Ok guys, here's the deal. I was really wanting to upgrade my electronics to a gps rig so I could start recording and planning routes, but wow, talk about the money. I just couldn't really afford it. Plus the money for the Navionics card...$150!?! Really just thought it was out of the park for me.
So I was doing some lurking on the Navionics website and saw that they had an App for your Iphone and one for the Androids. Hmm...they even said it would show you all the same maps as the card. It said you can plan and save routes. It said you don't need to have service to run it, because it would save to your phone and you just used the gps. It pretty much said it was almost the same thing as the card, it was just on your phone. All for about $5.
"Well," I say to myself, "I take my phone out in the boat anyways. Could it really be as simple as that?"
So I pay my 5 bucks and download this app onto my Galaxy S3. I got to tell you, I was VERY not impressed at first. The thing was ugly, slow, I didn't know what the buttons did...just really ticked me off.
But I'm cheap, and 5 bucks is 5 bucks. I'll be damned if I'm going to let a piece of electronics get the best of me! So I buckle down and tried to figure this app out. I hit all the buttons, ALL of them. I closed, reopened, edited, saved and deleted all sorts of things before I knew what I was doing. But after about an hour of playing with this thing...man, IT'S AWESOME! I can literally plan a route, make thousands of waypoints on the fly, track my position in real time...the list goes on and on about what I can do with this program!
I don't know what the programming for the card is like, but once I got the phone figured out I couldn't believe that they would let us have this all for just five bucks!
Seriously, if you guys want maps and gps in your boats, on even on the shore, you really need to check out the Navionics app for either android or iphone! Simple amazing!
I really hope this will help someone out! I know it's helped me!
Tight lines.
Matthew
I used a less "honorable" way of acquiring the Navionics USA maps for my phone, but it's not the same as Navionics for a GPS. I find it really hard to see the screen on my GS3 in beaming sunlight and I get sketched out using my phone on the water in fear of dropping it. It's great for choosing spots to fish before you get on the boat, though.
I have the app on my phone and both tablets, works great when the sun isn't shining and/or if I am not wearing sunglasses. I prefer the sonar/GPS versions on my Humminbird units where they are actually usable.
I have the same problem...virtually impossible to see the screen on a sunny day.
The Navionics App is well worth the money. I wont go as far as saying it'll replace my Navionics Platinum chips in my Lowrance units, but come on, that's the best setup a guy could ask for. Seriously though, the App is great. I use it all the time when I'm out fishing with a buddy and we get on a good school of fish and I want to save the spot. Simply transfer the waypoints to the Lowrance units on my rig when I get home. I also use it to study my game plans for the next day of practice while relaxing in my hotel room preparing for a tournament.
www.JoshDouglasFishing.com
On 6/26/2013 at 11:34 AM, JDFishing said:The Navionics App is well worth the money. I wont go as far as saying it'll replace my Navionics Platinum chips in my Lowrance units, but come on, that's the best setup a guy could ask for. Seriously though, the App is great. I use it all the time when I'm out fishing with a buddy and we get on a good school of fish and I want to save the spot. Simply transfer the waypoints to the Lowrance units on my rig when I get home. I also use it to study my game plans for the next day of practice while relaxing in my hotel room preparing for a tournament.
www.JoshDouglasFishing.com
Ha ha! Validation!
Another option for when you are home is the Navionics web app for larger bodies of water and inshore salt water. Also a great planning tool for getting some landmarks and scouting out structure changes. Caution though - not all bodies of water are included. It excels more for navigation in tidal and inshore waters, but for me in the Chesapeake Bay areas, it is perfect!!
http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp
On 6/27/2013 at 11:28 PM, Hanover_Yakker said:Another option for when you are home is the Navionics web app for larger bodies of water and inshore salt water. Also a great planning tool for getting some landmarks and scouting out structure changes. Caution though - not all bodies of water are included. It excels more for navigation in tidal and inshore waters, but for me in the Chesapeake Bay areas, it is perfect!!
http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp
The Navionics web site Web App is the current data and is what you get when you update your Naviionics software.
It also has the Sonar Charts layer that Humminbird owners have access to for user imput as the FishNChip maps. You can turn on and off the FishNChip layer with the round blue button on the lower left of the map. It takes the 1000' zoom range or closer to see that layer.
Used this app again yesterday on my phone and it helped me pull down a new PB, twice in one day!
I used the crap out of the navionics app on my s3 last week. I bought one of those locking suction cup windshield mounts for s3 off ebay, a cig usb adapter, and a high speed usb all for about $10. The suction cup worked great on the top of my console and held my phone perfectly. I used it to navigate through some lake channels that I never would have been able to find. Never really used it to mark spots, but used the contour to find points and sand bars to fish and locate hazard areas to avoid. With the USB cable/adapter it actually charged my phone while using the navionics. I think I might fab that suction mount to be a permanent fix on the console now.
I found it very easy to see and very easy to use, well worth the $0.99 I paid for it a couple weeks ago.
On 7/28/2013 at 10:46 AM, Kevin22 said:I used the crap out of the navionics app on my s3 last week. I bought one of those locking suction cup windshield mounts for s3 off ebay, a cig usb adapter, and a high speed usb all for about $10. The suction cup worked great on the top of my console and held my phone perfectly.
Do you still have the info on the mount you purchased? I've been looking for a good one.
add up all the $$$ on your rig and the cash you drop on a nav chip will be minimal. not sure id want to be skipping down the lake @ 50 mph looking at my Hummingbird..........then my phone......back to the Hummingbird...
i also dont see a suction cup lasting long on anything but glass water.
On 7/29/2013 at 11:44 PM, skunked_again said:
i also dont see a suction cup lasting long on anything but glass water.
Well maybe you should try it before commenting. I fished 7 days running over rough water on a party lake without it moving one bit.
On 7/29/2013 at 8:25 AM, NWBasslover said:Do you still have the info on the mount you purchased? I've been looking for a good one.
Sure, here it is. http://www.ebay.com/itm/370703448713?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
This week was a test, now I will be attaching the suction cup to the console via silicone sealer now that it has proven itself worthy.
That mount is actually universal, the part the phone clips into is removable and you can get several different "attachments" for it in case you ever change phones or want to mount something else.
On 7/29/2013 at 11:48 PM, Kevin22 said:Well maybe you should try it before commenting. I fished 7 days running over rough water on a party lake without it moving one bit.
i have tried it, thats why i made the comment.
its nice that it works well for you.
On 7/29/2013 at 11:44 PM, skunked_again said:add up all the $$$ on your rig and the cash you drop on a nav chip will be minimal. not sure id want to be skipping down the lake @ 50 mph looking at my Hummingbird..........then my phone......back to the Hummingbird...
Okay. So $200 for the chip and $500 for a new sonar to be able to use the chip. $700 or $0.99.... hmmm. Tough one for sure. I'll have to think about it for a while.
On 7/30/2013 at 12:01 AM, Kevin22 said:Okay. So $200 for the chip and $500 for a new sonar to be able to use the chip. $700 or $0.99.... hmmm. Tough one for sure. I'll have to think about it for a while.
The Hotmaps Premium card can be obtained for $130 and a unit that reads it can be less than $200.
Where are you getting Navionics Moblie for $.99? The app starts at $9.99 for US Marine & Lakes.
If you get the app and want to use it in the boat, you'll want a charger for your boat, as well. This app eats battery life like potato chips.
It was on sale for $0.99 (android) all last month.
On 7/30/2013 at 12:41 AM, J Francho said:If you get the app and want to use it in the boat, you'll want a charger for your boat, as well. This app eats battery life like potato chips.
I use it all the time on my boat without an on board charger, I just make sure that everything else is shut down except GPS and it will last a good 8 hours on my S3. I just make sure I have a full charge before hitting the water...of course it is all but dead after that, but that is what I use the truck charger for!
On 7/29/2013 at 11:50 PM, Kevin22 said:Sure, here it is. http://www.ebay.com/itm/370703448713?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
This week was a test, now I will be attaching the suction cup to the console via silicone sealer now that it has proven itself worthy.
Thanks man, just ordered one. Even if it doesn't work for my boat I'm only out $5, right?
Tight lines.
Matthew
On 6/25/2013 at 10:56 PM, Brackish Angler 228 said:I used a less "honorable" way of acquiring the Navionics USA maps for my phone, but it's not the same as Navionics for a GPS. I find it really hard to see the screen on my GS3 in beaming sunlight and I get sketched out using my phone on the water in fear of dropping it. It's great for choosing spots to fish before you get on the boat, though.
Man shoot a link for the maps
On 3/6/2017 at 12:50 PM, Knowles227 said:Man shoot a link for the maps
On 3/6/2017 at 12:50 PM, Knowles227 said:Man shoot a link for the maps
Holy raised from the dead Batman. Last post was over 3 1/2 years ago.
There is no link, it's in your App Store or Google Play.
Several years ago I made my own depth contours for a small lake in northern Ontario that I had no chip data for and it worked great.
I had a paper map from a lodge on the lake, which I scanned, geo-referenced with google earth, and digitally traced all the contours. Then I converted the contours into a Humminbird ‘tracks’ file – the same format that GPS history tracks are saved in. Then I could load the contour ‘tracks’ and display them just like displaying a saved GPS track/route. Not as nice as an actual map chip, but much better than no mapping data at all.
This was before make-your-own-map software was common, and I didn’t have to drive all over the lake to make it (or buy anything more than the basic gps/sonar I already had). If you have access to data in digital format, you can save the scanning and tracing. I made “track contours” for a small area on Lake Erie too using downloaded NOAA bathymetry data.
For anyone interested, search around and you’ll find an exhaustive thread on another forum, along with some freeware that will help (for Humminbird users, anyway). Proceed at your own risk, and back up any data you don’t want to lose before messing with and creating your own HB files.
On 3/7/2017 at 2:12 AM, fissure_man said:Several years ago I made my own depth contours for a small lake in northern Ontario that I had no chip data for and it worked great.
I had a paper map from a lodge on the lake, which I scanned, geo-referenced with google earth, and digitally traced all the contours. Then I converted the contours into a Humminbird ‘tracks’ file – the same format that GPS history tracks are saved in. Then I could load the contour ‘tracks’ and display them just like displaying a saved GPS track/route. Not as nice as an actual map chip, but much better than no mapping data at all.
This was before make-your-own-map software was common, and I didn’t have to drive all over the lake to make it (or buy anything more than the basic gps/sonar I already had). If you have access to data in digital format, you can save the scanning and tracing. I made “track contours” for a small area on Lake Erie too using downloaded NOAA bathymetry data.
For anyone interested, search around and you’ll find an exhaustive thread on another forum, along with some freeware that will help (for Humminbird users, anyway). Proceed at your own risk, and back up any data you don’t want to lose before messing with and creating your own HB files.
HT Trackmapper
On 3/7/2017 at 2:58 AM, Wayne P. said:HT Trackmapper
Yessir, with that piece of software you can make maps from your own sonar history data too. But if you have access to some kind of mapping (paper, digital, Navionics screengrab... ), you can make a decent map before you even get on the water by digitizing the contours and using the software to convert to HT format. Might be an ok option if someone’s planning to visit a new lake and doesn’t want to buy another map chip for just one trip, or if there’s no chip coverage at all. It’s somewhat difficult and time-consuming though, and the result isn’t as nice as a proper map.
In rocky Canadian Shield lakes, “saving money” on map chips by using freeware to create maps from sonar history could be self-defeating – you’d have to factor in how many props will be smashed up while blindly cruising around to collect data lol
I am trying to figure out the best way to get everything i need from navionics. I just got a helix 7 and have nothing else. A few of the lakes i fish have no maps so i may need a zero lines card and a computer program and ..... or is there a package i can get that has everything i need????
On 3/11/2017 at 11:08 AM, Angry John said:I am trying to figure out the best way to get everything i need from navionics. I just got a helix 7 and have nothing else. A few of the lakes i fish have no maps so i may need a zero lines card and a computer program and ..... or is there a package i can get that has everything i need????
No.
There is no Navionics Zero Line Card or computer mapping software by them.
Humminbird Auto Chart has those.
Dam thanks wayne