Need A SIMPLE Chartplotter - I don't fish

H

Hemingway

New member
Hi All:

Got talked into installing the whole Garmin enchilada last year. I hate it. Their manual and their online updated manuals simply do not match what is on the screen.

I miss my old Lowrance Chartplotter. Turned it on, it showed where I was, the magenta line showed the channels at all times, it showed all the depths. Took me anywhere I wanted to go.

With this worthless Garmin GPSMAP 7612 XSV piece of crap, in order to even get a magenta line, I have to go through, at minimum, 18 steps to plot a short "auto-course" and this takes two hours. If I don't use the laughably named "auto-course," it is more like 41 steps.

I've now spent over 90 hours on the phone with Garmin support just to try to learn how to set up and use this crap. Today they told me that I have to find a flat calm place on the Tombigbee to drive around in big circles in order to get my auto-pilot reset.

Apparently I can no longer spend hours trying to "plot" a course on my chartplotter until I get my auto-pilot reset. Now ain't that a kick in the pants - the Garmin auto-pilot has screwed the pooch so now nothing else works!

I am not flying an airplane here. I trailer my boat all over the country just to spend 2-3 months at a time on the water. I watch the weather carefully, and when I get a weather window I want to GO - not spend hundreds of hours on the cell phone with Garmin support!

I want to make it up to Muscle Shoals and back. But I'm not stupid enough to try it without a chartplotter.

I also don't give a damn about auto-pilot. I just want a simple, straightforward chartplotter so I can raise the anchor and go.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Hemmie
 
I hear ya'!

Not everybody needs or is comfortable with all this technology that keeps expanding and overtaking us.

If I were you, I'd advertise here for someone who wants to trade up to your new equipment that has an older.
but still functional set up like, or similar to, what you had. Plus some cash back to you, of course.

I'm glad I boat mostly on inland lakes and don't need any of this technology outside of a good fish finder.
I'm Old School, happy with it, and proud of it.
Screw the Flash Gordon School of Modern Boating! :lol:

Good Luck!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I have a Standard Horizon combo unit(chartplotter/fishfinder). It is very simple to use and does everything I need. It has a yellow line for the small craft route on the Trent Severn. I called it the "Yellow brick road". Very happy with its simplicity.


Regards,


Rob
 
Hemingway,
Sorry the Garmin gear hasn’t been more intuitive for you. You have spent a fortune on what many if not most agree is an enviable system, so I would try to simplify it rather than sell the suite, which is always like trying to sell a used computer (which is largely what your, or any electronics, suite is).

I agree the ‘auto-guide’ feature can be lawyer-like recalcitrant, esp if I try to start or end in other than open deep water. We heard the chief Garmin tech for the Southeast describe a meeting with their lawyers re the parameters for what Auto Guide should be, and it was hilarious (he was a Florida boater and they were lawyers).

I would suggest taking the auto pilot off system by pulling its fuse, and or it’s N2K AND Garmin Marine Network (Ethernet like plug). You won’t need it for this trip.

Make simple route guideposts by making ‘waypoints’ without connecting them with a ‘route’ color line. We found this way more effective when trying to follow the ICW ‘magenta line’ from JAX to mid SC, because the thickness of our ‘route’ line would cover up the ICW ‘magenta’ line, no matter what color we selected for our ‘route’ line. This method is WAY faster and less prone to finger-poke errors that lead to the loss of your entire un-saved route etc. On the water, it’s easy to scroll out a bit to see in what general direction your intended route is headed, while still being able to pick out the ‘preferred’ line.

I envy your 7612, but it may or may not include Inland Rivers like Muscles Shoals. Try Zooming in on that to see If not included then get the US Lakevu G3 card from Hodges Marine, like I just did to see canals and rivers in NY for our next trip.

The Entire US Coastal and Western Canada G3 chip for $178, plus entire US Lakvu G3 for $122 is a steal compared to the small areas previously covered by G2 Vision cards, and VERY few of us need the satellite view capability and batho graphics of the new small scale G3 Vision expensive products.

Many, many Garmin issues arise from not using the latest Software Upgrade. Get it at Garmin.com, and as they suggest, FIRST download and save to a SD card (under 32G) all your user data! (waypoints, routes, tracks etc…first, name your new file). Then follow instructions to transfer latest software upgrade onto your entire system (with everything on your network turned ‘on’). Sounds complex but not really.

I really wish you luck and hope you eventually find Garmin gear to be among the most intuitive (if not the most), although it does require some practice/familiarity. I am only aware of one other Brat who has invested in a suite like yours ( I tend to buy 2 generations behind the ‘bleeding edge’ which is why we have dual 8212’s).

I would also suggest signing on to the Tug-Nuts.com site, since a LOT of them have the more expensive E-suites and could summarize the menus and solve your issues without Garmin Tech Support. You are an outlier here re that. Nice to hear from another Outlier in a way.

Best of luck on your next adventure, and if you can’t get rid of it all any other way, I will give you $1,100 for your entire E suite (including AP), just to show you what kind of sport I am! Is that fair or what!

Cheers!
John
 
I have a Standard Horizon combo unit(chartplotter/fishfinder). It is very simple to use and does everything I need. It has a yellow line for the small craft route on the Trent Severn. I called it the "Yellow brick road". Very happy with its simplicity.


Regards,


Rob
 
I have a Standard Horizon combo unit(chartplotter/fishfinder). It is very simple to use and does everything I need. It has a yellow line for the small craft route on the Trent Severn. I called it the "Yellow brick road". Very happy with its simplicity.


Regards,


Rob
 
We took out our old Garmin chartplotter, we also had one one our R25 tug, I was not a fan. We just put in a Simrad (Lowrance) go3 9 inch combo with our much preferred (especially in Mexico) Navionics charting. I like that it has both manual and touch comtrol. We think it is a bit easier to use than our Garmins, maybe worth checking out.
 
The Simrad Cruise 9" (Largest available) is $600 basic price. This includes very basic US Coastal maps--not inland waters. You can upgrade with Navionics (now owned by Garmin) or C map to lakes and Rivers. It does look to be very easy to use. It would be a good choice for someone who is challenged.

Following the "Magenta line" is not always the best coarse. It was never meant to be a route. Just a visual reference so the navigator would look in that general direction, and pilot his own safe course. It was removed for a period of time by NOAA. It was re-instituted, but in certain areas, where there are alternate courses, left off the charts. In the ICW it often is way out of date due to shoaling.

John gave you the best advice. Cut the Auto pilot out, just use the simple chart plotter and follow the deepest channel. The trip the PO is planning is very simple and without many hazards. (Most of this we did last Sept).

I have used Lowrance/Simrad, Garmin, and now RayMarine all within the last few years. I had considered that Garmin was the most intuitive chart plotter to use. More recently I have been disappointed in some Garmin decisions. I have not used the 7612 (Currently superseded by the 8612). I have the RayMarine Axiom/Lighthouse III, (and Navionics charts for coastal and inland waters) and a 460 page printed manual, plus a 536 page updates for latest software PDF on my computer....I avoid calling the help desk of any of the MFD units. Often they know less than you do about the boat, and setup. For me, the RayMarine has been the hardest to get to learn more than just basic functions. The latest greatest of all of the MFD units, are getting extremely complicated, and have features which most of us will never use. However, to be competitive, each company comes out with its own version of what "we all need". Granted, that there have been some truly fantastic new features, both in depth sounders,(CHIRP, Side scan, Down Scan, Forward view) and Radar--digital with relative and real time motion. I rarely overlay the radar over the chart. I prefer to do that in my head--since I have been using Radar for over 40 years, long before chart plotters, when one had to do "mental overlay" on paper charts.

Also for the OP's trip, there are free ACOE charts for the entire navigable river system. We like to have paper charts for planning, so I printed them out for our 800 mile trip on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. Having them on the I pad or computer would be sufficient.

Perhaps a good option for the OP is to buy the $600 Simrad, and keep the Garmin, to use Radar and advanced features as he learns to use the Garmin systems. You may have to put the 9" unit over the raised area to the V Bert. (We did that on our last 22, for one of the 3 MFD, we had aboard.). We have a 9" and 7" on the area above the helm on our current 25, and that takes up all of the space.
 
Simrad Cruise looks interesting. However, it does not do any networking. If you want DSC Distress to send position information you'll need another GPS source (or a radio with built in GPS).

If it weren't for that I'd buy one. I don't need any fancy fish finding stuff either, just a depth sounder.
 
South of Heaven":1cvwailk said:
Buy Navionics for your phone or tablet. Very easy to use, GREAT maps and dirt cheap. Done. Then use all the money you'll save for gas.
Click to expand...
Absolutely agree.

I recently bought a Garmin Echomap plus to replace my deceased Lowrance unit and I'm disappointed. Navionics on my phone and tablet has served be very well and very intuitively for many years. Considering Garmin now owns Navionics I thought it would have been better integrated.
 
Why not find a local person to show you the setup and make note cards?


Our local West Marine manager is a whiz and great teacher


M2cw
 
We also run our apple and android tablets with Navionics and why we picked that system for our Simrad combo chartplotter, I pray that Garmin does not screw up Navionics, I have heard rumors that the charting in Mexico is slipping back in quality.
 
I am happy to read this post about the simrad 9 cruise.
sounds like just the thing for me.
We have a C-dory 22 cruiser 2006 (Notayot)
Is there a spot on the hull bottom where I can mount the transducer inside without cutting or drilling the hull? my understanding is it will not work if there is wood between the fiberglass. This boat never had a transducer mounted when it was originally outfitted at Harbor Marine.

thanks johnd
 
I have installed shoot through the hull transducers, they do need to be placed over solid glass, but also in an area where the water flow against the hull is not turbulent. On our 25 the glass is solid only from the v-berth bulkhead forward which is not suitable on a planing boat. It seems to me that the usual mount on these boats is on the outside transom. Maybe the 22's are different?
Good luck.
 
Most all of the C Dorys are laminated with either plywood, balsa or foam as a core. None of these will allow ultrasonic (depth sounder) frequency waves to pass thru the core material.

Some boats do have solid glass below the sumps for the bilge pump, others may have a lesser thickness of core material.

You can set a depth sounder transducer (for standard fish finders, not side scan) in a baggie of water, and move it around inside the boat to see if you can find an area where it will work. Very thick fiberglass (depending on the quality of lamination) may slightly attenuate the signal. But I shot thru over 1" thick solid glass in the Cal 46 and could hold the bottom at 600 feet with a low wattage depth sounder.

Inside mounts can be with silicone or a resin, such as epoxy (just assure that there are no bubbles). I often built a small box, of plywood, covered inside and out with fiberglass and a resin, laminated to the hull. I then fitted either a transom mount or thru hull most to the box, put a lid on, with a brass filler pipe and brass; we filled the box with mineral oil. This allowed easy change out of transducers when the electronics were up graded., Similar techniques were used in the racing boats to avoid any un-necessary protuberances below the surface of the hull.
 
6 years ago I took the USCG auxiliary basic and navigation courses (both 3 months, once a week). The gal teaching thought the Lawrernce (mine) particularly poor, and was not all that impressed the the rest. She used a computer based system. She could take the computer home and plot hundreds of way-points etc. On her annual cruises to Alaska she could then choose the particular routes she would take that or the next day without any further programming. It did not take dozens of counter-intuitive pushes, hold, dances per 80s fancy watches to do anything.

The bitter end blog, now on facebook also raised the issue that computers, iPhones and pads may be, and would be, the better option. I dropped with unalloyed joy Garmins for my car. (thief got it - likely worth nothing, and I should have given her a hug)
 
That looks like a good product to save your transom from screw holes
I also have used mineral oil in a glassed in pvc pipe to set a transducer in.
We use tablets for navigation as well as the chartplotter but a combo chartplotter with water temperature, depth, bottom profile, engine readouts, fuel flow, ais, and radar are so amazing along with your navigation suite it is magical compared to the old days.
 
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