# Best satellite image Everglades



## CaptainRob (Mar 11, 2007)

Check out the Simrad units. I love my GO7. Touchscreen and Navionics Platinum Plus capable.


----------



## Forcefed (Aug 5, 2016)

I second the simrad go 7. Navionics platinum plus or fmt cars with satellite overlay will get it done


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

lpg said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> looking to upgrade my gps unit, and looking at the Raymarine A78 for its satellite images.
> 
> ...


Gps mfgs (except for Garmin) do not provide much in the way of imagery. The machines come with a basemap in the unit but most are not particularly detailed. To get the best imagery, the hard drive in the unit would have to be huge (like well more than 50 GB), and they are not making them like that (yet). Thus, the best imagery is provided on SDHC chips available via various map products. Different map products work only with specific mfg. units. It is those mapping products and only those products that provide virtually all of the imagery and they also provides the most detailed maps. Research your maps first, then figure out the unit that can run it the best. Your gps will only be as useful to you as the chart you are looking at can provide. The best charts provide the most insight and the best utility. 

With respect to the Everglades, the best map option in the market for the Everglades is demonstrated here:




Its been updated some since that video was made over a year ago but it is certainly representative. Check it out. There are some comparisons with Navionics shown. Not a close contest in any respect as their imagery is not processed to a high resolution, it's more than a decade old and very dark, some photos are black and white and some are missing. Most importantly it's not something you can use to successfully navigate the Glades with confidence and especially in poor light. It's a challenging area to run and the imagery and map accuracy rules the day there when you are running. A couple of actual examples below:


FMT 


Navionics


----------



## lpg (Sep 1, 2015)

wow awesome.

is the FMT focused on routes to run between points? or is that what adds the satellite images?


thanks for the help. that simrad looks sweet


----------



## lpg (Sep 1, 2015)

Just wanted to give a shout out to FMT chip.

Had a raymarine ES78 given to me as a gift, so purchased the platinum plus card and figured I would give it a shot. Fished a 50 mile day through the backcounty.

It was not terrible, but the detail was not that crisp and the function and buttons, I didn't care for. The buttons ate up a lot of the screen and didn't really serve any purpose.

Returned it and bought the simrad go9, and ordered the FMT chip on everyone's advice.

First off, the chip came really fast, like a day or two after I purchased it at 10pm. Second, my emails were answered pretty much immediately. Details are much finer resolution, and the red tracks are very nice. Ran about a 60 mile day through the backcountry yesterday and avoided the wind by going through creeks and bays I never knew existed.

The simrad unit is badass, and it came with the total scan transducer which I can't wait to try in biscayne bay.

I do have one question, when using the Simrad to navigate to a pount(cursor), it just created a straight line, rather than going along one of the red paths- how can I change that?

Thanks ,


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

You can't change that. If you do a GOTO point command on your gps the unit will auto draw a straight line from the boat to that point which is the shortest possible distance. In the backcountry that is obviously not likely to be a navigable track to run. Navionics now has an autoroute feature that is done via an an algorithm which creates a route on your screen to follow when you tell it where you want to go. However, that only works in main channels and in deeper water. There is no way you are going to get any current unit to plot an auto route through the shallows, creeks and flats. It works if you want to run from Inlet A to Inlet B through the ICW or similar paths. Pretty much useless for those running inshore as any route it would likely plot to a place you may input would not be shown to be the best way to run.
The red lines on the FMT chart are drawn on the map. They can be turned off if you like but have nothing to do with the imagery. They are just on the map that overlay the images. They show exactly where you can run. Just follow the lines. No matter where you are, there is likely a line near your boat to run. When you get to challenging spots, you will need to zoom in to about 200' to ensure you are on the line to negotiate those areas.


----------



## lpg (Sep 1, 2015)

Thanks for the tip! Kind of a shame about the track, could've sworn there was a way to have it auto route. Either way, should be easier now that I am accumulating tracks on unit. Yesterday was my first trip with it, so I didn't have a single route.

Love that chip, excited to do some more exploring.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

Running with FMT does nothing to affect the way your unit would typically operate. You import or create whatever waypoints/icons on the screen you like or record/save your own tracks or routes as well that will all show on top of the map/imagery that is provided. Those data will be saved to your unit's hard drive and be available for display no matter what chart you may choose to run. There is no product in the market that has any kind of auto route feature that will show you tracks through any kind of challenging shallow areas. The algorithms are not that sophisticated to be able to make that happen with any kind of accuracy. But the thousands of miles of detailed tracks FMT provides are that precise and easily visible and can be considered auto routes that are always on display and ready for you to run. There is no reason to create an auto route. Just look where you are on your screen and where you want to go and if you are not sure or have poor visibility follow the track closest to your position that works the best to get you there. Not sure where you want to go but just want to go in a certain direction? Same easy drill. Just make sure to pay attention and be zoomed in at appropriate levels. It's an excellent precision navigation tool but its not going to drive the boat for you.


----------



## sjrobin (Jul 13, 2015)

Some of the back country access channels are 10 to 20 ft wide at the bottom of the tide. So if you are zoomed in to 200 ft can you reliably navigate the track at speed?


----------



## commtrd (Aug 1, 2015)

Would there be chips available for navigating Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi waters? I ordered a Garmin unit but now reading this I wish I had ordered a Simrad GPS. That just looks tits!


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

sjrobin said:


> Some of the back country access channels are 10 to 20 ft wide at the bottom of the tide. So if you are zoomed in to 200 ft can you reliably navigate the track at speed?


Yes - I do it all of the time. You can zoom in further if you like but the photos are clearest at about 200'. They could have been processed so you could zoom in even more with great clarity but if that was done it would take more than two chips to cover FL. Just make sure WAAS is ON.


----------



## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

commtrd said:


> Would there be chips available for navigating Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi waters? I ordered a Garmin unit but now reading this I wish I had ordered a Simrad GPS. That just looks tits!


Louisiana, AL, MS should be finished in 2017. Most of the LA map is done but the imagery is in process.


----------



## commtrd (Aug 1, 2015)

Damn it looks like a change order may be necessary.


----------

