C Map for Furono Nav Net

I have used Simrad and Raymarine on past boats, so my experience with the Furono gear on this boat has only been over the past 15 months. Very happy with the Furono electronics, but find the Furono Nav Net cartography on the chart plotter is ok, but not great.

Side note: I use the Navionics App on a large IPad, and find it to be very helpful as a supplement to the Main display.

In regards to replacing the Furono Nav Net charts for the main chart plotter, I am Looking for opinions on C Map vs. Navionics?

If you've got Navionics on an iPad at the helm, then unless your typical cruising grounds are known for being better covered by one vs the other, I'd go for the C-map chip. I like having 2 different types of charts on hand. For me, it's currently Navionics on the plotter and NOAA (both raster and ENC) on the laptop.

Fletcher500 said:

I have used Simrad and Raymarine on past boats, so my experience with the Furono gear on this boat has only been over the past 15 months. Very happy with the Furono electronics, but find the Furono Nav Net cartography on the chart plotter is ok, but not great.

Side note: I use the Navionics App on a large IPad, and find it to be very helpful as a supplement to the Main display.

In regards to replacing the Furono Nav Net charts for the main chart plotter, I am Looking for opinions on C Map vs. Navionics?

Click to expand...

I have Furuno Navnet vx2. It is now the older system. It uses a SD card for the charts.

On my system you cannot swap between cmap and navionics charts. Mine is Cmap and needs Cmap charts.

Fletcher500 said:

In regards to replacing the Furono Nav Net charts for the main chart plotter, I am Looking for opinions on C Map vs. Navionics?

Click to expand...

We have NavNET 3D, and (I expect you know this) it will display NOAA raster and vector charts, C-Map vector charts, and Navionics vector charts.

We just use the free NOAA charts on the plotter, both versions, sometimes split screen, sometimes one or the other. (And we also use the same charts on our laptop running MaxSea TimeZero, essentially same as the plotter.)

Sorry I can't compare C-Map to Navionics, but if it helps...

I've compared the NOAA vector charts to the C-Map charts we use on a tablet app, don't see much difference in quality. I've also compared the NOAA vector charts to Transas (now Wartsila) iSailor vector charts, and to AquaMap vector charts... don't see much qualitative difference.

I expect I'd be more inclined to look at C-Map charts for the plotter if we were in the Bahamas, where C-Map's included Explorer Chart data is said to make a difference. They seem to be quite expensive for the plotter, though, compared to the very low cost of the same C-Map charts (??) on the tablet apps.

-Chris

The Furuno US charts are all derived from the NOAA charts, and they are availabl;e in both raster and verctor flavors. The only problem is that they are not updated as quickly as the NOAA charts.


Outside the US there are varying choices depending on where in the world you are going. In my limited experience, whether C-map or Navionics is better totally depends on where you are going.


When I was in the Bahamas 7 or so years ago, only the C-map charts included the Explorer cartography of the Bahamas, and I think that's essential. Navionics doesn't include it, so I would pick C-map for the Bahamas.


But Mexico is the opposite. I consider C-map charts of Mexico (Pacific side) to be nothing short of a hazard to navigation. They are fine for the two or three major ports, but otherwise they are dangerous. Not once while I was there did I anchor in the water. Never. And I remember one coastal passage where there is a small island that you need to dodge on the way. I charted around it on c-map, but in reality that route sent me smack into the island. Good thing we weren't running at night and/or without radar. Navionics is much better, and though not excellent, it helps and is close enough to get you around safely.

Thanks for the feedback.

I found on several occasions that I have been getting a little more detail regarding small rocks and depths from my Navionics App, as opposed to the NavNet. I suppose that is from the crowd sourcing data which has been more accurately updated in some of these off the beaten path areas such as the Channel Islands.

Regarding the areas we are traveling, its So-Cal for now. When I retire next year, I hope to make it up the SF Bay and Delta. I spent a fair amount of time in Mexican waters as a kid, but don't have any plans to go too far down there for various reasons. Interesting to hear your experience with Cmap in Mex.