garmin lakemap contours way off. Anyone else have this problem?

[Fishstix]

I just got my new garmin DV 50 with lake maps installed. Went up to cayuga lake Sunday to check it out.I went up the east side of the lake.The GPS would show me being in 20 FOW when I was actually in 150 FOW.I would guess my position on the GPS contor lines were a good 400ft off.I called Garmin and they said I should take screen shots and file a error report.I cant really take any screen shots . I dont consider it my problem to file a error report. I was wondering if anyone has the same problem with Garmin maps. I called the place I bought it from and they said they would take it back.

  It really does me no good to have a GPS with contour lines that is that far off. My question is: Are all the Garmin maps off that far? How are the garmin maps on Lake Ontario?Is the N end of Cayuga mapped better than the S end?

I fish Cayuga ,Seneca and Lake Ontario.  I want to be able to follow a certain depth without hanging bottom.

Ive got a little Garmin GPS in the car and it works great........

[Tim Bromund]

Mine is an older unit, but my Garmin 172C is dead on, to the point where when I'm puttering out the channel at Olcott, it shows me pretty much exactly where I am between the piers on the display.  When I'm sitting in my slip in the marina, it shows me sitting in my slip in the marina and so on.

 

So, how do you expect them to correct any issues if you feel it is not your problem to send them the info on what is happening?  Pretty messed up attitude IMO.

[Iceman]

_{There you go again Tim, clouding the issue with facts!}  

[Tim Bromund]

[Fishstix]

I reread my post . Its not my first GPS. I was just amazed how far off my boat position was on the GPS to where I actually was on the water.I dont have a smartphone to take a screen shot. As far as a error report goes well I probably could but not knowing where I was on the water only the actual depth it would be hard to pinpoint.

  Tim Im hoping when I get up to Lake Ontario its more accurate. Im hoping the N end of Cayuga and Seneca is more accurate or were going to be loseing gear.

  Thanks for the responce and I hope to hear from some fingerlake guys...

Im not giving up on the unit I cant wait to see what the wrecks look like on downview.

[traveling man]

I have an older garmin and it is way off on Cayuga too. The first time I used it there I was very disappointed. It is good on Ontario.

Welcome back fishstix, it been awhile.

[TyeeTanic]

Sounds like your GPS is off. The contours should be correct. So you figure the depth difference could be produced by the GPS being off by 400 ft.  Your GPS should be able to predict within 30ft.  Do you have a way to see how many satellites your connected to?  If it's only 3 or 4, you could easily be that much off. If it's 7 or 8, then there must be something wrong with the unit.

[rolmops]

Garmin has 2 map sets. One is the blue chart and the other is Fishing hotspots. They have a conflict with each other and when you have both in your system, they do not properly overlap and strange things happen.

[rustyrat]

I have a new raymarine unit and it's spot on at Ontario. Not even close on Cayuga. Have the latest greatest map card too. I think it has to with the cliffs and rapid depth changes.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[rustyrat]

Really you can be in 100 fow and in 30 seconds be in 50. I don't pay attention to it on Cayuga. I just use my experience.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[traveling man]

some underwater points are not even on the maps for Cayuga.

[Tim Bromund]

Hi Stan,

 

How ya doing, it's been a while.  Didn't mean to sound so crabby in my first post, sorry about that.

 

all gps charts are based off of digital scans of the paper nautical charts.  It may be that the finger lakes charts just aren't as good/accurate/reliable as some of the other ones.  Garbage in/garbage out as they say.

 

You still have that Arima?

 

Tim

[holy mackerel]

Hey Sonny, Don't blame the GPS. You will still lose a lot of gear and hang bottom. Old habits are hard to break.

Just remember you are the only guy lucky enough to find your rods after you drop them in the lake.

[Nemesis]

Is your WAAS setting on ? Try taking it off

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Shellback]

You should be able to take a screen shot with your 50DV. Put a mini SD card in a slot, select the option to take screen shots from the menu. Then you just hold down the Home button for about 5 seconds. Here's a sonar shot from my 70DV, my 50S works the same.