What is up with the Navionics App?

[Ice-n-Snow]

Has anyone else noticed a decline in accuracy of the Navionics app this winter? 

I've been using the Navionics "Boating" app on my phone for ice fishing for five years and I run it on a dedicated tablet when trolling Champlain with downriggers in the summer.  I've found a few surprising "anomalies" here and there on Champlain, but overall I've been satisfied with the accuracy on that lake and elsewhere. 

Sunday afternoon, I pulled up on a spot on Caspian off Burlington Point that showed to be about 50 feet on Navionics.  When I set up my flasher, the depth was 12 feet!  Navionics was off about 80 feet in distance. 

I've had similar issues with it all winter - I'll pull up on a 50 foot contour line, drill a hole, drop the transducer, and the flasher reads 63 feet.  Getting frustrating.   Is there some fix to this?     

[filetandrelease]

I to have noticed it not only on my phone but also on my garmin  hand held with lake VU hd , on some smaller lakes I fish and spot on in others , and they are both off or on exactly the same

[Gunflint]

Garmin bought Navionics and are preparing a new release.

Perhaps it is a nefarious Gramin pot to reduce the value of the old one and force the "upgrade" to the new and improved one due out this spring?

[kej06181]

I know they except updated data when synced to certain fish finders. It could be errors from fish finders syncing to Navionics. Just a thought.

[thefishingweatherman]

I only have issues with the app not updating my position as I move around, when I toggle my phone gps on and off to save battery. Restarting the app fixes that.

[Light liner]

Depends on the body of water I think. This weekend I was able to find a small hole in a bay I was fishing in on champlain.
Within 15-20.
Other times on magog it sometimes isnt as close.

[keithm87]

The inland lakes have bad overlays. If you set to satellite view you will see that the shore lines are off. That is the root cause. Accurate maps that are overplayed wrong make for odd results. I love fishing Nelson and it saying we are on shore but are actually in 70fow haha

[Gunflint]

The inland lakes have bad overlays.

Garmin's nefarious plot...  mwahaha

The lakes will be placed in the correct location on the new upgrade.

[Dickeymodo]

I was looking for a prominent point off Popasquash Island and ended up drilling 7 holes before I found it, several hundred feet closer  to the island than it showed. 10 total that day in about 20 inches of ice with a hand auger.

[Icemanvt]

I have been on water before close to shore maybe 30 feet and the app will show me 20 feet on shore.. 

[Light liner]

When I made the jump from an iPhone to a Samsung it was much more accurate.

[Gunflint]

When I made the jump from an iPhone to a Samsung it was much more accurate.

Ahhhh...a nefarious iPhone plot. They must have a data sharing deal with Garmin.

[Champlain Islander]

I switched to Humminbird smartfish. Much better resolution and accuracy IMO. $29.99 and works on I-phone and androids.

[filetandrelease]

Thanks champlaine , for the constructive in put

[Ice-n-Snow]

If you set to satellite view you will see that the shore lines are off.

I just put it in satellite view and can see what you are talking about.  In some places the shoreline (a thin black line) is off by 100 feet or more! 

I've never had this problem with Navionics before this winter, at least not to this extent.   

I hope they get it fixed.     

[ran7ger]

haha gunflint knows what's up.

[badger132]

I don't think GPS is accurate to closer than about 30 feet. If you have 30 feet accuracy when you make the map, and 30 feet when you place yourself on a map, that can be 60 feet pretty easy. That said, I wonder about Navionics maps. In my lake, there are marked stream beds that go up and don hills ( this is a flooded valley reservior), and I have to drill to find every drop-off.  When I went to the boundary waters, there were detailed lake maps of lakes where there is no road access and no motors allowed. How did they make those maps?

[Gunflint]

Seriously,

How strong an argument for Garmin to to push you to buy an "upgrade" on a product Garmin just paid big money for than to degrade the old one - and promise that the new one is 200% more accurate?

I don't think that this will be the only feature or reason to upgrade, but it seems logical that they would "increase demand" by degrading the current product so people are less content with the status quo and the old Navionics is no longer "good enough."

[SirCranksalot]

In my experience their maps have never been particularly accurate---certainly not within 1 ft as the contour lines imply. Off 6-7 ft  on the couple of times I compared to FF.  Biggish holes several feet deep not shown. IMO the 1 ft lines are ust interpolated from the 10 ft contours, which are based on old and not particularly accurate data.

It' 'interesting' that the maps show nice smooth lines for big lakes on the Cdn Shield whereas any topography that you can see is distinctly rugged.

[mudchuck]

I've noticed a difference too, the phone app is off, just went last night to where it should've showed contours around 25', popped a couple holes an the depth was closer to 15-17'.

[Fishermen]

Not in nh or ct

[Champlain Islander]

Seriously...check out humminbird smartfish. I keep checking accuracy and it is right on. Anyone who knows me come up and I'll show you the maps.

[filetandrelease]

Champlain how many different  lakes have you been on to check the accuracy,
  Most all the lakes I fish my Nav & lake Vu are very accurate
   

[Champlain Islander]

Unfortunately the Humminbird smart fish is just for Champlain. You can buy other lakes for 9.99 but I don't fish any other lakes anymore. I paid 10 bucks for the Navionics a few years ago and got good use out of it. Smartfish is a lot more accurate with superior detail at least in my opinion. I'll add this I have both loaded on my smartphone and only use the Humminbird now. I fish every day and use it constantly.