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Farming Bluechart g3 Vision

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Anyone have a garmin plotter and pay for this upgrade? Is it worth it? Are the charts good? Currently looking at the cape cod chart to fish off Gloucester...anyone with a first hand experience here? They look awesome!

 

 

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Just got mine. Not sure if it's worth the extra $$.  Sure looks cool and is neat with the satellite imagery when you're in a harbor. That's not any good off shore. Fish eye view may be good, especially for trolling. 

 

My gut is telling me the most important upgrade was the newer chart, not the poofie stuff. 

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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51 mins ago, Roccus7 said:

Just got mine. Not sure if it's worth the extra $$.  Sure looks cool and is neat with the satellite imagery when you're in a harbor. That's not any good off shore. Fish eye view may be good, especially for trolling. 

 

My gut is telling me the most important upgrade was the newer chart, not the poofie stuff. 

Thanks! Can you walk me through a few things? 

 

What's the fisheye view? Can you take a screenshot of what it looks like? How do you find it helpful? 

 

is the bathymetry more accurate, or better? From the photos they show...it looks like it would be super helpful in understanding the contours of the bottom...but I'm looking to you're first-hand experience here. 

 

Thanks! 

Edited by tailspin
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6 hours ago, tailspin said:

Thanks! Can you walk me through a few things? 

 

What's the fisheye view? Can you take a screenshot of what it looks like? How do you find it helpful? 

 

is the bathymetry more accurate, or better? From the photos they show...it looks like it would be super helpful in understanding the contours of the bottom...but I'm looking to you're first-hand experience here. 

 

Thanks! 

Will get you some screenshots next time I'm out, but looks that won't be until later in the week.  Here are a few observations and comments regarding my limited experience with my new Bluechart card.
 

  1. I have a GPS Map 4212, an older model, so I can only use g2 Bluecharts which limits some of the functions available versus the g3.
     
  2. The bathymetric seems nice and is updated, but that info is also sent to the regular Fish Chart function that is not a "Bluechart" function.  That's why I'm not sure if the Bluechart is worth the extra $$.  
     
  3. Fish Eye seems very neat.  I'm hoping that it does uses both the bathymetry on the charts, AND refines it as you pass over a specific area, incorporating the data that your plotter gets from both the sounder and GPS.  Not sure if it does it or not.  Would be a major plus.  Here's a representative Fisheye 3D image I pulled off the internet:
    overview-05_fisheye-view.jpg

    I also haven't had the Fisheye on when I drift over a school of fish or bait to see if it's shown on the screen.  Regardless, back in my days on LI when I'd troll bass and blues in shallow depressions along shoals, this feature would be magnificent!!  I'm not trolling anymore so it has less utility for me.
     
  4. The Fisheye and Mariner's Eye don't show your "breadcrumb" trail so you'll need to split screen if you're like me trying to drift over a particular spot.  Your "Marks" are shown, but the other question I need to answer is does the screen show your drift direction in front of you or the view of the front of the boat.  I really need to fully explore these features and that's my goal, at least until the bass arrive when I'm fishing in the local rivers and won't use any of these functions. 
     
  5. IF you're like me and have an "older", yeah 6 years old is "Older" in Garminese, that doesn't use the "Onechart" technology, you must buy the card and cannot download the chart to your unit.  Nothing wrong with that, but what hacked me off is the fact that although I was told I could make a backup copy of the card, turns out I can't, something discovered after hours of work by me and hours on the phone with Garmin.  I've never had a card fail on any of my Garmins, but I told them they'll be hearing from me looking for a replacement card if I have a future failure with this card.
     
  6. The satellite imagery is of variable dating.  As I navigate the tidal rivers of Maine the more inland images are older than the images down at the river mouths.  Regardless, it's still much newer than the land based markers on the NOAA charts.  It's nice to see my dock, as well as many other local ones on the screen now, something not on the NOAA charts.  However a neighbor's dock that was put in 4 years ago is not on the satellite image on the card.
     
  7. You don't have to buy directly from Garmin, but need to take care in selecting your vendor.  If prices seem to good to be true, there's a significant chance you'll be getting a pirated product that will give you a "Unable To Unlock Chart" error message when you plug it in.  I saved a good chunk of $$ purchasing the latest, Garmin-Produced Chip from Garmin Factory Outlet.  My unit immediately unlocked it and it is officially registered on Garmin Express.

That's it for now, I've got a lot to learn about how to best use this chip.  Bottom line is I wanted newer charts for my area and as I was looking through my options, the "lure" of Bluechart features "sold" me on the increased price tag of a plain old chart update.

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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My overall rating is "It Ain't Worth It", at least for me, but like I said, I'm limited to g2...

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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