Navionics vs Lighthouse Charts

Liberty44140

My Raymarine 12" Axiom is 2 years old and needs a chart upgrade. It came with only the standard NOAA charts which is better than nothing, but it is not nearly as good as Navionics. 

Has anyone used both Navionics and Raymarine Lighthouse charts? Comments on the difference? Price is similar and I am leaning towards buying Lighthouse. Thanks. 

earl1z19

I have a new navionics chart in my Axiom 12. Way better than the lighthouse charts in my opionion.

Liberty44140

Earl have you used the new lighthouse charts? Seen them to compare?

YYZRC

If the price is the same why wouldn’t you do Navionics? I’m reassured by the fact that they offer an excellent stand alone app. I paid for Navionics over CMAP charts for my chart plotters. 

Liberty44140

The lighthouse actually look to have better looks and layout and some nice day/night options. Satellite coverage, work well with the Raymarine unit, etc…. Lots of articles out there about how they are a strong contender in maps. 

Liberty44140

Decided to go with the Raymarine Lighthouse Charts. No real reason other than that’s what I was leaning towards and it is cheaper with free premium/updates for a year and only $50 a year after that for updates and premium. $150 for the entire North America chip. 

Raymarine said that they are using the same base data as navionics and the only real issue with them vs navionics is that navionics has the dock to dock mapping which Ray will be coming out with soon and I’ll get with premium, and navionics has more users so more user updates. 

the satellite land overlay is pretty cool!

YYZRC

Surprised that Ray does not do dock to dock. That’s critical for me, I use it for every trip. 

aero3113

YYZRC said:

Surprised that Ray does not do dock to dock. That’s critical for me, I use it for every trip. 

Same here, love it!

Liberty44140

Yea they are not there yet but that is not at all critical for me. I like to plot my own. Also, when we did our bigger trip this year we followed someone who was using nav dock to dock and it took us the less favorable way for some reason so if I had it I would just use it as a guide to see what it says but would still plan my own. 

YYZRC

You do have to review the dock to dock route as there are some nuances for sure. You have to make sure your draft is set correctly. I find it occasionally wants to take the shortest route (distance) even if it is full of no wake zones requiring more time.