Garmin Deceptive Advertising

[Maine Sail]

I honestly

I honestly don't understand the fussing about this? I have no trouble reading my 182C with either my old Blue Chart or my updated one as shown here. This unit was not always at my nav station either as it was at the helm for a long time before being replaced with a 3200 series...

I also don't consider the title "Garmin Deceptive Advertising" to be a good assessment of the situation. To some I am sure this new color scheme is welcome and to others perhaps not? I would not really call that deceptive..

Garmin has always claimed the Bluecharts can be updated which is absolutely not true unless a user wants to accept degraded performance. This is deceptive advertising- it should be clearly advertised that future map upgrades can result in degraded performance.

I'm also not sure you necessarily suffered "degraded performance". You experienced changes to the color palate of the of the charts but other than personal preference I don't see how that interfered with the units actual performance? Of course then again they are upgrades and some changes should and could be expected? No?

I have the same unit as you and have also upgraded my charts and have zero complaints so maybe Garmin was just being honest when they said "most people don’t have a problem with the changed displays"?

 

[ggrizzard]

Garmin 76 problem

On a similar note... I have attempted to connect my 76 (not a 'C') to my ICOM VHF to enable DSC/GPS communications. I took it to West and they got it to work, that is, the Lat/Lon numbers appeared in the ICOM display. I re-installed it and tried to get the same result on the boat...no luck.
I called Garmin and the conversation degenerated into a quagmire as to what the NMEA setting should be and how the connection to the VHF is made. They could NOT decide how the set up should be!
I'm now hoping someone out there has found the cure. Maybe it's the sequence of when which of the two is turned on first, or when the H/L & DSC buttons are activated.
I haven't had to deal with so many acronyms since the Navy, and they don't teach proprietary software code! Oh yeah, the west guy doesn't remember the settings!
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sailingdog]

First, Garmin has a tiny oddity when it comes to the NMEA output. The Garmin 12 VDC ground is the NMEA signal ground as well... so if you haven't hooked the Garmin's 12 VDC ground wire to the proper place on the Icom's NMEA output, you won't get anything.

Second, Garmin defaults to their own protocol. You need to make sure it is set for the NMEA 0183 protocol, and 4800, 8, N, 1. This is what the Icom is expecting. If you change the baud rate, bits, stop bits or parity, it will have a problem.

On a similar note... I have attempted to connect my 76 (not a 'C') to my ICOM VHF to enable DSC/GPS communications. I took it to West and they got it to work, that is, the Lat/Lon numbers appeared in the ICOM display. I re-installed it and tried to get the same result on the boat...no luck.
I called Garmin and the conversation degenerated into a quagmire as to what the NMEA setting should be and how the connection to the VHF is made. They could NOT decide how the set up should be!
I'm now hoping someone out there has found the cure. Maybe it's the sequence of when which of the two is turned on first, or when the H/L & DSC buttons are activated.
I haven't had to deal with so many acronyms since the Navy, and they don't teach proprietary software code! Oh yeah, the west guy doesn't remember the settings!
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ggrizzard]

Thanks Dog.
I'll go over and check the settings and figure out the ground situation.

 

[sailingdog]

Glad to help. IIRC, basically, the Icom's NMEA IN- and OUT- have to be connected to Garmin's 12VDC ground point.

Thanks Dog.
I'll go over and check the settings and figure out the ground situation.

 

[pete0001]

photos for Garmin Deceptive Advertising

Maine Sail-
I was so suprised that your 182c display looks so much different than mine that I had to take some photos of the old vs new maps. These are about the best I can take with my camera, the light blue is the original map, the dark blue is the new map. The area is the mouth of the Patapsco on the Chesapeake close to our home port.
I still think I have degraded performance compared to what I bought originally. In my view this is not a minor change in color pallet, this is major change in what the maps look like. Since this is not what Garmin advertised when they sold me the unit I call it deceptive. If I had known they were going to do this I would have bought someone elses chartplotter.

Pete

I honestly don't understand the fussing about this? I have no trouble reading my 182C with either my old Blue Chart or my updated one as shown here. This unit was not always at my nav station either as it was at the helm for a long time before being replaced with a 3200 series...

I also don't consider the title "Garmin Deceptive Advertising" to be a good assessment of the situation. To some I am sure this new color scheme is welcome and to others perhaps not? I would not really call that deceptive..



I'm also not sure you necessarily suffered "degraded performance". You experienced changes to the color palate of the of the charts but other than personal preference I don't see how that interfered with the units actual performance? Of course then again they are upgrades and some changes should and could be expected? No?

I have the same unit as you and have also upgraded my charts and have zero complaints so maybe Garmin was just being honest when they said "most people don’t have a problem with the changed displays"?

 

[Maine Sail]

Maine Sail-
I was so suprised that your 182c display looks so much different than mine that I had to take some photos of the old vs new maps. These are about the best I can take with my camera, the light blue is the original map, the dark blue is the new map. The area is the mouth of the Patapsco on the Chesapeake close to our home port.
I still think I have degraded performance compared to what I bought originally. In my view this is not a minor change in color pallet, this is major change in what the maps look like. Since this is not what Garmin advertised when they sold me the unit I call it deceptive. If I had known they were going to do this I would have bought someone elses chartplotter.

Pete

But you still have your old charts to use so why the fuss. If it were me I'd still be using the old ones if you hate the new color that much. Spot soundings, rocks & land are still the same and those are what really matter. Nav aids move all the time so no chart is current for long.

Plus the 182C is getting old and out dated. Garmin sold you a plotter and a chip probably four years ago and I'm sure made no claim that the charts would not be upgraded or changed. I still see your screen as plenty usable though changed just as mine was. I'm guessing the color difference between mine and yours is only the camera lighting.