Topic: FYI:The Navionics Mapping company just plain sucks

[ITGEEK]

Several years ago, I accessed the Navionics website, and filled out the form
to ask to add a few of my local lakes to their high definition maps.
Nothing ever happened.  I've been checking, and they haven't
added those lakes.

Early last week, I emailed them, asking the possibility of adding these lakes in the future.
And, I specified that I would like to know the answer, Yes or No.

But,
They haven't even responded to me.
Tell me 'Yes', or tell me 'No', but don't just ignore me.
This really pisses me off.

I think Navionics is a piece of crap company.
Customer service is the number one thing that keeps people coming back.
I'll be damned if I ever buy another Navionics chip.
They've probably contracted their customer service out to some ignorant mofo that can't even read English. F@ck them.

I hope that someday, Humminbird will be able to generate high definition maps for all waters, and
make them available to their customers.  There will be a market for this.  Navionics and Lakemaster need some competition.

Humminbird, put me on the East-Coast freshwater map waiting list, please.

[Weekend Warrior]

Why don't you tell us how you really feel GEEK?  LOL     I feel your pain.  Take a look at the lake list for Pennsylvania; twenty lakes.  Ohio(similar in size and next door to PA) has NINETY FIVE lakes listed!  Almost five times more lakes listed!!! Wtf?  I will be purchasing Dr. Depth as soon as I have a few extra bills lying around.  The lake I fish the most(and live on)is privately owned by a POA, and so will never get put on anyone's mapping chip.......so If I want a contour map, I'm gonna have to make it myself.  I have read here that Dr. Depth will make maps for our(HB)units now, but there is still nothing on the website that indicates this.  I wish I knew for sure this to be true before I purchase it......   I don't understand why the owner has not updated his site with this information.

Mark   

[sharky12]

Hi guys,

I work for Navionics and saw this post. Not sure what you are looking at but let me give you some answers.
PA 19 lakes
OH 100 lakes
You are correct. We could use a few more lakes in PA. We hit the main lakes that we had the most requerst for. As a lake gets entered as being desired, the more request that lake gets the higher the priority list. Doing soundings on a lake accurately take some time so we have to prioritize which lakes we hit first so we go by demand. Once a lake is sounded, we reply to thiose people letting them know that lake is finsihed. All of our lakes are under a freshest data program on our charts which means we do daily updates to charts. As we get new underwater structure, new surveys, new land areas, etc... we release them through a daily download of our site. We are the only company actually updating charts like this.
in regards to additonal lakes, we will have a program in the next 60 days (hopefully.. thats the goal) where you can do a sonar sounding, send us the chart, and we wil lcreate that lake for you and release it within 48 hours (thats our goal). keep an eye out for this program.

IT geek.... curious WHEN and WHAT lake you requested.... We are very good at getting back to people on questions. This time of year takes a little longer being the busy season. I'd love to say a week would be enough time to answer you but, we currently have hundreds of emails coming in right now with questions so it can take a bit longer. Hope the answer above helps.

[ITGEEK]

The lakes are two reservoirs on the Patuxent river.
Triadelphia Reservoir in Brookville, MD and
Rocky Gorge Reservoir in Laurel, MD.
They are both owned by the WSSC (Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission).
The base map on my Humminbird is very poor for these lakes.

I finally got a reply from my email.
It said the information would be passed along to the cartography department.
I haven't received any follow-up emails after that.
That's not telling me squat, and it's just not good enough (for me).

I want to know if Navionics is going to eventually map these lakes or not.
A simple Yes or No will do.
I requested you add these lakes at least 3 years ago through your website
and what a Surprise, you didn't.

I'll say it again.
Your customer service just plain sucks.
I doubt that I'll ever buy another Navionics chip again.

You people should learn that customer service is Number One.
Talk to your customers, find out what they want and need.
See if they are happy with your product.
If you don't want to do that, then you shouldn't even be in business.

[sharky12]

would love to give you a yes or no but I cant give you a solid answer. I will also pass along to the sourcing department for you. Again, it all depends on the amount of requests for a lake. For example, MN has 10,000 lakes. I can bet we have a request in for every single one. we have to chose the ones as a priority list on most requests. which means... get your buddies requesting those lakes as well.
I can promise you i will pass this along personally to sourcing so it isnt just in que but also directly from me. Thats the best I can do for you. I dont want to tell you "yes" and it be a lie. I'm sure we will but at what time frame... i have no idea.

[Weekend Warrior]

@Sharky12,  Thank you very much for the generous and informative replies(realizing it is likely not part of your job description).   
What you explained makes complete sense regarding what lakes are added and in what order.  Not everyone is going to be happy unfortunately.

Best regards,

Mark

[ITGEEK]

Hey sharky12,
Here's a question for you:
Let's say somebody has the cheapest sonar unit possible, with the most inaccurate GPS possible.
And, they don't know much about fine tuning it.
Their transducer is below the water line, but they haven't compensated (in the software) for the
depth offset.
Also, their transducer is installed crooked, and is tilted too far front or back.
They do some recordings on a lake, and they send you (NAVIONICS) the SD card.

So, are you going to publish on your map chips, and charge people money for that very
questionable lake survey?

Also, unless they record the entire lake, how is the survey even going to be
complete?  Will you publish on your map chips, and charge for a partial survey of the lake?

It seems to me that you'd be better off, using the best equipment possible (which
NAVIONICS must have), and do some type of grid recording in order to do the most accurate and most comprehensive surveys.

Keep in mind that some lakes are electric power only and there isn't enough
battery power to survey a whole lake at one time.

[sonar2000]

Good points ITG........Wonder how maps get their accuracy.  I am used to US topo and GIS stuff.  Bathmetric and lake maps are a bit new to me.
Chuck