SJI Sailor
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2018
- Messages
- 804
- Non-Fluid Motion Model
- American Tug (formerly had C30)
Posting this in case it's helpful to others. Short version: make and carry a backup SD card with your Garmin charts.
A couple of months ago, our 2019 C30 Garmin 7612 chartplotters started showing the water without depth contours, land, or other features. We could see our track and AIS signatures, but no indication of depth, shoal areas, land, obstacles, etc. Very dangerous!
This did not happen all the time, but would occur when we zoomed out to a smaller scale [larger area] display. For example, if we left a marina in a waterway and went into open water, and zoomed out a few steps, the chartplotter would lose all detail. It would only recover by powering off and back on.
Calling Garmin was helpful and they advised to get a higher-speed SD card and download the charts again. There are a few points here. First, the cards can go bad over time. No idea why it become intermittent for us. Second, the faster SD cards may have higher performance. We got Lexar "633x" cards (about $11 each) and those work and the chartplotter is now faster! Note that there is a max 32GB capacity and also the max stated speed for the 7612 is the 633x speed (no need for the more expensive ultra speed cards).
Third, using Garmin Express you can download your old charts with no need to upgrade them. Click on the chart and then the "cloud" icon. I was able to create new cards with the original built-in 2019 g3 charts (just in case), and two SD card copies of our usual charts, the VCA 2021.5 Puget Sound - Dixon passage high detail package.
Bottom line: the cards can go bad; backups are relatively easy and cheap; and the faster cards may have better performance. In more than 10 outings since replacing the cards, the error has not recurred -- and the chartplotter zooms in and out much faster. Thanks to Garmin for the help!
A couple of months ago, our 2019 C30 Garmin 7612 chartplotters started showing the water without depth contours, land, or other features. We could see our track and AIS signatures, but no indication of depth, shoal areas, land, obstacles, etc. Very dangerous!
This did not happen all the time, but would occur when we zoomed out to a smaller scale [larger area] display. For example, if we left a marina in a waterway and went into open water, and zoomed out a few steps, the chartplotter would lose all detail. It would only recover by powering off and back on.
Calling Garmin was helpful and they advised to get a higher-speed SD card and download the charts again. There are a few points here. First, the cards can go bad over time. No idea why it become intermittent for us. Second, the faster SD cards may have higher performance. We got Lexar "633x" cards (about $11 each) and those work and the chartplotter is now faster! Note that there is a max 32GB capacity and also the max stated speed for the 7612 is the 633x speed (no need for the more expensive ultra speed cards).
Third, using Garmin Express you can download your old charts with no need to upgrade them. Click on the chart and then the "cloud" icon. I was able to create new cards with the original built-in 2019 g3 charts (just in case), and two SD card copies of our usual charts, the VCA 2021.5 Puget Sound - Dixon passage high detail package.
Bottom line: the cards can go bad; backups are relatively easy and cheap; and the faster cards may have better performance. In more than 10 outings since replacing the cards, the error has not recurred -- and the chartplotter zooms in and out much faster. Thanks to Garmin for the help!