![]() ![]() It seems very likely that more merging of the two ActiveCaptains will happen, but, for now, Garmin just seems to have used the good name. So while the info that’s now called the ActiveCaptain Community is fully available in the Chart section of the ActiveCaptain app, just as it was in BlueChart Mobile (BCM), AC data does not (yet) appear on AC-enabled Garmin displays, and other aspects of the old AC, like eBoatCards, remain solely on the recently overhauled site. In fact, the app has been in development at Garmin for three years, and Garmin only acquired ActiveCaptain last May. ![]() Note that ActiveCaptain the app is very much about integration of mobiles with Garmin marine electronics, and so far not particularly about the excellent ActiveCaptain crowdsourced cruising information many of us associate with the name. Here’s what the new ActiveCaptain page looks like on a Garmin display, in this case a GPSmap 742xs. In short, when Garmin touts ActiveCaptain as an “all-in-one” app, they are not exaggerating! On the other hand, the charts, which allow you to plan trips wherever you are now, cost nothing, as long as you already own the same area on a compatible WiFi-enabled Garmin display - a major feature called OneChart.Īnd finally the Helm tab is just like the standalone Helm app that has long allowed Garmin owners to view and control their WiFi MFDs with their phone or tablet when on the boat. Meanwhile the Chart tab is very much like the BlueChart Mobile app Garmin introduced in 2012, except the weather features are not included (yet). Using and/or sharing QuickDraw crowdsourced depth data also got a whole lot easier, and more. The Dashboard offers a set of utilities like setting up the novel Smart Notifications, as well as familiar tasks like Software Updates that used to be much harder to do. Lack of that computer functionality appears to be intentional to encourage people to upload to Quickdraw Community, and is sleazy, in my opinion.Let’s start with a peek at the three major tabs in the free Garmin ActiveCaptain app, as seen above on my Android phone (click the image larger for more detail). I thought I would be picking my ice hole spots from home, then uploading them to my handheld GPS and walking right to the spot, all with a hard copy of the map in my hands. Can't view quickdraw maps on computer to study at home and plan trips. Quickdraw doesn't show colour coded contours while recording, it shows in green/white where you have/haven't recorded, so you can't take advantage of the colour coded topo until your map is 'done'. Quickdraw doesn't use the Lakeview files as a base and improve them, it uses a quickdraw base map which doesn't even show the shoreline in the right place in my neck of the woods. From a mapping standpoint it has been way below my hopes & expectations, but there's not a lot of info online, so I don't feel so bad about having taken the risk and lost. Overall the chart plotter has been a revelation for marking fish, which is neat, but not that important to me. They might even be receptive to my concern about sharing a map of where I fish. The other thing I can and should do is ask Garmin to upgrade their software. Having realized the limitations of my SV95, I'm much more likely to put together an ice kit so I can get the function I was hoping for, at least when it's warm out. ![]() I ice fish in -20C and below a lot, so I don't really want to subject my Garmin to that, having seen the toll it can take on my much simpler Marcum LX-5. I haven't tried the Active Captain app - I'll look into it, thank you for that prompt. ![]() It does show pre-purchased maps, but the Canada Lakeview 2016 which came with my 95sv is in 15 or 30ft increments for the lakes around me and low accuracy at that. Homeport shows my waypoints and tracks, but doesn't show my quickdraw contours, which is what I'm really after. (I realize that when I then turnaround and use Facebook I'm a big hypocrite, but it doesn't change how I feel.) Beyond that, I simply can't get over the fact that I'm paying Garmin over $1000 for the privilege to spend my time and gas to make something that directly benefits them. So if I do 3-4 trips to a lake over a summer, then upload, I'm not providing much in terms of mapping, but I'm giving a very clear map of where I fish. It would take 1000s of hours to map just one of our big lakes (sounds like the panoptix 'ducers make it go much quicker, and will be one more reason to get the upgrade for me). Up here we have many large lakes and very few people. AlgaeKilla, you're right, I could choose to take a generous approach to it, to a great extent my outlook is specific to my location. ![]()
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