Navionic apps keep pushing the wrong way $$$$$

[Raycaster]

Just went to check a map out on my android navionic app and now required to login etc. with offline limited abilities.

This was incorporated in the latest update I assume.

They just keep pushing and pushing and pushing making users wish for a substitute app.

We all had to re-buy the app a few years back and then get options taken away and then re-introduced as Purchased add-ons.

They went as quickly as possible to a subscription plan to squeeze more cash out of us for life...

 

Just waiting for these paid plugins to be splashed on my screen constantly while trying to figure out a map:

 

Notification of your birthday $9.99

Notification it may be windy $3.99

Notification of Daylight $2.99

Notification its getting dark $2.99

Change title screen to custom photo $10.99

Change fonts: $5.99

Notification of yearly subscription due $10.99

Automatic Renewel from your bank account $19.99

 

Sorry, venting. Navionics Canada Lakes apps from years past just worked...

 

 

[AKRISONER]

yup doesnt work on my phone at all anymore...i was not impressed to say the least. Shouldnt it be illegal to purchase something and then someone retroactively takes away the service that you paid for...like you cant force someone into a lesser service after theyve purchased the service, unless we somehow agreed to it?

[Raycaster]

I think that it basically quit access to the Navionic servers with the newer Android OS Updates so basically anyone with a new phone was SOL.

I own a raymarine plotter that can use the Navionics sonar chart function.

My subscription is up but I don't think the Kawartha lakes have changed that much that I need updated maps.

I could be wrong but the sonar chart function now requires a live subscription.

[Scottwisconsin]

I have the north american app and have had lots of issues since about oct last year. Ive had my way points drift from place to place. Lakes that were well mapped become extremely vague in how they are mapped. Not sure if its some sort of update i didnt get or if this is almost a sort of nerfing of the product? When i first got it navionics was a pretty tight and accurate app. Hope they get things hammered out. It was a fantastic app for ice fishing. Loved it for marking weed lines as the winter progressed.

Cronk

[AKRISONER]

really when you think about it...it makes sense although it sucks.

 

Navionics had a phone app that 2 years ago i was 100% guilty of coming up with a system in my boat of simply using my phone as my chart plotter...so there you go I had a navionics equipped chart plotter for the price of the $15 APP.

 

Eventually I decided to upgrade to a full blown si chartplotter and didnt even blink an eye when navionics charged me $200 to get the charts again for my plotter. They know where the money is and they realized that they had given away too much. This is them toning back their $15 app so that you have to go out and blow the big bucks on a full blown chartplotter system. Not surprising really.

[Raycaster]

Arkrisoner you nailed it and every company in the world would do the same, but it still sucks.

The online streaming model $$$ of all software applications started a few years ago (Microsoft Office 360 / Adobe/ Autodesk/ Solidworks etc.)

Maybe a special "Upgrade Price" to loyal customer of the first apps would of eased the sting.

On the other side I can see this app disappearing within 5 yrs due to competition of other products or just open source apps eliminating the need for a paid app.

With economical units now providing digital sonar log  recording features (Raymarine DragonFly Vexilar/) allowing you to add to maps and edit it will only be a matter of time before Open Source or free Apps allow everyone to update freely available government charts.

[Scottwisconsin]

HEY!!!! mine isnt working worth a poop now either. I can still access the maps but they take forever to load and large lakes around here only load partially. I think this years subscription was a bust. As to the previous post about regressing service. In most cases its illegal. It falls under payment for services not rendered. If you buy a boat new with a 50 hp 4 stroke merc they can not show up and replace the merc with a 9.9hp. You purchase a product with terms. Thats the whole point of an EULA. You read the description of the product make an informed decision. Once the product is purchased you own that product as it was advertised and presented. Normally thats why a base product is made available with micro transaction to pay for upgrades and added content/features. What Navionics seems to be doing is degrading an existing product to compel its customers to purchase  upgrades just to get the product you purchased in the first place.  The whole thing reeks of product misrepresentation.

scott

[BillM]

My maps still work just fine even after that horrible Oreo update on Android..  Are we sure this isn't user error?   

[gaspumper]

I bought the app last Nov. it still works good for me also.

[Raycaster]

In all fairness my maps are fine also, just alarmed at the login screen.

 

 

[Dan668]

Mine also work without issue. Wasn't happy to see my sonar charts disappear, had to drop $100 to continue the subscription on my hotmaps platinum

[BillM]

1 hour ago, Raycaster said:

In all fairness my maps are fine also, just alarmed at the login screen.

 

 

Which you can ignore.

[Lape0019]

18 hours ago, Scottwisconsin said:

I have the north american app and have had lots of issues since about oct last year. Ive had my way points drift from place to place. Lakes that were well mapped become extremely vague in how they are mapped. Not sure if its some sort of update i didnt get or if this is almost a sort of nerfing of the product? When i first got it navionics was a pretty tight and accurate app. Hope they get things hammered out. It was a fantastic app for ice fishing. Loved it for marking weed lines as the winter progressed.

Cronk

This is really nothing new if you are used to updating navionics card. Sometimes Navionics has lost the rites to data they were using for their maps and whenm updating even your cards, you will lose data. It is a stretch but we paid for the use of a service and not necessarily the maps so they may be able to get around laws that way. Most of the information they use to create maps for Canadian waters is not owned by Navionics or their parent company.  

[aplumma]

3 hours ago, Scottwisconsin said:

HEY!!!! mine isnt working worth a poop now either. I can still access the maps but they take forever to load and large lakes around here only load partially. I think this years subscription was a bust. As to the previous post about regressing service. In most cases its illegal. It falls under payment for services not rendered. If you buy a boat new with a 50 hp 4 stroke merc they can not show up and replace the merc with a 9.9hp. You purchase a product with terms. Thats the whole point of an EULA. You read the description of the product make an informed decision. Once the product is purchased you own that product as it was advertised and presented. Normally thats why a base product is made available with micro transaction to pay for upgrades and added content/features. What Navionics seems to be doing is degrading an existing product to compel its customers to purchase  upgrades just to get the product you purchased in the first place.  The whole thing reeks of product misrepresentation.

scott

You are purchasing the app. with your money it is not implied anywhere that they will support the app to infinity. You will find that they have the right to discontinue or limit the use in there term of agreement which you accept by purchasing the app. This prevents a company that fails from being liable for supporting the failed product. If the company is losing money from  an app. they will either make it profitable or they will dump it. This is the same as when a car manufacturer finds that the level of purchases for a 1987 gremlin starter motors purges them from the manufacturing line. No one complains when they wear out a pair of jeans and have to replace them every year look at an app. that needs to be updated as the same thing. 

Art

[porkpie]

Do yourself a favour.  Don't update your apps and don't update your phone unless you really need to.  I generally stop doing updates about halfway through my device life cycle and stick with it until it fails.  I also don't update apps that don't really require it.  My phone works great, and so does the navionics on it that I paid $15 for 5 or 6 years ago.

[Smokercrafty]

On 2018-05-03 at 7:53 PM, porkpie said:

Do yourself a favour.  Don't update your apps and don't update your phone unless you really need to.  I generally stop doing updates about halfway through my device life cycle and stick with it until it fails.  I also don't update apps that don't really require it.  My phone works great, and so does the navionics on it that I paid $15 for 5 or 6 years ago.

Stellar idea! If you don't need the new features an update will bring, or if it isn't crashing, as some do, then just leave it unless absolutely necessary. 

Edited May 10, 2018 by Smokercrafty

[SirCranksalot]

I have just gotten an Ipad. Don't have a smart phone. Would you recommend buying Navionics for it?

[Raycaster]

The App is nice on the Ipad but most owners suggest an ipad with "WiFi + Cellular".

The ipads with "Wifi & Cellular" have a proper "gps chip" that a plain vanilla Ipad does not.

I only have a plain Ipad but it still achieves pretty good gps.

The usual cons of the Ipad are the Ipads fault: Screen glare outside and the need for expensive waterproof covers and battery drain.

Integrating a Ipad with Raymarines WI-FISH and Navionics is a pretty nice setup.

 

 

[SirCranksalot]

Thx--My Ipad has wi-fi and cellular.

 

 

I have never heard of WI-Fish. It sounds almost magical. I'll have to check that out

Edited May 12, 2018 by SirCranksalot

[Raycaster]

Raymarine actually has a cheap "headless" unit with no display allowing you to transmit the data to several devices. The next time someone on the boat away from the fishfinder asks "how deep is it" just tell them to load the app on their phone!

 

You could also just pimp out and put a 70" smart tv onboard for display!

The Wi-FISH supported units have chirp/side sonar but not the latest bells and whistles if you need them.

Probably all Brands will go this way with the latest tech to follow.

[SirCranksalot]

So I'd need a Raymarine FF for this to work? No other brand?

 

[Raycaster]

I know Vexilar is wifi supported also.

The Wi-Fish unit is $299 CAD or cheaper, not sure.

 

I wouldn't doubt there are other brands but my wallet puckers up after $500. Alot of brands are Live Sonar compatible but not sure about the 2d/3d dislpay.

 

[SirCranksalot]

My Lowrance Hook4 is wi-fi enabled, I think. I will need to read the manual a bit more and read about the Wi-fish to see if they can be hooked up.