Bizer on new Garmin

[Ride & Dive]

Hello
I'm looking to pick up a Garmin 53x or 54x chart plotter with fish finder. However I am adamant that I want the accuracy of the Bizer map as well. I know the c-map products are well supported but I've heard some poor feedback on the Standard Hamilton products. So I'm leaning towards Garmin and, although I've read the bizer.com/garmin page, I'm a little confused/concerned on the implementation.

Will the new devices that support BlueCharts g2 function just as well with the Bizer maps?

Or - does anyone have a new Garmin 531s or 541s loaded with the Bizer map they can comment on?

Long winded but thanks for reading

[dt5150]

navionics platinum east. it's everything you've ever dreamed of...

[Ride & Dive]

Originally Posted by dt5150

navionics platinum east. it's everything you've ever dreamed of...

Thanks dt5150 - which device do you use that map with?

[Rich]

I have a new Garmin 441s (I think that's the model number), I got the Bizer map for it. Edited to add that this is a BlueChart G2 Garmin device. Although the Bizer map works, it does not have the BlueChart functions (3D, satelite images etc).

It works well, there is a minor glitch at one zoom scale, but it's not a problem at normal navigating zoom ranges.

I'm happy with it. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

[Matty67]

I installed the Bizer "chip" for my Garmin and love it! Alton to Weirs to Wolfborro the night of the fireworks without worries!

[Ride & Dive]

After much review and many discussions I picked up a Lowrance HDS-5 Gen2 with the HotMaps Platinum feature.

Turns out that Bizer licenses their map to Lowrance so I have a high degree of confidence in its accuracy

Will let you know what happens. Thanks for all the views / replies and PMs on the subject

[Grant]

I bought the Bizer map app for my iPad, and have brought that in the boat. Works well!

[NHlifer]

Originally Posted by Rich

I have a new Garmin 441s (I think that's the model number), I got the Bizer map for it. Edited to add that this is a BlueChart G2 Garmin device. Although the Bizer map works, it does not have the BlueChart functions (3D, satelite images etc).

It works well, there is a minor glitch at one zoom scale, but it's not a problem at normal navigating zoom ranges.

I'm happy with it. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

I have a Garmin 431s and am thinking about getting the Bizer chip for it. My question is how do you load the Bizer chart instead of the stock Garmin chart? Is it listed as an option when you select "Chart"?

Thanks

[overthetop75]

Originally Posted by Ride & Dive

Hello
I'm looking to pick up a Garmin 53x or 54x chart plotter with fish finder. However I am adamant that I want the accuracy of the Bizer map as well. I know the c-map products are well supported but I've heard some poor feedback on the Standard Hamilton products. So I'm leaning towards Garmin and, although I've read the bizer.com/garmin page, I'm a little confused/concerned on the implementation.

Will the new devices that support BlueCharts g2 function just as well with the Bizer maps?

Or - does anyone have a new Garmin 531s or 541s loaded with the Bizer map they can comment on?

Long winded but thanks for reading

I would go for the Garmin over the lowrance if you want a better GPS. The lowrance however is a better fish finder. The units that use c-map or garmin units you get preferred routes marked on the screen so it takes all of the guess work in areas that can be difficult. I had the lowrance hds5 with the platinum card and I like my new unit with the c-map card so much better.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by NHlifer

I have a Garmin 431s and am thinking about getting the Bizer chip for it. My question is how do you load the Bizer chart instead of the stock Garmin chart? Is it listed as an option when you select "Chart"?

Thanks

With the Bizer map on the SD card, it just shows up when you are on the lake. There is nothing to do.

It works well on my 441s! The only 'issue' or glitch that I have is that the Bizer data doesn't show up at some extreme zoom out levels. It's not a big problem as you wouldn't use such a zoom out for navigating, but the lake sort of disapppears as you zoom out until you get past that particular zoom level, then on the next zoom level it sort of shows a fuzzy version of the lake as it uses the world map.

Since you have a 431s, and it includes inland lakes, I'm not sure how you would choose between your units built in data and the Bizer chip.

Are you anywhere near Smith Cove? I suppose we could try it and see if you were close.

[NHlifer]

Originally Posted by Rich

With the Bizer map on the SD card, it just shows up when you are on the lake. There is nothing to do.

It works well on my 441s! The only 'issue' or glitch that I have is that the Bizer data doesn't show up at some extreme zoom out levels. It's not a big problem as you wouldn't use such a zoom out for navigating, but the lake sort of disapppears as you zoom out until you get past that particular zoom level, then on the next zoom level it sort of shows a fuzzy version of the lake as it uses the world map.

Since you have a 431s, and it includes inland lakes, I'm not sure how you would choose between your units built in data and the Bizer chip.

Are you anywhere near Smith Cove? I suppose we could try it and see if you were close.

Thank you for the kind offer Rich but I live in Rochester (NH) and trailer the boat to the lake. I will probably be up there Sunday with any luck. I think I will just buy it and give it a try. I'm pretty sure I can make it work and the reviews on this forum have been quite good. Plus you can't beat the Bizer guarantee.

Thank you again,

-Craig

[overthetop75]

Originally Posted by Rich

With the Bizer map on the SD card, it just shows up when you are on the lake. There is nothing to do.

It works well on my 441s! The only 'issue' or glitch that I have is that the Bizer data doesn't show up at some extreme zoom out levels. It's not a big problem as you wouldn't use such a zoom out for navigating, but the lake sort of disapppears as you zoom out until you get past that particular zoom level, then on the next zoom level it sort of shows a fuzzy version of the lake as it uses the world map.

Since you have a 431s, and it includes inland lakes, I'm not sure how you would choose between your units built in data and the Bizer chip.

Are you anywhere near Smith Cove? I suppose we could try it and see if you were close.

Changing the Chart Appearance
From the Home screen, select Charts > navigation Chart > MEnU > Chart Setup > Chart Appearance.
Orientation—changes the perspective of the map display.
• North Up—sets the top of the map display to a north heading.
• Head Up—sets the map display to the current track heading.
• Course Up—sets the map so the direction of navigation is always up. The heading line appears vertically if shown.
detail—adjusts the amount of detail shown on the map at different zoom levels.

Press left on the Rocker to decrease map detail.
Press right on the Rocker to increase map detail.

Not sure if that will help you or not but thought it was worth a try.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by overthetop75

Changing the Chart Appearance
From the Home screen, select Charts > navigation Chart > MEnU > Chart Setup > Chart Appearance.
Orientation—changes the perspective of the map display.
• North Up—sets the top of the map display to a north heading.
• Head Up—sets the map display to the current track heading.
• Course Up—sets the map so the direction of navigation is always up. The heading line appears vertically if shown.
detail—adjusts the amount of detail shown on the map at different zoom levels.

Press left on the Rocker to decrease map detail.
Press right on the Rocker to increase map detail.

Not sure if that will help you or not but thought it was worth a try.

Here are some pictures that demonstrate the issue. These are screen shots directly off my Garmin 441S of what I am seeing.

The 00 file shows the lake zoomed out, see the 5mi scale on the bottom right corner of the image. You can see the lake looks fuzzy on the global image.

If I zoom in once, the next 01 image shows that everything dissapears. Notice the range scale on the lower right hand corner of the image shows 3mi.

If I zoom in once more, the next 02 image starts to show map data (see the 2mi scale in the lower right hand corner). You can see the edges of the Bizer map data in this image (notice the blue border around the lake).

I can continue to zoom in (see images 03) and there is plenty of detail. Note that these are not the only scales available, you can zoom in very closely for navigating.

Does this help clarify what is happening? Perhaps it's the map detail setting as you mentioned. I will check that when I'm on back on board the boat.

It's not too critical as the 5mi and 3mi scales are not very useful for navigating on the lake.

[Rich]

Thanks for the 'add detail' tip. That helped to display the map data at the zoomed out ranges, but it makes some of the other zoom levels much too busy.

[NHlifer]

Originally Posted by NHlifer

I have a Garmin 431s and am thinking about getting the Bizer chip for it. My question is how do you load the Bizer chart instead of the stock Garmin chart? Is it listed as an option when you select "Chart"?

Thanks

So I met Tom in Meredith Saturday morning and purchased the Bizer Map for my Garmin 431s. It works just fine and includes detail that the stock Garmin Lakes map does not. Buoy locations are more accurate on the Bizer although Garmin did a fair job of including all the buoys. (As far as I can tell so far) You do have to play with the detail level a bit on the Bizer to find a happy medium between enough detail for the buoys to show up but not so much that the map is cluttered. When you zoom out the buoys disappear too soon unless you crank up the detail which in turn clutters the chart. It would be nice if the Bizer chart followed the Garmin chart in terms of the zoom/detail levels that the buoys show up.

My 431s was preloaded with Garmin's Inland Lakes map and all I had to do to get the Bizer map to load was insert the SD chip. It could not have been easier.

I don't know if you're on this forum Tom, if so thank you very much for meeting me in Meredith with the Bizer chip. And thanks to Bizer as well for producing their charts, electronic and hard copy.


Edited to add:

I did some more tweaking on the Garmin with detail levels and selecting whether or not to display certain types of information like waypoints used in routes and rings around lighted buoys etc. The end result is perfect for me at least. The markers show up at the same zoom levels as Garmin now and the chart is not cluttered at all. I higly recommend the Bizer chip to anyone with a Garmin GPSMAP 400/500 series. The level of depth detail and accurate location of rocks, buoys, and markers makes it well worth the investment.