Getting updates for Navionics Charts

[jitait]

Has anyone else had problems getting updates off Navionics for their Gold Charts?

They now seem to only support updates via the internet.

I paid €120 to update my British Isles and ner European Shore charts, downloaded the app etc.

After two weeks of interaction I still hadn't managed to update the charts, and had received such useful suggestions as moving my Tower type computer (the only one with a suitable drive) to an area with better internet connectivity. They also wanted me to download some diagnostic software and for me to arrange a time for them to sort the problem out - but I really needed to be working or in the boat yard preparing for my cruise.

I have asked them for a refund, but have heard nothing.

I'm not happy!

Anyone else have similar experiences?

[careka]

Thanks for info, i was about to do the same, but now i will waite.
Mine are 2 years old now, i have heard about others that have had problems, but that was last year. will check on local forum in norway and se what they say there.

[jitait]

Thanks Careka: I'll be interested to hear the response from the Norwegian Fora.

My chandler did the update lats year, but I seem to remember he had a lot of hassle too.

[careka]

Some works fine, other had problems, But i discover something else, Navionics has stopped putting data on last update, so now you dont know how old the update you are paying for is ? i looked at the others, and they put on at lest what Year it is last updated. Navionics just puts Current Version.
That does not give me a good feeling, if i update every year, i can end up beeing paying for nothing.
NOT GOOD AT AL: NAVIONICS. P... me of.

[JNoel]

Navionics has gone to a online Freshest Data Program. This will allow you to upload the most current data as of the day you do the update. You receive 1 year of unlimited updates from the time of purchase. If you purchsed a chart from Oct 2010 through today you can do the updates. Prior to that you would need to purchse a new chart to participate in the program. I have used the system for the past 2 years, there is a count down clock that tells you how many days you have left. and an override even if you don't need an update you can do it anyway. After that it will cost you typlicallly 1/2 price of a new chart to reactivate the chart for another year. Hope this helps......

[careka]

Yes i did have this on mu iNavx account on Navionics maps, but for my Gold CF card maps thats sits in the chartplotter outside there is not a online Freshdata, that is only for the Platimum+ maps,
I wil not update my maps "Gold" as long as i cant be sure i get what i pay for.
Hope they will put dates up again, so we al can se what it is.
----
Do se that Navionics is saying that it will work for Gold also,
But when i go into there new http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp
and zoom in along my cost in Norway there is no Sonar maps ??
so whats are we getting if we update, ?
There is some years ago that new numbers has been put up on marks along the fjord and i cant still not find it on navionics maps ? how many years will it take ? and they call it Freshdata
sorry, i try to belive it but can't find the facts.....

[Jammer Six]

How current is the "Freshest Data"?

They say "as of the date of download", but I doubt that. How does the data compare to the latest Local Notice to Mariners?

If they really include the latest Local Notice to Mariners, or, for that matter, even a couple weeks back, I'd never buy anything else. But I doubt they do.

I would dearly love a way to keep electronic charts current, and there simply doesn't appear to be one.

Navionics does not inspire the confidence they once did-- and claims like this don't help.

[JNoel]

Careka -To answer your question Navionics updates for Gold and Platinum+. The updates all come from the same server. As far as when zoom in and want to see SonarCharts for your area. This is a new feature that is being offered and there is no Bathy info as of yet. When you zoom in what you see is the most current data available from the Hydro Graphic Office. Turn off the SonarChart feature. I just did it and it showed the charts. Denmak Gov. will not allow Navioncs to put any charts on the web the same is with Canada.

[jitait]

@JNoel (with apologies for the slow response - I've been away) ... I understand the process, but despite numerous attempts I still haven't got a satisfactory update - I think the problem is that I live in a rural area, and "Broadband" here is less than 1Mb and quite unreliable (i.e. has brownouts every hour or two).

I paid for and started the upgrade in early May, thinking one month before my trip would be plenty of time but it wasn't ... I'm still trying to find time to sit and down load the software for further support (bearing in mind I'm away much of the time sailing or working now).

Worse, some of the support was just RUDE - suggesting I should move to an area with better internet connectivity (having already said the only machine I have with a suitable drive is a tower which is used as a server).

I don't need daily updates: once a year by a process which works where I live will do just fine, even if it involves posting/FedExing the chip somewhere. I simply don't understand why you don't have this as an alternative.

[JNoel]

Since you travel as I do. you can update your chart on another computer. all you need to do is log in at Navionics web store download it and then do the update. try it what do you have to loose....

[jitait]

@JNoel - I have tried it (did you read my previous post?) - I thought it was going to be dead simple (stupid me!). The only thing which was simple was paying.

I started at the beginning of May, we're in July and I still don't have an updated chart. I've spent at least three or four days trying to get this to work, when I should have either been in the boat yard or trying to earn a living.

It seems so simple to me: just accept the physical medium (I'll pay!!) and you do the update.

Or invest more in the process, hire some decent support people, and build an application which works properly independent of line speed (i.e.tested on 56Kb for example), is restartable and independent of operating system so far as possible.

[jitait]

I have succeeded now in downloading the chart updates.

I don't know whether the main thing was a new version of the Navionics Chart update program (which I downloaded before trying the update again, or the fact that my ISP has finally taken some notice of the fact they weren't delivering the bandwidth we were paying for so we are getting a half decent connection here now.

Also recent iterations with their tech support people have been much more polite and appropriate.

Navionics were also good enough to give me a 60 extension in my free update period - may be I should have asked for more ;-) !!

I can't check the updates have worked properly yet - that needs to wait until next month when I'm back on the boat.

But it's a step forward, and I am much happier with Navionics!

[jitait]

Just to follow this up again, I updated my charts again at the start of this season and it worked fine this time, apart from the fact that due to a change of computer I had to buy a new device with a suitable drive in it.

All the updates seem to have worked fine.

So I'm much happier with Navionics now, and their update process seems to work now.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by JNoel

Navionics has gone to a online Freshest Data Program. This will allow you to upload the most current data as of the day you do the update. You receive 1 year of unlimited updates from the time of purchase. If you purchsed a chart from Oct 2010 through today you can do the updates. Prior to that you would need to purchse a new chart to participate in the program. I have used the system for the past 2 years, there is a count down clock that tells you how many days you have left. and an override even if you don't need an update you can do it anyway. After that it will cost you typlicallly 1/2 price of a new chart to reactivate the chart for another year. Hope this helps......

The latest Navionics charts come with Freshest Data for a year.

One heinous flaw in the new cartography distribution system is that the new cards are sold blank, and you cannot just download the entire chart area at once. You have to choose areas with a mouse, and you can't do the entire area at once, and you can't tell what you've got loaded and what not, without actually scrolling through the whole chart. An idiotic, half-**** solution designed to appear superficially cool and flash without any regard to how these are really used. For someone setting off on a long cruise (like I did a few months ago) across an entire chart area, with limited Internet access, this is just heinous. I ended up wasting gigabytes of data loading and reloading trying to get it right, and even then missed a few spots, which could have had safety implications had I not had other cartography aboard. I repeat -- you can't even see what you've loaded, and what's not loaded!!

Very poor job, Navionics!

The Freshest Data is also not very fresh, with buoys out of place and harbour changes done years ago not reflected, but I guess that this is probably an inherent limitation of the system -- just because you can update the card every week, doesn't mean that all the source data is updated.

I do have a question -- If I let Freshest Data lapse, can I reactivate it a year later? I don't need it during the winter, but would like to reactivate it before I come back next summer.

And a suggestion to Navionics -- ditch that mouse click area selection system for downloading charts and just go back to what you have been using for years on INavX and probably others using that distribution system -- you have a list of sub-areas you can choose and download, with a page where you can immediately see what sub-areas you have downloaded, and what you have not downloaded. That way sailors with poor Internet connections paid for by the megabyte (that will be many who buy these charts in the middle of a cruise) can download one bit at a time, reducing the risk of a failure to download, and you have a list of what you have and what you don't have. That system -- unlike the new one -- works.

Even better -- put the entire chart area on the bloody card when you sell it, like you used to do before you started selling blank cards. So that you just have to update the chart, not download the entire chart area.