# About to buy Florida Marine Tracks on Simrad GO7



## csnaspuck

I am really close to pulling the trigger on both the North and South chips. I live in Orlando and fish both east and west coasts. I was going to only get the North but at $200 more for the South I am sure I will eventually use it for the keys and ENP. 

Any one want to talk me out of it before I push the button to order?


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## lpg

do it. when we travel through florida we take the skiff. nice to know whats safe to run in a place you have never been before.

perfect example, we went to cabbage key, on west coast. never been there in my life.

oyster bars galore, and some hairy stuff I wasn't used to. we ran around like we knew the place, and were able to run in pitch black at night with confidence. could never/would never have done it with my previous unit. was also able to scout new areas that weren't visible to the eye.


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## Snoball

Awesome package! Had got about 6 m and have no regrets. The map it self is huge even without the tracks.


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## csnaspuck

Thanks guys I submitted order yesterday


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## Egrets Landing

FMT runs fine on the Go7 but we never recommend the Go series for any open rigs due to the touch screen only and the possible screen response issues when the screen is wet. Also 7" screens are too small for many users as the feedback we have from plenty that got one was they wish they would have got a larger screen. The with data overlay on, the screen is way smaller than 7".


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## Cam

We find the 7" to be adequate. There is more zooming in and out but very functional. The wet concern has never really been an issue for us. There can be a tiny bit of lag when soaked but it is manageable. Here is a demo of an older unit from Simrad in the rain and we find the newer ones to work similarly:






Where we do find the GO units to under-perform is offshore or in slop. Trying to pinch zoom in or out while the boat is rocking isn't easy. If running offshore, I would strongly consider the NSS line as that rotary knob is much easier to work with on a smaller screen.


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## bermuda

Does anyone have experience with FMT in Mosquito Lagoon? I have a super skinny skiff and wonder if FMT would be beneficial or not.....


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## Cam

There is a year old overview in this video of that area with FMT around the 1 hour 20 minute mark:


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## bermuda

Thanks - it looks like it doesn't get into the real skinny spots since the author has a bigger boat. Does look useful for some areas of the lagoon though. I wish you could purchase smaller regions.


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## Cam

Keep in mind that was a year ago. They pay captains to run the various areas so it is likely what you see in the video has expanded considerably. 

Also, we typically use the high-res overlays more than their work. Course where we fish there are bars everywhere and being able to see them on the overlays allows us to find cuts through them which are often hot fishing spots. Course you could always load up Google Earth on a tablet and have the same effect.


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## bermuda

Thanks - i don't believe the navionics charts offer tracks like FMT - or am i wrong? Just weighing which one to get since FMT is basically double the price for what i need. Also, does FMT offer free updates for a specific amount of time?


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## Cam

Navionics has tracks but they are often unreliable, incomplete and substantially fewer of them. If you are familiar with the waters or stay in channels and don't fish shallow water, FMT is overkill. 

FMT really shines when a boater ventures into shallow water areas and doesn't know the area well. FMT is also great for shallow water fishing. The fact that FMT has updated and correct navigational channel markers is impressive compared to Navionics and Garmin. In our waters, none of the competition has correct navigational markers or correct channels marked.

I do not think there are free updates to the chip but updates to a chip aren't really necessary beyond annually. Even then the updates are nice-to-have not really necessary. FMT also has a "free upgrade" for users that run new tracks that they include in updates. 

I ran Navionics for several years before graduating to FMT. I am a full-on FMT Kool-aid drinker now and consider it more important than most other features in a MFD.


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## bermuda

Thanks - good info! I guess I will be purchasing FMT.


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## Egrets Landing

bermuda said:


> Does anyone have experience with FMT in Mosquito Lagoon? I have a super skinny skiff and wonder if FMT would be beneficial or not.....


Navionics will work fine if you just want a map to provide a general idea of where the water areas are and where land is and a general idea of where markers are or supposed to be. If you want more than that, you not likely to be very satisfied with it as most former inshore users of that product can attest. It has no tracks anywhere in shallow areas except the ICW channel and main deep water routes. If you get the chip with imagery much of it is nearly a decade old or worse and the photos are lower res, dark, and many are useless and makes a user wonder why they even provide them. Navionics is mediocre at best in the Lagoon and all over FL. Most of the markers are off of their actual locations, tons of them are missing, they provide no signs, no posts, no stakes, no tracks, very poor photos and details such as the poll and troll areas and those markers along with the boundaries of restricted areas will be missing on it. However, it is still a little better than what you would get on a Garmin unit. Check out the dozens of testimonials on the FMT website of former Navionics and Garmin users. Most all of them were taken directly from blogs just like this one. You can by a second Hand Navionics chip for very little. You might even get one for practically free from one of the former users who switched out of it. Get one of those and see if it works for you. If not, at least it will not have been a costly experiment. You are not likely to find even a single FMT chip available second hand.

FMT is in a totally different league on the quality of the imagery, accuracy of map features and important details. The tracks provided work for most skiffs that draft about a foot or less. If you run a microskiff, the tracks become less important as you can run most anywhere in that. You could just turn the tracks off and run on the photos only running a boat that drafts a few inches.


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## bermuda

Thanks - are there any north florida updates coming soon? I'm going to purchase but want to make sure I don't buy then miss a soon to be released update.


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## Cam

bermuda said:


> Thanks - are there any north florida updates coming soon? I'm going to purchase but want to make sure I don't buy then miss a soon to be released update.


I would contact them directly. They are very open and honest about the product.


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## bermuda

Thanks - contacted them and awaiting an answer.


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## Egrets Landing

The FMT website is undergoing some maintenance this week and the Email Contact form may not be working properly. If you used that form to send an inquiry it was likely not received. You can send an email directly not using the website form to [email protected] or [email protected]


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## Mercuryproteam

I was down in the glades this past week and put the FMT chip to the test. All I can say is WOW. What a game changer. Highly recommend the chip not only for the tracks, but the google earth overlay. Called FMT before I bought it and after with of course stupid questions. Glenn answered the phone every time and helped me without hesitation.


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## bermuda

+1 for FMT - thumbs up here so far.


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