Fishfinder/GPS Marine Charts

[MPKehoe09]

I just bought a boat with a previously installed fish/depth finder/GPS.
It looks like I need to purchase an SD card in order to get the marine charts for my area.

For my old boat, I used a free App on my iPhone, that gave me my local charts, with a GPS locator, that showed my position.

I looked into purchasing one of these SD cards, and everything I've found is $200+...that seems crazy.

Since I'm knew to this whole fishfinder/GPS thing, is there something I'm missing?

Thanks,
MK

 

[GA_Boater]

You are about to be missing 200 bucks or so. That's what they cost. What FF/GPS?

You could check Ebay, sometimes chart chips show up.

 

[roscoe]

What unit do you have?

And what area do you need a chip for?

Do you need an SD card, or a micro SD card?

Have you tried ebay for used ones?

The older chips had all info on them for a specific state or states.

The new chips are pretty much a blank slate, and you download the maps you need.
This is because of the amount of data available on the new HD sonar scan of the lakes, along with satellite image views, and points of interest. There is just no way to put it all on an SD card.


As more and more people upgrade to the newer chart plotter units, the old SD cards pop up on ebay for very cheap.
I have an SD card to get rid of myself, as my old chart plotter died, and I replaced it with a new unit, which uses micro sd.

 

[MPKehoe09]

Damn, I was hoping that wasn't the case. I live on Long Island (New York), and I spend the majority of my time in the bay, which is scattered with sand bars.
On a sunny day, I can normally get away with using the sunlight to determine where the bars are, but seaweed beds make some shoals appear to be deeper water.

I have a Humminbird 581i FF/GPS. I believe it takes the a standard SD card, opposed to a Micro SD card.

 

[ondarvr]

They don't show your typical sand bar that well, the sand bars move around and there's no way to keep up with them. That's why you can set way points and design your own route during the day, then just follow it.

Some brands allow you to make your own charts, put the unit on record and go boating, now you have an up to date map of exactly where you want to go.

 

[roscoe]

Not a bad unit, ask around the marina to see what card others in your area are using.