Help with Garmin 540s

[Grady_Crazy]

Garmin owners please help me out.

Whan I purchased the 540s I thought I would get the detailed maps because it has the BlueChart g2 maps built in. This is from the Garmin website: "sports preloaded BlueChart g2 maps".

I thought I would get this detail:

I get this without depth contours:

I have never gotten the depth readings on the chart, the imagery or photos. Sonar part of the unit works great. Neither will it chart a course to a waypoint. It only gives a straight line. If I tell it to "Guide To" a waypoint it complains: Auto Guidance unable to calculate route. Starting Position not within safe depth. I have the safe depth set to 3'

Am I not doing something right? Do I need to purchase the BlueChart G2 Vision Card? Again I thought it was built in.

 

[Desperado]

I have the 440 with the Blue Chart G2 Vision card. The G2 card is what gives you the added "Google Earth" effect to land, not sure about the depth ratings. My "guide to" function has never worked either. I would suggest contacting Garmin through technical suppport on that one, I just never bothered to do so. One thing to note about adding the card, it seems to slow down therefresh rate of the unit.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I have tried calling Garmin but you have to wait 30 mins or so on hold and you have to be on the water to really test what they say. If you email them it takes a week to get a reply.

Ideally I want the chartploter to act like the $200 nuvi version that my son has in his car.

 

[Desperado]

I agree, I have a Nuvi 750..........the car guys need to get with the boat guys at Garmin. A chartplotter with an interface like a Nuvi would be ideal.

 

[crazygrady]

I have the 440s. I was under the same impression as gradycrazy. I didn't get the depth contours either. There is a setting as to how much detail to want on the chart, but if you put more or max it just loads it up with a lot of buoys channel markers etc.
I ordered the G2 chip expecting to at least get the depth contours, nothing different. I really don't need the mariners eye or aerial photos of marinas. To say the least i am somewhat dissapointed in my purchase.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I have the Inland Lakes chip and I don't get the depth contours on the lakes either. It will not "Guide To" either, just like the coast, even thought the literature says it should. I am very disappointed also.

 

[Hookup1]

Garmin

What software revision are you at? Should be 4.40.

The G2 Vision card allows more options. The fishing charts drop all the bouy and nav data. They only really show more contours when in bathmetric territory furthur offshore.

G2 Vision also enables the land images and 3D fisheye views. So far I have found both of these features to be too gimicky.

Let's assume your viewing a navigation chart (not the fishing chart with G2 Vision). Go to chart options and set detail to max. What happens when you pan off into deeper water?

Try zooming in and panning too. On my 3006C contours are dropped out at a certain zoom level. You can get the big picture but loose the detail OR you get the detail and loose the big picture! I added a 4210 to my boat to resolve this issue but it may still happen on small screen units.

 

[crazygrady]

where do you find the software version, when it first loads up?

I'll try panning offshore when I'm at the boat this week end.

If that's the deal, that you have to be off shore that s*cks. I'm usually in Raritan Bay or a couple of miles off shore.

Garmin should have put less into the gimmicks and more into the actual chart detail.

Oh well, live and learn.

 

[Hookup1]

Garmin

It's under Configure>System>System Info or you can see it at power up. The update is on Garmins web site under your unit.

Also check Charts>Chart Setup>Appearance to see that spot soundings are ON and Symbol size is SMALL.

You don't need to be offshore to see the contours. I would still test panning to put you into a more interseting bottom area to help you see the contours. I'm not familiar with Raratin Bay but you should have some good contours if you pan to the river channel.

I know this doesn't help you now but your screen (240x320 pixels) has 16% of the pixels of a 4210 (800x600) or 25% of the pixels of a 545 (480x640) to display the charts.

The more I think about it I'm convinced its a ZOOM related thing. The chart detail is there. Pan somewhere, zoom in and pan around. Page 11 of your 500 series manual has a split screen zoomed to different levels and detail.

You will be able to see the contours without the G2 Vision chip installed (if you have one). I bought the G2 Vision card for the offshore bathmetrics which don't display anything different in Fishing Chart mode until 20 miles off in NJ.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I updated my 540S to ver 4.4 today. I am going to the coast in a week for awhile. I'll try all these things and see.

btw, I emailed Garmin from their website last Monday and have yet to get a reply. 6 days. How tough is it to send an email?

 

[catch22]

If it hasn't been mentioned already... try - chart set-up, appearence, detail, (normal, more, most).

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I have the detail set for most, thanks

I ordered the G2 bluechart G2 vision card today. It might be gimicky but I still want it. I'll post the results.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

I got the chip and it does make a big difference. Depth contours, buoys, channel makers, detail. But the "Guide to" function is a joke. It never takes you on the most efficient route. For instance, selected "guide to" a certain waypoint. It plotted a course that was 5 times as long as the route I already knew. 56 miles as opposed to 12 miles. Considering returning it.

 

[DonLINY]

I emailed the link to this thread to Garmin Customer service yesterday. No reply...just wanted to make them aware of what most of us think and that 350 people had already read it!
If I get a reply I will post it.

 

[Grady_Crazy]

This is what I emailed Garmin from their website on May 25:

Message Body:

The images of the 540 on the webpage shows depth contours. I cannot get these to display on my 540. Also when I try to have the unit "guide to" a waypoint I get the message "Auto Guidance unable to calculate route. Starting Position not within safe depth" I can be in 10' or 50' of water. The website is extremely misleading. Will a 540 chart a course? or display the contours?

They replied on June 1:

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I would be more than happy to help you with this today. The GPSMAP 540 will be able to display the spot sounding for the chart coverage that is preloaded in the unit. It will require you to be zoomed in close enough to the area in question. As well you want to make sure that you have your sport sounding turned on as well. This can be confirmed by doing the following steps.

1. From Charts choose the Navigation Chart, and then press your menu button.

2. Scroll down to chart setup and press select.

3. Then highlight the appearance option and press select again.

4. Make sure you have spot sounding turned on and that you have detail set to the most so that you are getting the best out of your chart.

I would also confirm that you are running the latest software version as well. This can be done by choosing configure from the home screen. Then select system and choose system information. This will allow you to see the software version on the unit. I would recommend updating to 4.40 if not already on this version.

In order to update the software you will need to have the link that is pasted below and a blank micro SD card that is 2 GB or smaller in order to unzip the file to card.

http://www8.garmin.com/support/collecti ... 0-00614-00

The BlueChart g2 vision cards has a new auto guidance feature. This mapping software along with a compatible GPS device has the ability to create a safe route for the user avoiding known hazards and obstacles which are loaded into the mapping software. It also takes into consideration the "Safe Depth" and the "Safe Height" settings for the vessel, which the user has set up in the device, when calculating the route. One safety feature built into the software is it will not calculate a route through any area where the spot sounding depths are less than 6 feet with older cards dated before 07/2007 and less then 3 ft after card dated 7/2007 to present. Your start and ending points must be in an area that is 3 ft map depth or higher and be able to safely navigate you to your destination in order for the auto guidance to work. This is to prevent a route from being generated which has the possibility to cause the vessel to run aground. This is a safety feature which cannot be overridden when using the auto guidance feature. Even if the user has set their "Safe Depth" to less than 6 feet (e.g. 2 or 3 feet), the auto guidance will still not calculate a route through waters under 6 feet of depth.

With Best Regards,

Michael B
Product Support Specialist
Marine Team
Garmin International

My unit would not show depth contours regardless of what Garmin says until I purchased the g2 vision chip. Their website is very misleading, the base unit just will not do this. In addition it will not chart a course to any destination unless you purchase the g2 vision.