BajaNomad

Anyone using the Garmin G2 Blue Charts for BCS?

Alan - 8-11-2014 at 12:14 PM

I am about to upgrade my electronics and have been very impressed with the Navionics charts that I have seen for the La Paz area.

Unfortunately I have been impressed with the new Garmin Sounders with side scan and CHIRP but my experience with the old Garmin Blue Charts makes me hesitant because their base map was all but useless for Baja Sur. Is any one using the newer Garmin G2 chip that might tell me how they compare to the Navionics Charts?

bledito - 8-11-2014 at 06:03 PM

Do'nt know i just dangle my worm over the side till the fish bite.

bigmike58 - 8-12-2014 at 07:34 AM

I bought the navionics gold for raymarine... was a waste of money for Baja buts works great in san diego.. shows Baja coast lines/ marina and such but no hi def contour lines/sat pics, no imagery..

Alan - 8-12-2014 at 07:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bigmike58
I bought the navionics gold for raymarine... was a waste of money for Baja buts works great in san diego.. shows Baja coast lines/ marina and such but no hi def contour lines/sat pics, no imagery..
I think you need to get the Mexico specific chart from Navionics. The ones I have see are really awesome in the detail they provide

fish or watching a small tv screen

captkw - 8-12-2014 at 08:20 AM

as someone that installs and repairs gps,radar, radios, and fish finders..I tell my guys to forget the the gps BS and get a chart first and go fishing,diving,...etc.etc..learn the water your in the "old way" first !!! a gps can be used as a aid after you have a CLUE !!

Alan - 8-12-2014 at 11:41 AM

Excellent point but only to a point. I study charts religiously but as my skills with sun lines and sextants have eroded over the years I find it much more effective to pull coordinates off the chart and enter them into my GPS for ease of finding once I'm on the water. Once my GPS gets me to the area I want, the sounder allows me to set up on the mount in the most effective manner without getting wet. As you well know, even the water in La Paz is not all that warm in the winter. Additionally, I don't have enough years left above the surface of this earth to memorize the landmark triangulations for every waypoint I have. :lol:

Pescador - 8-12-2014 at 05:54 PM

If you look in the search section there is some good info as we have gone over this a number of times. Basically, the Garmin and Furuno charts are based on Cartography charts that date back as early as 1959 or earlier in the Sea of Cortez, so when they put them up on the GPS settings, you will find that the charts are horribly inaccurate in terms of any kind of navigation. In the Santa Rosalia area you will be 3-6 miles off of your point and it can be frustrating. I upgraded to the charts from Navionics to the gold charts specifically done for the sea of Cortez and they are pretty much spot on. So that leaves you with Lowrance or one of the others like Hummingbird that accept those charts.

I fished the final tournament this week in Loreto and found the old blue charts with Garmin were acceptable but still off up to 1 mile. That was OK for what I was doing, but if I were going to spend much time navigating, I would recommend the Gold Charts from Navionics. I used them on the big boat which we use to navigate all over the Sea of Cortez and they are pretty spot on as well as containing some good information. I posted complete evaluations on Amazon.com if you want to check them out.

Alan - 8-16-2014 at 11:07 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pescador
If you look in the search section there is some good info as we have gone over this a number of times. Basically, the Garmin and Furuno charts are based on Cartography charts that date back as early as 1959 or earlier in the Sea of Cortez, so when they put them up on the GPS settings, you will find that the charts are horribly inaccurate in terms of any kind of navigation. In the Santa Rosalia area you will be 3-6 miles off of your point and it can be frustrating. I upgraded to the charts from Navionics to the gold charts specifically done for the sea of Cortez and they are pretty much spot on. So that leaves you with Lowrance or one of the others like Hummingbird that accept those charts.

I fished the final tournament this week in Loreto and found the old blue charts with Garmin were acceptable but still off up to 1 mile. That was OK for what I was doing, but if I were going to spend much time navigating, I would recommend the Gold Charts from Navionics. I used them on the big boat which we use to navigate all over the Sea of Cortez and they are pretty spot on as well as containing some good information. I posted complete evaluations on Amazon.com if you want to check them out.
I know the old Blue Charts were pretty far off in Baja and was part of the previous discussions but was hoping the G2 Charts had improved. Haven't really got a definitive answer from anyone using the newer Garmin charts so at this point I'm not going to risk that investment and just stick with the new Simrad NSS7 Evo2. Its a shame because Garmin's Side Scan is reported to be the industry leader at the moment but I'd rather have a unit with accurate charts especially when traveling to unfamiliar water. So I'll be sticking with something that accepts the Navionics card

[Edited on 8-16-2014 by Alan]