ActiveCaptain® App Reviews

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Registering a Garman vision + card. Put this app on my phone to register a vision plus card bought from Garmin. Do not have Wi-Fi at my house so I had to go elsewhere to use it. Customer support sent me an email with the instructionsOnce I figured out it was not a card that was read automatically. I followed them exactly I still don’t have the card registered and it still will not work on my echo 94. They should have it so you can call a 1-800 number and activate the card similar to a credit card. You should not have to have Wi-Fi and have all these connection issues like I have had. I will be going back to Lowrance.

Garmin is a pure pleasure to boat with. I gave this 5 stars for reliability, beautiful & clear graphics and a super friendly graphic user interface. When I purchased this GPS unit I put it on my sailboat because sometimes I like to fish from where I keep my boat moored. Now I realize it is so much more than just a fishfinder. It is an excellent navigation tool with different graphic views and perspectives and the wonderful source of information while out on the water as long as I have a Wi-Fi or cell signal. Another plus is how the device interfaces to my cell phone through Bluetooth. The user app is makes it even easier to keep updated. I can’t think of enough good things to say about this product.

App is easier than Active Captain desktop. I purchased the Southern lakes package for my Garmin Echomap UHD 94sv. I figured I could download the maps to my laptop and transfer to a Micro SD card and not have another app on my iPhone. But after not having the right SD card and taking forever to download, I decided to give the app a try. Once the app connected to the Garmin wireless it prompted me through the process and I just sat in my driveway and updated the chart plotter from my phone. And I also have the chart plotter map in my phone so if I’m ever out fishing with a friend or charter I can borrow some spots by using my phone then transfer to my unit. I did make a backup SD card with the desktop which the app cannot do.

This app is great. If I could give you guys a ten I would, I have used it in local lakes as well as off shore it’s spot on , this app and the device’s are heads over the competition , having this information on my phone is a BIG help on new water before I unload the boat, I have a big head start on my buddies and others. Note if you have the card it does take time to down load but it’s worth the wait. I would buy the app again, hands down. Thanks Garmin

Great App. Overall this is a great app to use in conjunction with Garmins compatible chart plotters. Great to be able to plan entire trip, add waypoints and routes directly into my IPad and then easily transferring via wifi to my 7612 . I have no idea what others are complaining about. I have been a Garmin fan for many years and this App works perfectly fine including Helm control and the ability to download previously purchased maps from several years back. Keep up with the good improvements and updates.

Class of the Class. We are snowbirds that always stop at SYC regardless of the direction we’re heading. In July of this year, I posted a review raving about the boatyard. Today, I’m going to do the same for the two lovely ladies, Ashley and Kelsey, who are in charge of the marina. We needed to see a physician and had no car. Kelsey drove us to the clinic, picked us up after our visit, drove us to the drugstore, waited until our prescriptions were ready and then drove us back to the marina. She is the best!

Outstanding app and customer service. Longtime Simrad user but I just bought a used boat with a full garmin in package so I had to switch over to active captain. Loading charts and connecting via Wi-Fi to download waypoints is so easy now- no more taking a chip card down to the boat for updates. The only issue was that all of the gear was registered to the previous owner- one call to customer support and they contacted the previous and changed the registration for me on the app. Great experience so far

This is a rip off. don’t buy.. Do not even think of buying this product unless you’ve recently purchased a new Garmin chart plotter. If you have an older chart plotter like me they will not let you download your already purchased chart and will force you to buy a new one to use this app. And the new charts will cost you $200 plus. This is an outrageous sum for what is essentially just a backup tool to your chart plotter. Additionally, as others have noted, this is a poor replacement for bluechart Mobil which is far superior to this app. Unfortunately, bluechart Mobil is no longer being supported by Garmin so you’re out of luck if you don’t already have. But if you already have blue chart Mobil, stick with it and don’t upgrade to this inferior overpriced product. And by the way, if you already purchased maps in bluechart Mobil recently they won’t honor that either if you try to transfer to this app.

Great functionality; poor installation instructions. Once installed it works great. A very cost effective means of having full visibility of my 942xs, and radar from the second station on the back deck. Finding the current installations is virtually impossible. This raises significant concerns when you get warning notices that incorrectly completing a step may damage your EchoMap and requiring replacement. The challenges ended up being worth the stress/effort in the end, but it was a rough ride to get Active Captain and Helm installed.

Needs work. Needs some work. Not user friendly. I spent a lot of money on the electronics themself and everything needs to go thru this app for some reason. It will always tell me i need a active capt sd card in the slot even though i have a vision plus card already installed. Im 33 years old and can barley use the app. Garmin is going to loose all their customers who are older than me. My father already bailed to a lawance. I thought i was good to go...dowloaded the area i needed ect. Im navigating on the water and i noticed the maps and depths are not good. Turns out i need to find the tiny little button on the top right screen on the active capt app to register my charts as well... its just too much. I just want to navigate the waters safety. May be returning the chart plotter to west marine if the next few trips dont go better.

GPS location does not work.... GPS location on the app used to work and with all Location Services turned on, it shows me in Miami?? I’m in the Bahamas! I’ve contacted customer service and after multiple responses they told me Active Captain was not designed to be a chart plotter. I don’t need it to be...just want it to show my actual location. The only thing this app is good for is plotting a course and syncing it with your chart plotter...but only after you’ve found your actual location. Was looking into a Raymarine switch but found Garmin bought Navionics! Thought paying the extra $$ for Garmin would be worth it. You guys have proved me wrong. Garmin: get your stuff together. Oh, and your customer service is only available 5 days a week?! We cruise full time but isn’t 95% of boating activity done during the 2 days you’re closed? I’m afraid all of these acquisitions are showing consumers/users you’re more interested in profitability than quality. I’ll be seeking alternatives in the future.

Disappointed. “Where’s the beef?”. I just purchased a boat with twin Garmin 1243XSV chart plotters. After updating the software and downloading what I thought was a chart, I am extremely underwhelmed. My previous Garmin echo map had so much more. also, when I got through updating my software on my Garmins, The software gave me trouble message for my twin Yamaha engines. it told me I needed to finish scanning. It said that I needed to take my boat to the Yamaha dealer. Interesting. I just had the first 20 hour scheduled maintenance. Nothing was wrong. Now I get a trouble message when I open my chart plotters telling me I need to take my boat back to the Yamaha dealer. very disappointing and very frustrating. One other thing – my Auto pilot, which is connected with the Garmins does not seem to be operating the same anymore.

Don’t try to install it!. Unless you live a life devoid of other commitments, don’t attempt to install this application! I have spent DAYS trying to divine what exactly the next step might be to get this thing up and running. Every time I turn a corner I slam into another wall. My current complaint (#8 or 9) is that the chart update and the active captain community update keep cancelling each other out. I’ll get 35% into the charts, then the Community update takes over and kills it. I get 47% into the Community update, then the charts take over and kill it. I watched it go through this cycle at least 10 times over the past HOUR. Now I’m trying to get in touch with Garmin. The “help desk” says they will return my call “between 1 hour 59 minutes and 2 hours 23 minutes” from now! 🤬🤬🤬. If your life is empty and you need a way to fill your days, this might be for you. If not, buy something else!!

Great App, not ready to replace Blue Chart. Overall a good start with major issues. First, the fonts are TO SMALL! I’ve harped at Garmin about this for a long time with their plotters. And I have 20/20 uncorrected. Lots of other small issues like not enough characters in the wot field when creating the title, poor search features, no off the water info, like what town you’re in so searching for something on land where you want to boar near is difficult......and too much more to list here. But I’m a strong Garmin supporter and have the confidence they’ll fix it. App is the worst! Didn’t remember my sign in or password, Doesn’t update software or mapping easily an overall a pita.

Easy and flawless!. I have spent literally days trying to get my Humminbird Helix to stay connected to their app, to transfer a map that had to be purchased. It fails to stay connected, shows it transferred once so I lose access to the map, and never transfers. In 15 minutes with a brand new Garmin 1222 I had Wi-fi setup, the app downloaded and connected, and livescope and unit software updates completed through my iPhone app! Flawess like this much $ should be, wake up Humminbird!!

Great but not perfect.. I love this App. I keep a boat 3 hours away in a Drystack. The ability to work on my charts on my phone/iPad and then sync up wireless with my chart plotter is priceless. If I had to be picky… they really need a way to sync the user data in the cloud between different mobile devices. I can work on a chart on my phone, but it doesn’t sync up with my iPad the next time I fire it up on that device. You’re required to use your Garmin account and GPX files are so small… this shouldn’t be hard to do.

Everything I need for inland adventures!. I can only comment on the features used inland. I have several Garmin products and continue to be impressed with each device I purchase. Taking a little time to set up, let’s you always know where you are, where you’re heading, what time you’ll get there and what the conditions are! The Active Captain app. makes it easy to stay updated and manage your devices as well as communicate with others. I have much to learn about my new Echomap UHD 93sv, but I’m impressed right out of the gate!

Excellent fishing tool!. I find the active captain app extremely easy to use. I was using Garmin home port in the past and was disappointed that home port went away. I have not been disappointed in the active captain app. The ability to add waypoints at home and look at maps away from the boat is a great tool to prepare for the next fishing trip. Garmin support helped me update my software and the app has worked flawlessly. Thanks Garmin!

Garmin and active captain is a joke!. Let me be clear their advertising is misleading at best and criminal on its face. I bought a 93sv UHD. This unit can record sonar and even use active captain. The problem is you can never view your recording. They do not support it. You’re basically recording your favorite spots and giving the info to Garmin, without you ever being able to use it. Active captain is missing features and therefore does not let you record on this unit. As best I can tell, Garmin uses active captain to gain access to your information and your favorite fishing spots. As a matter of fact, if you use community contours it actually takes away detail from the built in lake maps. Wish I had not bought this Garmin unit.

Pretty good but needs work. I love that I can mirror the plotter to my phone and tablet. However, getting there took time with support. You must disable cellular data in order for Helm to show the video feed. You can still press buttons and the thumbnail will reflect that, but no video. There are in app settings and phone settings so it can be seamless. This app helps when we are cozy down below and need to get some info about what’s going on up top and around us. While we are not using it to its full potential, the bells and whistles we have are pretty great. 3 stars due to the cellular issues and cannot pinch to zoom on Helm. A few other minor frustrations. Can’t wait until any tablet can be used as a full replacement for a plotter and all instrumentation is available wirelessly. Still, hands on analog data is still pretty hard to beat. If you wanna impress the hotties, this app will do it. If you wanna impress your fishing buddies, this app will do it. Be prepared for jeers from the fuddyduddy and boomer crowd.

Not intuitive like Garmin applications and equipment should be. Bought a Garmin GPS for my boat because I have them in the seven airplanes that I own. The Garmin GPS works fine but trying to interface it with active captain is completely not intuitive. What little manuals you can find about it are very poorly written and the videos go so fast that you can’t follow them. Takes forever to download and authenticate maps. I probably spent 10 to 12 hours and just now getting things to work. Seriously Garmin I know how well your aviation applications work you really need to have some of your top rate software engineers work on this product hard. You can eventually get this application to do what they say but not with out a lot of trial and error, and frustration. .

Really Nice. OK I am not much on debt finders fishfinders platters and I’ve always had simple ones this thing is so well advanced and easy to use sure I don’t know what I’m doing yet and I had to call for support about doing an update they walked me right through it it was simple and easy, took it out on the water this thing is phenomenal it hooks up to your Bluetooth on your phone you get your text messages and let you know where you’re going it tells you where to go this thing is awesome so much yet to learn I am really impressed

Epic, epic, epic fail. Bought Blue Chart Mobile charts 1 1/2 yrs ago, The Admiral used on iPad with Active Captain for hazards, marinas, anchorages, etc while I navigated using the clean screen on the chartplotter - worked great. Blue Chart Mobile is now dumped, Active Captain doesn’t update anymore, and there’s no way I’m trying to register my chartplotter to move the chart to my iPad by WiFi - I’m sure it’s designed to trash my legacy Blue Chart/Active Captain data somewhere along the way. Laughed out loud when I read sellout Siegel’s five star review of this crap. Been working on the short list of suppliers to upgrade my autopilot and radar. Garmin was on top of the list...now on “the other” list. I wouldn’t buy an umbrella from you guys in a downpour.

A very good app!. Hi, I noticed the app has a 1.8 rating so I just had to weigh in and give it 5 stars. Yesterday, I downloaded the app and synced it with my 7612xsv and everything worked flawlessly!! Connected to my home WiFi, walked through all the prompts added a 32gig card and everything worked perfectly. She updated the software, found the network, walked through every feature and just did exactly what was advertised!! I even had the 7612 and my iPhone talking so well that my mfd chart displayed on my iPhone and I could control the mfd from the phone!! It was pretty cool and will be useful when I don’t want to sit at the helm to program and create trips. The iPhone app has lots of accurate info and I’m positive I will use it frequently. So, great job Garmin, keep improving and thank you for keeping this free!! Safe boating all!!

Very Buggy and slow. When transferring charts via the app it can take a very long time depending on the amount of data to be transferred. I have about 22 Gigs of charts and most time it hangs up and fails to transfer, or if it does it hangs validating. Either way you are looking at a full day when it does manage to work. The QuickDraw community almost always hangs up transferring. The app is very slow moving from step to step of transferring information. For example it will transfer the Active Captain data and when finished it can take another 30 minutes to begin the transfer of the one chart files if it doesn’t completely hang in the process. The app sets up both a WiFi connection and a Bluetooth connection to your mobile device which is a private WiFi from your internet WiFi if network if you have one so I cannot understand why the transfers are so unreliable and slow.

Mediocre software at best. I’m regretting my purchase at this point - perhaps the functionality to activate *pre installed charts* is in here, but if so, it seems to be buried in a location not easily found, or requires a convoluted process that either doesn’t work properly or is not clearly explained. I could go on, but suffice it to say my chartplotter gives me the message that the chart subscription has not been activated, and that I need to ‘connect my mobile device to the chartplotter’, while at the same time I can see the chartplotter and the active charts subscription in the ActiveCaptain app, and I am currently looking at a screen telling me my mobile device is connected to the chartplotter.

Ram Marina in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, is excellent.. We have been sailing in the Caribbean for ten years and Ram Marina is the best boatyard and marina we have encountered. Karen López, the manager, is friendly, efficient and keeps the work on track. Her English is excellent and she arranged Van rides to and from the airport and even made dinner reservations for us. We had high quality work done on our boat and are extremely pleased with every result. The workers are friendly, skilled, show up on time and take pride in their work. They have a fantastic paint shed where a sailboat can go in without taking down the mast; the paint jobs we saw were all excellent. The prices are good value. We highly recommend Ram Marina Maggie Salter and Al Hickey S/V Sweet Dreams

Garmin Active Captain. I’ve used this app for about six months and find it extremely useful. I’ve mapped the bottom contours of my lake with my Garmin and shared the data using this app with ease. I also use this app for navigation separately on my iPad while using my Garmin’s sonar. I also particularly like the ability to mirror the Garmin screen on my iPad with this app, which allows me to take the sonar screen to the back of the boat where the down riggers are—making it easier to match down rigger depth to fish returns. Yet another function is the ability to download and install software updates for my Garmin with ease. So many great functions that make this app a must have for those who are serious about boating electronics!

Seamless integration with GPSMap 742xs. Active Captain app reviews are what sold me on getting Garmin over the competition, and so far it has not disappointed. So much of my interaction with my chart plotter is done through the app, and after 3 months of use I’m very happy with it. Syncing routes and guidance works great, I like the active captain community data, and mirroring the plotter screen to the phone works reliably when I’ve tried to use it.

Very Important and Valuable. I am professional captain I move vessels from the US Virgin Islands to Maine. The Active Captain helps me find places to stop and what’s available when I get there! It is a perfect planing tool for a captain. Only one down side and the reason not 5 star. The new mobile app does not have the ability to record a track. The old Blue Chart Mobile could and has many tracks I laid down. I could always refer back to good water. Not all vessels use Garmin for their main navigation system. I’m never without a backup system. Garmin please add tracking on the mobile side of active tracking, or help me if I’m missing something. Captain Fred

Totally unusable.. When I launch the app and attempt to log in, a screen with two check boxes (asking me to agree that using charts is dangerous, and to agree to their lack of privacy policy) appears. I tick both check boxes, and the login screen appears. I enter my login info and seconds later that first screen with the check boxes appears. Over and over again, that screen refreshes, and nothing I do will get out of that cycle. After a few cycles it logs me out. I’ve had the same experience with an old Garmin account and with a brand new one I created with a different email address. No response from support when I emailed. Trash fire app. Sure would like to update my chat plotter’s firmware and pay for some charts. Extremely frustrating. Huge failure, Garmin.

Very Good & Needs Stability Fixes. I have had Simrad and Raymarine chatplotters and find that Garmin is an overall better plotter, easier to use, and the app is nice to have. Being able to upgrade all of my Garmin devices from my phone makes it so much easier. I do think there is a lot of work that needs to be done to stabilize and improve the ActiveCaptain iPhone app. It constantly crashes to the point where I am unable to enter waypoints in it before trips or do anything besides just looking around on the map. I have a newer iPhone so that should not be the issue. Being able to see a list of waypoints on the app with coordinates, select one or many of them, and “share” by text or email would be a nice-to-have so I can share waypoints with others.

I like where they are heading. I actually kind of like the app and see where they were trying to go with it. Maybe I just got lucky with my setup, an iPad Pro, Garmin 942xs, and BlueChart g2 Vision HD. It’s nice that the high definition details now show up on my iPad. The wireless software/map updates and User Data Sync are also pretty nice features. Yes the app needs some work but it looks like they had put a lot of effort into it, so I applaud their efforts. I hope Garmin looks at the feedback from their users and takes is seriously. There is a lot of competition in this space and an app like this could be a big differentiator if done correctly.

PPLEASE TAKE HELM OUT OF A/C!. Latest update - WHAT bug fixes? Publish real release notes! Garmin, please pull HELM back out of Active Captain! Helm has been totally dysfunctional since being integrated into Active Captain. There seems to just be too much overhead with whatever else is going on in Active Captain, and connection, updating and reliability of Helm has deteriorated to the point that it simply can no longer be trusted. I simply do not understand what you were thinking that it you thought it was a good idea to integrate it. I LOVED Garmin Helm as a stand alone product. Now: Connection is now problematic. The screen locks up. It repeatedly disconnects from the chart plotter. It has to be reconnected every time you want to use it. The chart plotter shuts off WiFi and Bluetooth and has to be reconfigured to start the session again! None of this is acceptable when you are on the bow trying to keep an eye on the depth to drop anchor, or navigate through shoals! It is dangerous. The last thing one needs to be doing is running back down to the pilothouse to reestablish a connection when what you need to be doing is paying attention to the work at hand! You have managed to RUIN a great product. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pull it back out as a standalone product. There is no rational need for it to integrated with Active Captain. It adds no value by having them integrated, and doing so has ruined the utility of Helm.

Please improve. It is really handy to use this app on my phone. I have an older Garmin fish finder that doesn’t support maps, and being able to see a depth chart of what’s ahead is almost more valuable than what the depth is under your boat. That said, the app is really basic. The chart options are limited, like how the TEXT SHOWING YOUR GPS SPEED AND HEADING REALLY SMALL. Like, smaller than the text on your phone. But you can’t change it, much like almost everything else. I know this app was probably a side thought for Garmin, but it could be so nice with a little development!

New Port Cove Marine Center in Riviera Beach FL. We just spent 2 weeks at New Port Cove at Lake Worth Inlet and couldn’t be more pleased with the service, location, and personnel. While waiting for a crossing window, we had some repairs done to our trawler and provisioned for a 3 month trip to the Abacos. We were an easy walk to Boat Owner’s Warehouse, Publix, BBT bank, Walgreen’s, multiple sport fishing stores, and Auto Zone and a cheap Uber ride to Walmart. The surrounding neighborhoods have seen tough times but we were met on our dog walks through them with consistently friendly people, multiple home and property renovations, and a huge presence of Rybovich boat yard’s expansion. GM Jim Nester is doing a great job updating the marina and getting (and keeping) enthusiastic and helpful staff. This was our second stay, and we will definitely be back. With all that and a 15 minute trip to Lake Worth Inlet, what more could you want?

Most useful boating aid. I have a Garmin 7608xvs unit that I purchased in 2016 and updated the Active Captain app this year on my iPad & iPhone. I absolutely love the presentation on the iPad which I use on every trip we take on our boat. Extremely useful, easy, and helpful. I feel it keeps me safer on the water. Also, the Garmin guys are awesome. I could not figure out why my charts were coming up fine on my iPhone but not on my iPad. Called Garmin support and the tech spent an hour on the phone with me getting the appropriate charts downloaded to my iPad.

Active Captain App. In general, the app works and does what’s supposed to sometimes better than the chart plotter However, the business of connecting to the boat Wi-Fi and then connect to the local Wi-Fi that has an Internet connection is very clumsy. I don’t understand why the boat cannot connect to the local network and the app be designed to also discover the boat that is on the local network, that way we can download software updates, chart updates and not fiddle back-and-forth connecting to the local network and then to the boat network. I understand that you would like to make sure the software is completely downloaded to the phone in case the network stops working or some other glitch. That way you can control the download from the phone to the chart plotter

Love this app. I am really new to navigating the ICW and near offshore 50 miles and closer. I am still soaking in the information and learning how all of this stuff works. My best advice is that less is definitely more when it comes to being bold vs being careful. I am learning more about the rules of the road so to speak. Actually the rules of nautical navigation. I am really pleasantly surprised by the way that Garmin has made the Active Captain app for your phone and tablet. You can actually use your phone to control your chart plotter. I look forward to applying what I have learned toward my quest in offshore fishing. Watch the utube videos on how to…. Everything! I really like it!

Disappointed- not surprised. Garmin’s UX / UI. It seems as though if it’s not for aviation- garmin puts their UX / UI on the back burner. This app could be tremendously better if Garmin spent 1/10 of their time spent on aviation products on their marine products. I downloaded this app to go with 8616(?) unit to share sounding data with our other vessel. This was working well for about a month and now it tells me “no compatible devices found” even though it’s all the same and nothing aside from an app update changed. I made sure everything was the same version, updated, tried resetting the wifi networks etc.

Disappointed. I expected a LOT more. With all the gps technology Garmin has, I expected the app to give me a similar experience to the actual chartplotter. Instead it feels like a predecessor to MapQuest at best and that is being VERY generous. I should be able to plan all my waypoint and bane them easily before my trip. Can’t happen. I should be able to name my waypoints with real names. Can’t happen. Number of characters is very limited. I should be able to see depth ranges, etc from the app. Can’t happen. The QuickDraw helps but very difficult to navigate and download. The overall user interface (UI) is very cumbersome. For the cost of these chartplotter we should demand more from a user experience. I HATE wasting valuable time on the water when I could have and should have been able to do it all beforehand. A direct link to google maps or google earth would be awesome. Garmin, if you need any advice, give me a shout. You can do so much better.

Active captain app. I have used the ActiveCaptain app for all of my Garmin updates and had zero issues updating. I have heard of issues through social media but for my experience I have not. I am not tech savvy and at 55 years old I know us older guys that use it can do it. My favorite video is from Russellmarineproducts and josh explains how to use the app and that is how I learned how to use it. My advice is read! And watch video from Russellmarine! It also has other features on the app that you will find very helpful when fishing like way-points ect. Be sure to register your units. The app keeps track of your units and trolling motor that are registered and automatically checks for updates when the come out and you decide to update or not. Hope this review will give someone a little insight as to how helpful and convenient the app is. Have a great day.

Active Captain application. I decided to drop some money on a new Garmin 93SV this past Christmas to start my fishing season for 2023. Lucky for me, I have a fishing friend who had previously purchased a Garmin 93SV and is a deep researcher on everything in the fishing equipment arena. When the Active Captain application became one of our conversation pieces, I liked what I heard and saw with this app and I made a decision to buy my own Garmin 93SV and learn more about this Active Captain app. The thing that I loved out of the gate with the Active Captain application was knowing when/if there were any updates for my Garmin 93SV. If so, it just walked me through it step by step. Another thing great about this application is that I can add others devices and monitor them for updates as well. Overall, I am excited about my Garmin purchase and having and having the Active Captain application that does exactly what it says it can do is a plus (+) on my purchase. Another thing I love about the Active Captain app is that it walks you through the initial setup on the Garmin fish finder and if there’s anything I do not understand, there’s a place on one of its tabs where I can contact a Customer Service Support representative to call and help me with the setup or other questions I may need help with. Not often do I give a review this early in a purchase, but this one is the exception to my rule.

Great app when you get use to it.. All kinds of features that make life easier. I hooked all my Garmin equipment up and it registered everything through active captain for me. Great for sending and receiving data from my iPad. Allows me to use my iPad as a portable MFD. Biggest downfall I have found is sometimes you have to close helm and then start helm again if the iPad isn't used for awhile. That said it only takes a second to do so not a big deal. Went Fishing yesterday and it was so nice to have my iPad right next to me watching what was going on wether on the bow of boat or in the cockpit. Great app in my opinion!

Not intuitive. The syncing to plotter keeps having to be reset - and the menu is not intuitive for data transfers or updates When it shows all connected - the GPS says no updates available - the the app shows a significant one is ready amd pending - but can’t figure out how to make it happen since unit says no updates Can’t tell if purchased charts are fully transferred - maddening And the chart detail on app is complete garbage. I purchased additional charts, downloaded tiles … and doesn’t show anything worth looking at - what a waste Forget this and use your phone - so much better

Review on ActiveCaptain. It’s absolutely amazing don’t know how I’ve went all these years without it I cannot wait to upgrade to a newer bigger unit it has made my fishing experience a completely different world unbelievably amazing I would absolutely recommend this to absolutely anyone whether it be for fishing navigating or just for general information for Lakes rivers and streams that you would like to check out If you do not have a Garmin an active captain you are missing out on a world of new opportunities!!!!

Hidden Treasure. My wife and I feel fortunate that we had a good friend introduce us to Stock Island Marina Village this marina is truly a hidden treasure well-maintained slips easily accessible management and staff are outstanding The amenities are all meticulously maintained showers, laundry, captains lounge, office/store, also in conjunction with the on site Perry Hotel there are two restaurants, swimming pool, and a shuttle that leaves on the hour to Key West proper. The shuttle will drop you off for shopping (Publix) and pick you up for the return. You can enjoy everything there is in Key West but stay out of the congestion and noise. PS great fuel prices and discounts over 100 gal. Ray and Dianne Mackey

Awesome App. Very intuitive, makes updating software and charts easy. I like that I can scout navionics charts on my phone, create waypoints and routes then sync with my plotter. Would like ability to snapshot sonar with locations saved (basically adding sonar screenshots to waypoints and viewable within active captain) and sync with the phone. Also would like the ability to see where charts have been updated -right now it tells you there has been an update but you have no idea where or what it is.

Great idea with a lot of bugs to be worked out.. The app is a great idea for a quick way to update your garmin devices. The down side is it doesn’t always work the way it is described. I am constantly having problem with my iPhone connecting to my garmin ultra WiFi network. When it works it works great but it will only connect about 1 out of 20 tries. This is very frustrating. But if I had it to do all over again I would still buy garmin. Hands down better than the competition. I have owned and used the competition one of the reasons I own and use garmin.

Active captain app. So far the app has been easy to use. I’ve updated my software. I just updated the navionics. Not sure how that is working because I just did it. The only trouble so far is that it is only updating my one monitor. The other two haven’t done anything yet. So far the tech support has been awesome. I will have to give them a call back to see about the other two monitors. Only gave it a 4 star because I haven’t been out on the water since the updates.

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Great app. Active Captain is excellent, reliable and extremely useful. The user interface is easy to use and provides the information you are after in an instant.

Active Captain Duplicates Waypoint and Routes. The app is headed in the right direction and has some nice features but it is infuriating they it duplicates routes and waypoints. Why? I end up with hundreds of duplicated entries. Hours wasted deleting them. And, you cannot do a bulk delete. You have to individually select and go thru three menus to do the delete. Please resolve this.

RanRboater. App is not much use unless you already own Garmin Blue Map Charts on your vessel’s chart plotter. If you want to download charts to a mobile device, they still want top dollar for each chart. Not like Navionics where you can pay an annual sub and download all charts if you want to. Tried the user updated QuickDraw Community, but very little data available in Australian waters or most remote areas. Nowhere near as good as Navionics similar product. But this is likely to improve over time as more community users add data.

Keeps kicking me out. I’m so over this it’s really annoying , I go through all the sign in process tick the two boxes go in and within a few seconds it comes up server error and that I need to sign in again this just keeps happening every time over and over and do you think you can find help to fix this problem ? Well that’s a big no I’m just going to give up and delete it I’m really annoyed as my Garmin device came with this on it and it’s completely useless

Active Capt User. Way superior to anything i’ve used. Very happy with Garmin chart plotter and the active captain.

Dan thy man. Very happy with product, fast easy to use and download updates. Could use navionics charts for better charting and also an option to print your marks. Otherwise great

Best app ever. Quick and easy to manage, very useful for everyone.

Useful app makes keeping my 95sv updated easy. Software updates are easy via the app. Having charts & fishing marks available on my phone helps me plan my trips

Great supplement to the GPS device. I gave a GPS handheld device. Linking it to my phone has been fabulous and the screen is bigger. Would also be good to see the actual coast lines rather than straight lines.

Has some great features. I’m impressed how this app connects and shares data with my Garmin sounder plotter. Take my iPad onboard and it auto connects and updates the plotter with all new fishing marks and any route changes I’ve made previously at home. I also use the iPad as a second screen to run the fishing nav map whilst having a full screen on the Garmin sounder which is perfect for trolling after BF Tuna. The software updates to the Garmin plotter have all gone without a hitch. So I’d rate this 4 1/2 stars for a pretty good app that I use a lot. Good job Garmin.

Great navigation App. Does everything I need it to do, though I’d wish there was a PC version for easier input…

Not as good as Navionics. As a first time boat owner and new to this market I first was introduced to Navionics which I found quick and easy to use, one major function which I absolutely love is the auto routing which finds the best route using all nav aids etc and giving you turn by turn route with absolute ease. After buying a Garmin plotter which won’t accept Navionics,I regret buying it now As the Active captain app is in comparison to Navionics is no where near as functional, difficult to use and unbelievably doesn’t even have the auto route function , you have to manually plot your course turn by turn etc . Really just not up to scratch to be honest I recommend buying a plotter that support Navionics untill this app is upgraded

Sensational. Works incredibly well from my experience. Once you get your settings right for what you’re doing, it’s excellent.

Best fishing and Nav app ever. Active Captain is a revelation in chart plotter usage. I can set up my marks on my phone or iPad and synch to my plotter, I can save marks and tracks back to my phone. I can plan trips like never before.

Anchor alarm through wifi?. Being a captain and using this app is great but the only thing is I use the wifi through my phone to check our Anchorage in my cabin at night. Why is there no sound coming through my phone for alarms???? I find this not very good at all.

Too hard to set up. It’s 2021 get your IT staff to make it easier to setup a garmin sounder, they are slack or completely clueless regarding how much knowledge the average person has when it comes to setting these things up with map card etc! It should be prompting you along the way , very clunckie and no excuse for it

Great. Seems to be quite good , love the way you can view your maps and plot spots to fish , found sync and updating older Garmin units can be a bit of hit and miss , I’ve 1020xs and 751 xls both discontinued units I’ve found near impossible to get to update maps - if I’ve one fault with Garmin they need to still show support for older units which imo they don’t - still like active capt tho Recommend

Many improvement could be made. Every time I use the app I need to log back in and tick the two agreement boxes. Sometimes I’ll be using certain map functions and it’s kicks me out and I’ll have to log back in again. Since the latest update I can’t log in at all. Pretty annoyed as I just purchased a Garmin echo map 95sv. iPhone 8 Plus user. Hopefully soon they bring out an update to allow your to stay logged in by ticking a box as per most apps these days.

No maps or chart, great. Why would you have a picture of a marine chart on the box of the Garmin Striker 5CV product when it clearly doesn’t have ANY charts or maps detailed. It also doesn’t tell you about the unit not being wi-fi compatible to actually use Active Captain. Apparently you have to BUY AN EXTERNAL WI-FI SET UP JUST TO GET A CHART, WHAT A RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!

Nocks. Absolutely unreal once you start to learn how to use all of its functions. I’m very amateur at boating/sounders etc… but learning very fast and using this app is quite simple to set it all up to your sounder. Very impressive to say the least 👍🏽

App crashes constantly. Having to constantly log in. Asks for security number then crashes when trying to enter number

Awesome app. Love being able to plan a trip on my phone and easily upload to the head unit. Peace of mind too knowing if the unit goes down due to flat batter etc that we can still navigate by the phone

Garmin. Very easy to use compared the the other chart plotters

Good. Easy to use and practical

Awesome. Great app and any problems I’ve had I have been able to talk to someone and get it sorted. Would be better if the phone was easier to find though

Fix it please. Every time I try to use the app and connect to my 95sv UHD which is brand new it says there’s a software update and it downloads to my phone and try’s to synch with the unit. Then says no active captain SD card. I’ve tried two brand new 32gb cards and nothing. So the app is absolutely useless.

Active captain. Works great. Connects automatically. Maps are super helpful

Got the hang of it. Once i learnt how it can work for me, i have found it super handy setting everything up at home and linking to the boat. Very happy fisho

Forget this and go Navionics!. Don’t even bother with this it will just frustrate you. Simple things like depth shading doesn’t even work. And I thought Garmin was a reputable brand! Their entire online system has been down for 4 days now and we get no warning or anything from them. Navionics is 5 stars compared to this rubbish. Do yourself a favor and go Navionics. Very disappointed Garmin.

Scam!. Don’t buy the charts on this app, even though they say relief shading the do NOT give you it & then Garmin says they can’t give a refund the purchase on the Garmin app was paid through apple App Store but there is no way to cancel it or get apple to give me my money back ???? Give me what I paid for or my money back! An hour on the phone to customer support to have a old lady who doesn’t know what she is doing mess me around!

Unable to share individual tracks and routes without exporting the whole gpx file. This is something that needs to be added to the app to be able to effectively share information to friends without having to share all of my data.

Angus. Great app, allows you to use full unit screen for sonar and the app for navigation

Easy to use. Love the app. Easy to use and relay my marks from navionics so I can view them whilst using my Garmin to search for fish and structure.

ActiveCaptain. Easy to use, online help is great especially the vids if you get in any doubt, I purchased the Ecomap UHD 75sv and is such a great unit, instal and chart, update was very easy such a great app. Watching the vids makes it even easier to learn more about this great little unit, have to say from a former Lowrance user this thing rocks🤙

Rubbish App. The app gave me one option to upgrade my map and after spending $160 it doesn’t have relief shading. Now I have wasted my money I have to spend more to get a different version Not happy Garmin

So easy to use. Great app and so simple, no connecting wire or swapping SD card of old. Simple and so easy to use 👍

Paying twice for maps error. I’ve already purchased Mackay to Twofold, used for about 2 years, now being asked to buy it again!? $149, and no info about it being a subscription, end period, option to restore purchases. Not a great experience.

Great app. Great app once you work it all out it’s simple to use and get connected to your sounder. Also great for doing some pre trip research to mark new areas to fish then transfer them onto the sounder while your heading out to the fishing grounds 👌🏻

Active Captain. Connects to wifi easily and updates the unit automatically with ease. Designed for non tech savvy people like myself. My experience was top shelf.

Great App.. Much better than competing brands. Once set up, very easy to keep the latest mapping and firmware updates on your devices

Active Captain. Great App for recording all the details of your electronic gear on your boat. It’s Also an easy way to download new software and then download to your Garmin electronics when you are back on your boat! Easy to use!

OneChart. Really like the smartphone chart for planning purposes and ease of use for creating way points. The only negative is the blue ‘boat’ icon which isn’t a boat as such but I think that is because my chart plotter map is not the most recent but I can live with it for a while. Overall it’s a welcome addition for boaties

Need to log in every time. Not sure why but last update makes me log in every time I open the app. Also made me re-download and reconnect and sync with all my sounders and marks etc after a recent update. Figure it out Garmin!

Garmin marine. I have a number of Garmin marine products Love them to the point I have got other friends using now

So easy to use. When software on your Garmin devices needs updating it’s so easy with Active Captain when you get a text message or phone call it comes up on your chart plotter Soo cool

Active Captain with my Garmin 7sv Plus. This program works perfectly in Combination with my Garmin Fish finder 7sv plus, easy to do uploads and down load the public contours with quick draw and also with not having charts for navigation on the fish finder having my phone in a holder sitting next to the fish finders gives me the best of everything including navigation which is very accurate for inshore fishing

Active captain. Great to be able to back up waypoints and have them in your pocket

Happy as. Been thinking it’s time to say how good you are

Brilliant app.. Everything has worked well so far. I’ve just manually input a heap of waypoints into the app that a mate shared with me which was easier than doing it sat in the boat like I expected I’d have to do. I’m pretty tech savvy but I think most ppl could work it out tbh.

Active captain. Found this app to be fantastic though improvement defiantly could made in the area of software updates even once I have updated my equipment it takes a few days to recognise and remove the prompt.

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Fantastic app. This app allows you to have touch screen with the 1022 GPS. Perfect, makes things so much quicker

Garmin ECHOMAP UHD 75 Active Captain App. Great App and positive experience based on initial setup and everyday usage. Click and go! Makes being on the water that much more fun!

Active Captain. Takes a bit to sort out process of uploading data from Navionics app Would be much better if it could be done as well from the Navionics PC chart viewer as well as the app. Great that routes and data can be plotted in chart viewer, uploaded to Active Captain and the synced to new plotter from Garmin.

Crap. Junk compared to competitors

nice app. easy to use!

Vraiment pratique. Très bon app

Gets the job done!. The ease of using QuickDraw community mapping made the decision for me to switch from the competitor. One word of caution, do not delete the app without making a back up file! You will lose all of your downloaded maps and waypoints!

Wrong map set. Was given US maps for Canada unit They told me to pound sand and buy yet another map at an additional cost of $200 Won’t buy Garmin again. Customer service sucks!

Bonne app. Pourrait être un peut plus precis , et plus de détails sur le terrestre .très bon pour les mise à jours pour le sonar

Échomap 62CV SeeDoo. Le pire des appareils à configurer. Totalement insatisfait

It sucks because it do not down load quick contours mapping.. Very disappointed with the time it takes to get your quick draw nothing downloaded to the quick draw community

Keeps saying session failed won’t even let me sign in. I’ve had app for two months now and still can’t make it past sign in because the app keeps crashing update it constantly thinking that was the problem but never even got in

Best mapping. Love this app and use it extensively with my Garmin gpsmap and echomap uhd chart plotters Highly recommend to any serious sport fishing enthusiastic.

Great companion app!. Makes updates simple. Help me ensure everything is up to date. Very simple app say to figure out.

Active captain. Incompréhensible, impossible de trouver le menu dans carte pour obtenir « la communauté ».

Another great Garmin product. I bought my first Garmin GPS many years ago and now I am hooked. I only use Garmin for GPS and fish sonar from now on, extremely user friendly!

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This app is great. Totally awesome, just started using it, so still rusty, lol

Great Application. I changed over to Garmin from another manufacturer this year. I’m running GPSMAP 1242 on my big boat and Echomap 75 sv on my smaller boat. I was never able to connect my iPad to the other manufacturer but connecting to both units using Active Captain has been very easy. Routes and waypoint created on my iPad are easy to up load also using Garmin express on my laptop has been extremely easy to use. I look forward to learning more about Active Captain.

New to live scope and garmin. It’s a great system it helps the beginners understand and it’s easy to use and download new up dates

Terrible app and shopping experience. Terrible app and shopping experience go with Lowrence instead

Appli me rend la vie plus simple. Très apprécié

Technology. Personally I found the whole experience confusing at first figuring out what exactly Active Captain did and the difference between that and Garmin express , what micro chips are , card readers and then relating that to my plotter. After a number of calls to the Garmin support staff (and they were all terrific and patient in explaining things as I went along ) I think I finally have a grasp on what I’m doing. Now looking forward to getting out on the water.

Terrible. Just a brutal set up Garmin should be embarrassed

active captain. easy to use when you get use to it very handy and helpful

Lackluster. Navionics App is far superior.

Convoluted. Title says it all and I’m a tech consultant

ActiveCaptain. Love how easy this app is to use and the auto update feature keeps me ready to go.

Like the user friendly app. Easy to use and quick

Seldom connects properly to chart plotter. It seems like I have to spend up to an hour trying to get this to sync every time I connect it to the chart plotter. No longer will recognize the chart plotter Wi-Fi.

Bravo. Très bien fait

Super buggy. My ECHOmap Plus 94sv has crashed several times when trying to load a new chart through ActiveCaptain. This is on a new iPhone 12 Pro and following all steps exactly as laid out by Garmin. The troubleshooting steps are laughably useless. While it might work for some, buyer beware. I now own a new $300 chart that I can’t get off the phone and Garmin is refusing to refund. Good times! Buying an Axiom+ instead!

Great app. The app is great to manage updates, but takes too long to load map Content into the chart plotter.

Très satisfait de mes appareils Garmin. Merci c’est très commode cette application

ECHOMAP uhd 95sv. The mobile app, ActiveCaptain works great with my UHD 95SV Garmins!!

Nice app. Very easy to use in conjunction with gamin force remote to update new trolling motor

Application compatible avec le GPS. Facile d’utilisation avec le GPS 942xs de Garmin. Particulièrement avec le téléchargement des mises à jour 😊

Great app.. Great app. Awesome for entering waypoints then uploading to my fish finder

Love the app. Love that app wish you could send locations to other users

Mise à jour. Application très pratique pour toujours conserver ses équipements marin a jour

Gross. Spent my whole day figuring this garbage out and now have to spend $300 per year for a chart that I have had on a card for 10 years. Feel ripped of my time and money. Not happy. “Not connected to iTunes store”. When tying to update a base map too….What!????? And now my unit told me to make a new active captain card, so deleted my old one (which they don’t tell you has to be under 32mb), and now it fails to make a new card everytime. And of course no customer service on weekends when I have time to do this. This just gets worse and worse.

Garmin. Outstanding products weather it’s GPS units used for outdoor or military applications. Chartplotters for fishing and pan optic live sonar. Garmin has cornered the market. You will not regret your purchase.

Active Captain. Horrible confusing app

Worst software ever. Active Captain still a disaster. Will not update transducer firmware properly. Support is useless. Very unresponsive and provides very useless info. Treat u like a dope. Garmin get your act together

Great intuitive app. Works great and seems easy to use. Great work garmin

Navionics+ doesn’t get you any charts. Bought the Garmin echomap ultra 106sv with navionics + but every lake I try to download doesn’t have a chart or prompts me to buy…why didn’t I just buy the card in the first place 🤦🏼‍♂️

Garmin App. Awesome

Inactive Captain. Impossible to sync with my Garmin 94s

Garmin. Hard to navigate compared to other systems not user friendly.

Don’t bother. This is useless, it’s slow, inaccurate, and cumbersome. Can’t even mirror fish finder soundings. Garmin shame on you!

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Updates Lag Behind Garmin Website. The app is useful but it seems that Garmin BlueChart and Garmin Helm we’re better standalone apps than the all-integrated Garmin Active Captain. For one thing, it makes no sense to me that updates for devices will be released on the website, yet a week goes by and no update available at Active Captain. Today is 12/25 and the most recent update came out on 12/19 but still nothing on the Garmin AC app. Also, the features released after waiting since the last update in August, simply aren’t speaking to the tech trends of other chartplotters such as Raymarine with exclusive FLIR features and drone control.

Active caption issue free so far. Just started using app and all is as advertised. Updates are event free, registration was automatically done when logging on. Love the helm part of the app. Like having an extra screen. Overall great experience so far. Only had for a few months so we’ll see over the duration.

Sea Love Boat works Ponce Inlet. Contacted yard re a noise / prop. Arranged for haul out next day. New Yard GM Allen advised us to get Tow Boat assist. We were hauled, diagnosed and arranged for cutless bearings to be replaced along with going ahead to do bottom and other minor maintenance. This GM is a pro, in charge and crew working on our boat are solid. Work is top notch. Highly recommend Sea Love for big boat issues haul etc , total confidence. Five Starr Searay Sedan Bridge 500 from River Dunes NC

Great App but had an Issue. I just changed boats and was able to add the new equipment and delete the old equipment. However, I keep getting software updates for the old equipment that I no longer have (and that are not listed on the app). Unfortunately, there is no way to correct this without “resetting” the App, which means that I lose all of my downloads and have to start from scratch. That issue aside, I love active Captain!

Stock Island Marina. I’ve been boating for about 50 years and currently live in Fort Lauderdale. I’ve seen many marinas on my sailing adventures with “Summer Rules” but the Stock Island Marina tops them all! The staff is very helpful and courteous and the facilities are outstanding. Additionally, everything is kept nice and tidy including the bathrooms, showers and laundry. It is a must stop for boaters visiting the Key West area! You won’t be disappointed. Grant Hustad Summer Rules Hunter 410

Latest version has made this app completely useless, unfortunately.. I cannot view or download the maps at all now on my devices. It looks like it’s not working correctly. Was working ok before the G3 map release and the new update. My guess is they are working out the bugs, but until then, this review stays. I will update my review when it’s fixed and working again. I did like the apps functionality since my boat is on a wet slip and I can use my app at home and sync to the boat when I get there so I can spend more time on the water and less time messing with a device. That’s the whole point right?

All in one electronics. It is so nice to use my Ipad at the back of the boat to mirror my g Garmin 7610. I have the sonar right at my fingertips, i can also stream music to my stereo and control that also. I can look at and plan how and where I want to fish new lakes that I am not familiar with. I do find that the depth recording are off and wish i was able to adjust. But once you have an idea how much its really off its just a matter of math. All in All I have been very please with the Garmin products in my boat and I find them trouble free. Easy to work with, well thought out design and simplistically work together.

Has become very unstable. I was a 5 star fan of of this app. Works well with Garmin equipment and I like the charts and the crowdsourcing that active captain allows. I use my boat to get to and from work so use this app daily checking tides and current. A few updates ago the app started crashing on my iPhone 10 and my older iPad. Have deleted and reinstalled, works for a bit and then crashes on startup over and over. Currently completely useless due to the stability. The developer needs to address this, many are experiencing this issue.

Registering a Garman vision + card. Put this app on my phone to register a vision plus card bought from Garmin. Do not have Wi-Fi at my house so I had to go elsewhere to use it. Customer support sent me an email with the instructionsOnce I figured out it was not a card that was read automatically. I followed them exactly I still don’t have the card registered and it still will not work on my echo 94. They should have it so you can call a 1-800 number and activate the card similar to a credit card. You should not have to have Wi-Fi and have all these connection issues like I have had. I will be going back to Lowrance.

Mostly unusable so far. Like many people here, I paid for charts in blue chart mobile that are now useless. I resented having to pay for charts then, since I’d already paid for them on my plotter(s). However I sucked it up and once I did, I found the app invaluable and well worth the investment. Now it’s gone, and the replacement is unusable. I’ve synced with my Garmin plotters and for some reason can only download lakevu charts, which I’ve never owned. I can’t see any of the charts that I do own. I can see the plotters as registered - just can’t download the charts. So I’m back to nothing. Thanks a lot garmin. Count me as another unhappy, formerly loyal user.

Ugly to use on iPad. Setting up a route using a finger rather than a finger or a stylus, if it would work, is a challenge. Finding previous routes saved is not very intuitive, where I have found other Garmin products to be very intuitive. Having the charts I have downloaded not be displayed, instead seeing a representation where rivers disappear as I zoom in. That may not be an issue unless I’m trying to navigate in said river.

What a mess. Garmin has created a night mare. There are multiple apps to operate, and none of the apps talk to one another. I bought a GPSMAP 86sci. It does not connect to active captain so the way points can’t’ be synced. And the way points, tracks and routes do not sync from Active Captain to EXPLORE, whatever that app is for, so the only way to get way points into the new handheld is to manually enter them by modifying the MARK command. Then, when you go through that cumbersome process, you can sync with EXPLORE. IT’S A MESS. Had I known, I never would have purchase the handheld inReach. The only thing I see using that for is if my ship is going down.

Ok but hard to learn. This app is ok but difficult to figure out unless you are tech savvy. You end up having to go to each manual to figure out how to link and use your equipment. Getting spot lock to work takes way to long and is not smooth or precise. I still have not figured out how to use the trolling motor on auto pilot. Called active captain because I spend all my time trying to figure it out instead of fishing.

Shelter Cove Hilton Head. We have had the pleasure of various extended stays at Shelter Cove and it’s one of our favorite places. It has 6 or more restaurants all within a few minute walk, many have live entertaining in season. There is a bakery, rental equipment and toys, walking distance to the beach. Jason runs the place and he always makes sure a boater is welcomed and treated to fine Southern hospitality. Try it, just leave room for us.

Grand Haven Municipal Marina. I can’t say enough good things about the service we received here this week. We checked in on Monday, planning to leave on Tuesday. Due to extreme winds and heavy swells, we have laid up here all week. Kari and her staff have been flexible and accommodating with reservations and allowing us to stay in a safe place. In the boating world, we are all subject to Mother Nature, which can make the harbor master’s job stressful. This team handled it all very well with smiles on their faces.

Disappointed. I expected a LOT more. With all the gps technology Garmin has, I expected the app to give me a similar experience to the actual chartplotter. Instead it feels like a predecessor to MapQuest at best and that is being VERY generous. I should be able to plan all my waypoint and bane them easily before my trip. Can’t happen. I should be able to name my waypoints with real names. Can’t happen. Number of characters is very limited. I should be able to see depth ranges, etc from the app. Can’t happen. The QuickDraw helps but very difficult to navigate and download. The overall user interface (UI) is very cumbersome. For the cost of these chartplotter we should demand more from a user experience. I HATE wasting valuable time on the water when I could have and should have been able to do it all beforehand. A direct link to google maps or google earth would be awesome. Garmin, if you need any advice, give me a shout. You can do so much better.

Belhaven Marina. If you like a smaller marina with a quick walk to town, Belhaven Marina is a great stop for a day or two. There’s a beautiful lawn with chairs for lounging and corn hole or kayaking available as well. Nice clean facilities and free laundry! Gregg the manager helps with docking, setting up and anything else you might need including a ride to the grocery store about a mile away. It’s our second time here and we’d consider stopping again!

Full of bugs and useless customer service. The app would be OK if it worked. Charts can only be accessed if you’re connected to the internet. Downloaded charts will disappear randomly while offline. Weeks of interaction with Garmin customer service has been nothing but frustrating, with long lags in communication and the same questions being asked by them over and over. The worst customer support I’ve encountered in years. I’ve been a loyal Garmin customer for years, but this experience has completely changed my opinion of them.

Garmin Echomap series Units. I have a Garmin Echomap 106SV Ultra, an Echomap 93SV UHD and the Garmin Livescope mounted on my bass boat. Using the ActiveCaptain App made it easy to register my Garmin equipment and stay updated with the current software updates Garmin releases. I love my Garmin units and the ActiveCaptain App. I just wish Garmin would make the Echomap series Units utilize the activecaptain App to view the Echomap screens on a smartphone (I believe it’s called the Helm feature on the Activecaptain App).

Active Captain. So far it’s been pretty easy navigating through all the functions. I like being able to update my unit without having to download onto a card from my computer then load up on the unit, it’s all done through the app and my phone. So far I love it!

ActiveCaptain. Initially it took me a minute to figure out how to set up the ActiveCaptain app for my devices, but once I did it was smooth sailing after that, no pun intended, lol! One of things I like most about the app is being able to keep my device software updated through it. I look forward to becoming more familiar with all the capabilities the ActiveCaptain app provides!

Getting better & better!. I appreciate the seamless updates foe all my Garmin marine products. I also like the ability to manage my waypoints. TheActive Captain Community is a good reference to visiting new places. Just took a trip to Marsh Harbor and got great ideas for anchorages and snorkeling. Blu Chart Mobile is a very good product. I wish I had the ability to share waypoints by text or emails though. Also would be nice to be able to better auto plan routes using my G2 chart like Navionics does.

Class of the Class. We are snowbirds that always stop at SYC regardless of the direction we’re heading. In July of this year, I posted a review raving about the boatyard. Today, I’m going to do the same for the two lovely ladies, Ashley and Kelsey, who are in charge of the marina. We needed to see a physician and had no car. Kelsey drove us to the clinic, picked us up after our visit, drove us to the drugstore, waited until our prescriptions were ready and then drove us back to the marina. She is the best!

Not much detail. You would think that Garmin would have much more detail than it does. I’m very disappointed in the lack of depth information on the stock charts. I’m sure that if I was to sign up for an additional subscription they would do better but the basic chart is such garbage that I’m not likely to spend any more money on this system. Electronics are solid but the support app is junk so both are junk because they work together. Let’s go Simrad.

Needs work. This app replaces Blue Charts which was much better. The biggest problem is that the text displayed when you look at info from any item is incredibly small and no way to make larger. Try reading when you are on a moving boat and are older than 40. Also the phone number links don’t work. They have appended multiple numbers into the same link in many cases making it difficult to place a call right from the link. Blue Charts was great. This app is poorly written.

Captain Emergency responder. This is been a really good app for me and others to enjoy and the fact that it updates your charts without having to buy extra charge and the definition and the how to on it is just a great overall product. I highly recommend this product. Many other features to use as well

Great app. This is a great app once you have a garmin account set up has many good features. One suggestion would be, able to connect to my Mercury VesselView bluetooth and show the info or at least alarms on my 8616’s if and when they happen you guys can work to do that……..right?

Easy to sync with device and get on the water!. I like the ability to create a route on the app, then when I get to the boat it just takes a few seconds to sync and can be on my way!! Very accurate maps, buoys are not perfect, but very close and easy to understand what the map has vs. reality.

Active Captain is a must!. I was a big fan of AC when it was a stand alone app. We learned to depend on the many current updates of future areas of interest before leaving the dock. I found most of the reviews “on point” and tried to do my share of reviews. I had several boats over the last 25 years and I have always had Garmin Marine Electronics for all my navigation, sonar and radar needs. Never have I been disappointed in the service of any unit. So I was excited to hear when these great companies merged. I have enjoyed the easy updates and mapping features. I miss my old Blue Charts, but expect I learn to enjoy what has replaced it. Keep up the good work and I’ll continue to depend on Garmin for all my cruising needs.

Much improved. Every one of the improvements that I was looking for in this app (save one) has been made. That one is to change the snap feature to either be much less intrusive/ sensitive or allow it to be optional with a setting (or better yet, a sensitivity setting in the settings). We recently ripped out the entire network of three year old Furuno chart plotters, radar, sonar, AIS, etc. and replaced with Garmin. Glad we did.

Great way to stay current. This app along with the corresponding app on the chartplotter is an ingenious way to keep things current. The system does most of the work for you..you just have to spend a bit of time at first to gain the concept of how this works. After that, a breeze.

Great experience. This app has everything an angler needs. Actually, more functions than I need on and off the water. Easy to use and it has enhanced my fishing experience. I’ve have not changed how I fish, lures or my presentation but I catch more fish. It almost feels like I’m cheating. Fishing water where you can see fish beats the heck out of fishing where there are no fish. Dale

Excessive Dockage Puerto Isla Mujeres Marina. We spent 43 days at the Wyndham Puerto Isla Mujeres Marina and enjoyed our stay under quarantine conditions. What we objected to on checkout was the additional day charge for dockage and electric of just under $200. According to Marina management, the next day charge is added at 8 PM The Day Before and cannot be removed. Again, according to management, if you arrive at 6 PM and leave at 8 AM the next day, you will be charged for two days dockage and electric. Ridiculous policy!

Protected, Quiet Anchorage. Anchored in 10’ just north of the 4 private mooring balls in Meyer’s Hole. Good holding with 10:1 scope & Mantus anchor in 20kts wind. Nice beach just to the west where locals and boaters occasionally walk dogs. Dinghy to small dinghy Dock next to public boat ramp with easy access to Kubel’s and bait/tackle stores. About 0.7mile from dock to food market. Nice walk on Barnegat Lightouse grounds. Definitely would stop here again. Pay attention to previous comments on navigating in as shoals are definitely present.

App does what it should. I’ve only had one issue with the app in over 2 years. Some how, it dropped my gls10. When I contacted Garmin, they could tell that I had it but didn’t know why it dropped off of my devices. Anyway, they added it back and not a problem since. Any other issues have been self inflicted. I’m totally satisfied!

Garmin Active Captain. The app does exactly what is supposed to do. You do have to have a little bit of tech savvy to go through the process but, it is not terribly difficult and it does update your electronics. If you’re not technically inclined at all you can always call and a Garmin rep will walk you through it.

Where’s Helm?. We’ll I have it 3 stars since it does have potential. Where’s the Helm feature? It’s not on the app anywhere that I can find. There’s no reference to it as indicated on the screen shot showing a button to select it. There is no button. There is no option for it. Where is it. Everything else seems to work but the main reason other than updates that I downloaded the app was for Helm and screen recording. Please help if you can answer.

Active Captain. Just upgraded my old Northstar technology to Garmin742XS and 742 at 2nd helm. Downloaded Active Captain to iPhone and IPad and everything worked as advertised. I was able to wi fi connect and register the units while on the boat. You need a microSD card 32gb to save all the boat data so if you have a newer Garmin, plan on that. It’s been fun planning when not actually on the boat

Perfect Interface with Garmin Products. I use this app with my Garmin GPSMAP 942xs Chartplotter and GMR HD+ Radar. The app is extremely useful and user friendly- allowing me to from my IPhone to easily wirelessly update my Garmin products’ software and maps. I can sit at home and explore maps, plan trips, and enter my own datapoints, etc, which I can then wirelessly transfer to the chartplotter when I get to my boat.

Cannot use Helm tab. I bought this unit specifically to be able to view it from my iPhone and iPad. Unfortunately neither of them see the chart plotter when the helm tab is pressed. I can use all other active captain features and even updated my Echomap plus via the app but still no helm feature. I at until a and trouble shooting only help with the initial connection I can’t find anything anywhere to help trouble shoot this. I want to believe it’s a big or a setting I missed but It’s starting to look like false advertising from garmin.

Active Captain App. Using with Garmin Stryker Plus. Nice feature, was able to download contours from others easily. Have tried to upload and have not been successful yet. But, according to Garmin chat help, it can take a week for them to be available after syncing. Being optimistic it will work

Registering an EchoMap. I bought a boat with a previously registered product. Couldn’t register the GPS under my account because of the previous owner. Customer service was very helpful and I didn’t have to buy and install a new unit. Definitely great experience between customer service and the active captain app.

Active Captain. Really like the Active Captain app and the ease of use to keep updates done. Also very handy for loading in purchased maps like Vision+ for new areas I haven’t loaded previously. Can load a new area the night before and I’m good to go soon as I get to the ramp. Highly recommend using this app with your Garmin devices.

800nm. My wife and I rode our 2 waverunners from Georgetown SC to St Augustine Fl and back. 800nm give or take. Planning the trip was a breeze with ActiveCaptain, but when it come down to use on the water. That’s where it shines. Finding Marina’s for fuel 5stars. Pine Harbor Marina in GA joined ActiveCaptain a week before we took our trip. All the info was spot on. Also helped with other fuel stops and restaurants on the trip. Would not have found them with out the help. Thanks Garmin and ActiveCaptain

Garmin Active Captain. The Garmin Active Captain App takes these units and the overall experience to the next level, especially in an iPad Pro 12.9. Maps with the fishing overlay with detailed contours, depths, and color shading for depth is my favorite view. Because of this, I bought an iPad mount for my boat. I look forward to future updates.

Garmin is so unintuitive.. I wish I could love Garmin. I’ve spent almost $100,000 buying their equipment and I feel like they are in the dark ages. Everything is the opposite of what you think it should be, it takes multiple screens and multiple inputs to do a simple task. The screens power off 3-4 times a day on long passages, and the changes previously made are lost. They do not communicate with multiple touch screens, each monitor has to be programmed individually, so with multiple helms it makes it an incredible nuisance.I’d love to see Garmin take over the world, just be the best!

Overall Very Good App, Very Convenient. Overall this is a very good app. A couple hiccups with downloading some maps but the ability to plot routes and waypoints from home as well as pushing updates. Absolutely easier using the app than if I didn’t have it, especially if you run multiple Garmin devices.

9vs. Great unit and fastest I ever owned. It has more features and respond is very fast. Great updates at a reasonable price. Also got everything you can think of, even shows calls and text on screen so you don’t have look at your phone when someone trying to get in touch with you.

Great App Very Useful. I’ve been using this app for two weeks and it is absolutely amazing. The usefulness of having your sonar, charts, gps, and more on your phone really makes your life easier when you are away from the center console and need to check how everything is doing in and around your boat.

Bottom mapping. The auto contour mapping is great. It would be better if the contours could be viewed in this app without sharing with the community. In other words private contour mapping that could be shared and viewed on this app offline privately or with selected friends. Overall a great app. Another feature that would be great is syncing between mobile devices without having to connect to a chart plotter.