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Bradley · 21-07-2008, 05:35

Is there anyway that SeaCLear can read Navionics chips.

Can you really not back up a Navionics chip. What if one is out in the middle of the ocean, and the chip goes bad? I would never have wasted my money on something that I can't have a spare copy -- particularly in the marine environment. Their warning is right when it states you can't rely on it for navigation.

**Pblais** · 21-07-2008, 06:50

Quote:

Can you really not back up a Navionics chip.

They are copy protected and will not operate if you attempt to over write one or copy it to a new chip. The idea with the Navonics chips is you can't cheat the copy protection. If the chip goes bad you can send it in for a replacement or you can buy two to have a spare. What if your chart plotter goes bad?

The C-map format was so widely abused that the company gave up on C-Map since the pirated copies vastly outnumbered the legal copies.

Currently Seaclear lacks the ability to read Navonics chips. You need their proprietary card reader ($75) to use the chip on a personal computer plus you need software that adds Navonics support. Fugawi Marine ENC now supports Navonics chips and the new release of the software come with a free reader (hence the recent price increase). It reads Navonics and two other chip sizes as well. I have used it to read a chip I have and it has all the functionality of a chart plotter with all the Navonics features.

You still can not copy the data off the chip and use it for anything. The chip itself carries the encryption required to use the chip and the proprietary reader is still required.

jake-i · 05-01-2012, 12:51

Why the f* do we allow them to sell their stuff that way?

It's insane!

jake-i · 05-01-2012, 12:54

> you can buy two to have a spare

My god. You need to buy 2 hardware thingies.

We're talking about a f*cking file that you should be able to copy to a backup disk to get the redundancy that you want on an ocean-going vessel.

jake-i · 05-01-2012, 13:23

How long do SD cards and/or that cheap crap SD card reader last on an ocean-going vessel?

jake-i · 05-01-2012, 13:24

How long before I have salt in my fancy SD Card reader?

r.fairman · 06-01-2012, 12:08

Buy navionics for the iPad or iPhone For the iPad its about £32 for the whole of the med Use it As a backup. SeaClear will never read Navionics. Development ceased some years ago
Navionics is available as Navionics HD or with iNavx

Regards

Richard Fairman

**hpeer** · 06-01-2012, 18:28

Check this out.
Fugawi Marine ENC - Navionics Detail

Quote:

Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How do I use Fugawi Marine ENC without the Navionics Multi Card Reader:
A: First, upgrade to the latest Fugawi Version 4.5.56 here.
Second, ensure your Plug-and-Play chip was purchased after April 2010. (You will know this is the case if you see a file called nTag.txt in the root directory on the card --- under no circumstances must this file be altered or deleted --- doing so will disable the ability of the charts to be loaded onto the hard drive and activated for use with Fugawi Marine ENC.)
Third, connect the Navionics Plug-and-Play chip to your PC using almost any generic multi card reader.
Lastly, in Fugawi Marine ENC, go to Maps|Open Map. Fugawi will automatically detect the charts, and activate them. By default, Fugawi will also copy the entire contents of the Plug-and-Play chart to the hard drive of the PC. Allowing this copy will greatly speed up the chart drawing and will also allow you to use the charts later without the Plug-and-Play chip being present.

Now....how do I do the same with C-Map NT+???

jake-i · 07-01-2012, 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by r.fairman

Buy navionics for the iPad or iPhone For the iPad its about £32 for the whole of the med Use it As a backup. SeaClear will never read Navionics. Development ceased some years ago
Navionics is available as Navionics HD or with iNavx

Regards

Richard Fairman

Sure. Make me buy a 700$ consumer device that keeps slipping out of my back pocket and into the water and make me buy a couple of bytes full of bytes for 20 bucks.

> Navionics is available as Navionics HD or with iNavx

Why isn't it available simply as an always up-to-date file that everything and everyone can read? I'll pay for usage, say 2 bucks for a day.

jake-i · 07-01-2012, 13:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradley

Is there anyway that SeaCLear can read Navionics chips.

Can you really not back up a Navionics chip. What if one is out in the middle of the ocean, and the chip goes bad? I would never have wasted my money on something that I can't have a spare copy -- particularly in the marine environment. Their warning is right when it states you can't rely on it for navigation.

There's a work-around. Borrow someone's "reader" (i.e. a package or device that can read Navionics data), do a lot of screendumps (scrolling/panning til you have the whole map), copy these over to where you need them (any computing device that makes sense on a yacht), do the calibration routine and you're all set.

Who the f*ck came up with the braindead idea of using an unreliable medium (SD card) to store vital data onto?

'Buy 2 SD cards if you want redundancy'.

'Buy 2 el cheapo non-marine SD card readers if you want rendundancy'.

So we buy **** from those guys *and* at premium pricing.

What's wrong with this picture?