views and as long as they are kept current, I don't think most users will care if Garmin or some other company owns it.

sunchaser said:

Garmin issues aside-

For those of us in the PNW, what does AC provide that otherwise isn't available? AC's following seems largely Atlantic side related.

Click to expand...

That's had to say because I don't know what's "otherwise available". I zoomed in on your area and saw a lot of marinas and such shown.

There's not really anything in Active Captain that's not available somewhere else (except for reviews) but Active Captain puts it all in one place and makes it easy to find. And unlike a book, it's constantly being updated.

sunchaser said:

Garmin issues aside-

For those of us in the PNW, what does AC provide that otherwise isn't available? AC's following seems largely Atlantic side related.

Click to expand...

Nothing. My reviews I did 6 or so years ago are still at the top of the page.

My take on it. People boat the ICW to "go to", people boat in the PNW to "get away". Two disparate sets of needs.

aboatman said:

That's had to say because I don't know what's "otherwise available". I zoomed in on your area and saw a lot of marinas and such shown.

There's not really anything in Active Captain that's not available somewhere else (except for reviews) but Active Captain puts it all in one place and makes it easy to find. And unlike a book, it's constantly being updated.

Click to expand...

Every year we buy Waggoners cruising guide. Updated annually pretty well and works in areas where cellular connection for WiFi not available. Alas, no matter since I'm a Trident laptop owner. Trident was good for AC initially, but updates now unavailable in our area so back to old fashioned ways.

I am decidedly not a fan of the previous owner of AC and am decidedly a fan of the product. Use it only as a stand alone product as I never considered it a navigation system. No interest in eboatcards or any social aspect of it. The one thing it exceeds all other resources in was the completeness of the listings of marinas. It is also helpful in other information such as shoals, inlets, bridges, etc. whether original information or copied from elsewhere. For us, it hasn't yet lost it's usefulness but that's only because we can still access the flash version. Seems that the conversion/transition was started and then stopped dead in it's tracks. Don't know the reason. At this very moment, I can't get it to come up in the flash version however. Yesterday it worked fine. It seems to me the updates from users, the reviews, etc. have come to a virtual stand still since the ownership change. If so, it's value will gradually diminish rather than increase as it should.

My original fear was that it was too small and insignificant to Garmin and would get ignored and treated like an ugly stepchild, not like a favored new offering. It's not uncommon for a company the size of Garmin to buy this and that and this along the way and just not spend the time or effort to maximize most.

I think it says a lot that even such as it was, customer support was eliminated at the time of the purchase and people told to go to facebook, where it's also not available.

aboatman said:

Many of the people who write reviews (all Internet reviews, not just AC) are clearly idiots, but there is some good information to be gained from some of them.

Click to expand...

Rats. I hadn't realized. I wrote some marina review, so I must be an idiot. Clearly.

I wonder if I was (clearly) an idiot before writing those, or whether writing the reviews (clearly) turned me into an idiot.

I guess I'm maybe too much of an idiot (clearly) to figure that out.

But thanks at least for cluing me in to my idiot-hood-ness.

-Chris

sunchaser said:

Every year we buy Waggoners cruising guide. Updated annually pretty well and works in areas where cellular connection for WiFi not available. Alas, no matter since I'm a Trident laptop owner. Trident was good for AC initially, but updates now unavailable in our area so back to old fashioned ways.

Click to expand...

Hard to beat Waggoners. Even though it is free to download, I still buy the hardcopy.

ranger42c said:

Rats. I hadn't realized. I wrote some marina review, so I must be an idiot. Clearly.

I wonder if I was (clearly) an idiot before writing those, or whether writing the reviews (clearly) turned me into an idiot.

I guess I'm maybe too much of an idiot (clearly) to figure that out.

But thanks at least for cluing me in to my idiot-hood-ness.

-Chris

Click to expand...

Glad to hear I'm in good company.
I utilized the reviews when cruising and felt it reasonable tp help keep the info current and useful in return fir access to the free app.
Since that was dropped a few yrs ago no reviews submitted and only access online occasionally.

I wrote so many idiotic reviews that I was sent a dunce's cap.