Garmin buys Navionics

[hoolie]

Says it all really. And after acquiring Active Captain!

Garmin® acquires Navionics® | Business Wire

[sailingunity]

Sounds like they have an aggressive growth plan. 10 bucks says they aren't done yet.

[CaptTom]

Wow. This is big news. Basically, two competing cartography brands merging.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, less competition is usually a bad thing. On the other hand, having multiple, incompatible sources of cartography data hasn't been good either, especially when choosing hardware.

Navionics and BlueChart both have their strengths and weaknesses. A combination could be good.

Politically, this is probably a good time in the US for monopolistic practices.

[IdoraKeeper]

Guess we will see if this is a plan to leverage hardware sales. Navionix has opened up the use of consumer grade tablets in this space.. This has degraded plotter sales I am sure.. Hmmmmm.

[MV Wanderlust]

I have always thought Garmin had the better graphics but I love the automatic routing capabilities and the web interface (which then syncs the routes with tablets) from Navionics. Can you imagine: The user-friendly Garmin graphics, the auto routing and easy syncing capabilities of Navionics, and the rich data from Active Captain, all in one package? Now THAT's a useful product!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by JohnEasley

I have always thought Garmin had the better graphics but I love the automatic routing capabilities and the web interface (which then syncs the routes with tablets) from Navionics. Can you imagine: The user-friendly Garmin graphics, the auto routing and easy syncing capabilities of Navionics, and the rich data from Active Captain, all in one package? Now THAT's a useful product!

Or, it could be more like when Garmin took over Interphase (forward looking sonar units) and then eliminated their whole product line with no useful replacement products.

More a matter of eliminating competition than melding the good features of both.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out!

Jim

[redsky49]

I have a difficult time seeing this as being in the consumer's favor.
This kind of consolidation always results In less choice and higher costs.
I hope I am wrong.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by redsky49

I have a difficult time seeing this as being in the consumer's favor.
This kind of consolidation always results In less choice and higher costs.
I hope I am wrong.

Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

iNavX is a powerful chart plotter program that can interface through Vesper or other NMEA 0183 WiFi to provide a fully integrated chart plotter. I frequently use it on my personal boat below decks as a second station. iNavX is my preferred plotter on other boats. With one tap, I can update all my charts!

Compare that with the Garmin business model, and buying Navionics to extinguish iNavX just makes sense.

This makes OpenCpn running on an Android tablet the next alternative...

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailingunity

Sounds like they have an aggressive growth plan. 10 bucks says they aren't done yet.

Garmin expands, grows whatever by purchasing other companies, and then usually really improving on the original product line.
As many know Garmin pretty much is a leader in aircraft Avionics, they originally bought the Apollo product line from UPS. That got them into Avionics, and well, they almost own that market now.

Garmin has bought I believe over a dozen, usually smaller companies that don’t have the capital to do what Garmin can do with their product.

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Garmin expands, grows whatever by purchasing other companies, and then usually really improving on the original product line.
As many know Garmin pretty much is a leader in aircraft Avionics, they originally bought the Apollo product line from UPS. That got them into Avionics, and well, they almost own that market now.

Garmin has bought I believe over a dozen, usually smaller companies that don’t have the capital to do what Garmin can do with their product.

I use Garmin in my plane and on my boat..........because it works

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by nwdiver

I use Garmin in my plane and on my boat..........because it works

I don't use Garmin because of their policies relative to older instruments and firmware. Maybe not an issue for folks who get every new bit of kit that comes out, but for those of us who don't, and who like to get many years of useful service from our instruments, it is an issue.

Jim

[a64pilot]

What Jim says is very true, they do not support “obsolete” equipment at all, and it becomes obsolete faster than you would think.
Unlike for example Bendix King, where Gary of Garmin first started, they will still repair your 1970’s KX-155.
Garmin is a mix of two names, Gary and Min I believe.

As a Garmin dealer I could get an employee discount that was unbelievable, it was less than what a dealer paid for the equipment. They were real strict though, had to be bought by personal credit card, shipped to your house etc, and it is registered by serial number as bought by an employee discount. I know because when I sent my 740S in for repair when talking to the rep to get the return number he knew it was bought that way, and the repair cost was about half of normal because of it.
If your a dealer, they treat you really well, and their Warranty support is excellent too.
Stuff is real intuitive to use, don’t even need to read a manual, easy to figure out.
Only problem is when you have had it for three years and it breaks you call and find out they don’t repair it anymore, it’s obsolete.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Only problem is when you have had it for three years and it breaks you call and find out they don’t repair it anymore, it’s obsolete.

Thank you! When I point this out (along with all the positive points you also mention) I'm painted as a Garmin-basher. They also don't issue firmware updates for more than a couple of years after manufacture, which for me is a big issue that I don't need to re-litigate here.

[mikedefieslife]

This is huge news.

Garmin are a very frustrating company. They make some great gear then cripple it with poor software or purposely remove or limit features. They also take the Sony approach of rather than fixing something properly via firmware or adding new features, they just release a whole new piece of hardware and expect you to buy that, to get the features the original should have had in the first place. In addition, they do not support older equipment. Even equipment that is just 3-4 years old get all support completely pulled along with its accessories.

I like Navionics charts, which is one of the reasons I've not been tempted by Garmin marine hardware. I wonder if Garmin will release firmware updates allowing Navionics charts on their devices. From what I said above, I'm guessing no.

[picklesandjesse]

I doubt that this is good news. End of comment.