Topic: 1198C with Navionics + First Thoughts

[reelhandy]

 I'm new here so first I'd like to say Hi, and I apologize in advance that my first post is pretty much a complaint.
 I just purchased an 1198C along with Navionics +. I haven't put it on my boat yet but I have taken some time to get familiar with the GPS and the Navionics + I have loaded into it. All in all I'm a bit disappointed with how it looks compared to the way it's shown on the Navionics website. First off I expected the contour lines to show up automatically when I zoomed in. They are there only if I switch from navigation charts to fish and chips charts, but when I have the contour lines loaded the navaids disappear. It's not a big deal just not what I was expecting. Secondly when I have the fish and chips charts loaded I get 3 color shading of the depth changes, 2 shades of blue, and white. The second shade of blue is user set to a single depth. Everything shallower is a darker blue, and everything deeper is white. Once again not a big deal, but I would think that having more shades of blue like the "sample" version from the Navionics website might work better, plus it would look better.
 I moved the map cursor to areas that I am familiar with, and didn't like the way that the inshore areas were colored. The Navionics chart uses the same blue as the water for marshy areas. They just add what I suppose is a grass symbol to the blue background. That is going to take some getting used to since the Garmin 178C that I am upgrading from used green for marshy areas. I think green is a much better color for marshes, since they are for the most part visibly green. Maybe from the air they look like water, but that doesn't help when you're in a boat.
 Once again when I start to use the charts I'll probably get used to them, but I guess seeing such basic coloring instead of the multi shaded coloring that I would expect from a higher end GPS unit has left me a bit disappointed.
 That being said I didn't buy the 1198 primarily for the GPS. If the sonar works as well as I expect it to, I'm still going to be a happy guy, but it would have been nice to see that the charts were going to be a lot better rendered than my 8 year old Garmin. 

 I've decided to add a few photo's to show what I am describing in the text. Below is how the 1198 shows a particular area. Notice the water and the marshy land areas are the same shade of blue


 Next is the same area from the Navionics web charts. Notice the water is shaded much darker than the marshy land area on the Navionics. It's very clear what is water and what isn't. For someone planning to enter that area for the first time the Humminbird chart could be kind of confusing.



 


Here's the same area with the fish and chips Navionics + chart on the 1198 compared to the Navionics+ web charts




 At a glance the web charts with their shaded contours are easier to follow. Compared to the web charts the 1198 charts seem very basic.

 Finally here are 2 shots of the same location. The first is the Humminbird 1198 with Navionics +, and the second is the Navionics + from the web charts.




 Where are the Navaids in the Humminbird version? The answer is that they aren't on the contour charts. You can see the words "spoil area" on the contour chart, but if you want to see the outline of the spoil area and the channel markers, you need to switch charts. The Navionics web chart shows everything that is on both charts as one chart that they call Navionics +

The charts that Navionics show on the web app are heads and tails better than what Humminbird and their chart partners provide on the 1198. In my opinion it's comparable to a "bait and switch"