Chartplotter software? Navionics ... is not good.

[N.A.]

Hello folks-

I have a Raymarine Axiom II Pro chartplotter, 9" or so. I know, people told me (too late) to get B&G... but an otherwise reliable source told me to get Raymarine, as well as the Navionics software (which I have used and been happy with on my iPhone, so I thought it would be a good match.)

Unfortunately, Navionics <insert 4-letter word here> on my plotter. The reason is that the numbers and letters are scaled so small they are essentially invisible to my (and my mate's) eyes, and this is compounded when at sea/seasick. It is so bad the SW is nearly useless for some things. I went online to find the settings to scale up the text and... there is no way. There are many complaints, over years, and no solution. I am done.

So I will be removing -- imminently -- Navionics from my chartplotter.

The question is: what should I install instead?

Please help / any suggestions welcome.

Desires: text big enough to read (and ideally scalable by a setting in SW if "big enough to read" varies by user , charts work well, and ideally 'night mode' works well. and MUST work on Raymarine chartplotterrs, as that is what I have.

 

[bsangs]

Raymarine has a compatible charts page: Raymarine Chart Partners.

Is the inability to scale the text a limitation of Raymarine or Navionics? I only ask because my Garmin chart plotter uses Navionics and I am able to scale the display.

 

[N.A.]

Many thanks!

The issue is not that you can't zoom/scale the display; the issue is that when you do, the chart contours/area zoom, but... the numbers rescale to stay the exact same (invisibly small on my display) size. It does the same thing on my iPhone (chart zooms but numbers do not) but the default number size (which cannot be changed) works for me there, whereas is it far too small on the chartplotter (Axiom). This is apparently a known Navionics/Garmin issue -- there are threads on it on the web, over years -- and noting the lack of any response/fix from Garmin -- and I doubt (though I did not explore that) that it is an issue only on Raymarine plotters. It's frankly dangerous to have to struggle that hard to get chart information off the plotter; not a minor issue.

What I'm hoping for here is information from anyone who's running other SW (not so much the chart data, as the SW itself) -- for instance, on the Raymarine you can have the Raymarine Lighthouse SW or the Navionics SW, which present differently. There may be others; I will check the list you linked again to make sure I'm understanding. But hopefully someone here is using Lighthouse? Or one of the others (Maybe Active Captain? Unsure if that is an alternate too).

--> Anyone using non-Navions SW on their Raymarine (or more generally, as long as it's not (e.g.) proprietary to a different manufacturer), I'd love any comments you have as I look for a replacement/decide.

 

[Captain Pete]

FYI I have navionics on an older Raymarine C80. It was only after a season of use I stumbled on a way on the C80 to scale the text larger so I could read it better. Not sure exactly what I did and hope I am able stumble on it again.

 

[peaman]

Not sure exactly what I did and hope I am able stumble on it again.

I don't know about Raymarine, but B&G chart plotters have a dauntingly deep and broad bunch of setup options which can presumably be useful if you can keep from getting lost in the menus. Maybe Raymarine likewise has these kind of options waiting to be found by the intrepid user.

 

[bsangs]

I don't know about Raymarine, but B&G chart plotters have a dauntingly deep and broad bunch of setup options which can presumably be useful if you can keep from getting lost in the menus. Maybe Raymarine likewise has these kind of options waiting to be found by the intrepid user.

Ditto Garmin. I brought it home this winter, hooked it up to a 12v converter and have been playing with it regularly to FINALLY get a handle on the deep menus. Only took me two years to come up with that plan.

 

[driftless]

I have an Axiom, though I believe it is the prior generation, running Lighthouse. Never had an issue with readability/scaleablility, and I'm starting to need cheaters for restaurant menus. I find Raymarine's menus equally obtuse as to what others are describing though.