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Buyer beware - New Garmin G3 maps lack detail

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URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=136109
Printed Date: 01 Feb 2026 at 7:10am


Topic: Buyer beware - New Garmin G3 maps lack detail
Posted By: Millsy
Subject: Buyer beware - New Garmin G3 maps lack detail
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 4:48pm
Bit of a rant post but may be useful for those looking into Garmin's chart plotters.

The issue is this; the newer G3 chart upgrades dont show as much detail as the older G2 versions of the same map.

I am talking specifically the chart product VPC023R. Which is the whole of New Zealand.

I have version v2012.5 of VPC023R and it has more detail than the newer G3 v2022.0 chart.

I'll show an are of the Kaipara as an example. 

You can see the detail of the mangrove island for example is missing in the new G3 version.

This is not an issue with the detail level. It is set to the same in both examples.

So far (after a year) Garmin have not had an answer to this yet they continue to pocket money for the so called upgrade. Thing is with some of the newer Garmin units, once you upgrade you cant go back. So now I'm stuck with a inferior product which I paid more for. 

When I do upgrade the unit, it wont be for another Garmin.




Below is the "newer" G3 chart of the same area and same product code


Replies:
Posted By: Pcj
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 5:16pm
But the newer version bottom?? shows the deeper parts in white so in my mind better.Same as a paper chart? Not showing mangroves but as continual coastline,no real big issue.

Posted By: Millsy
Date Posted: 23 Oct 2021 at 5:21pm
Originally posted by Pcj Pcj wrote:

But the newer version bottom?? shows the deeper parts in white so in my mind better.Same as a paper chart? Not showing mangroves but as continual coastline,no real big issue.

It's an issue all right if you spend 90%of your time in the mangroves. This is just one screen capture. There are guts and shortcuts through those. 

It is less detail. That is never a good thing. You'd be pissed if you ran into a patch of mangroves that used to show on your old (pre upgrade) chart that now just miraculously disappeared. 

The depth reading can be enhanced using other features of the new Garmin chart plotters. i.e depth color shading and all manner of other tricks, so don't get too hung up on that part of the example.

Below prob highlights the issue even better.

Old version top, new version bottom. 

The issue is rather obvious. Someone removed half the obstacles Confused




My strong advice if you own a Garmin chartplotter is DONT upgrade the internal software past 10.0 release . You wont be able to use the older maps if you do. 

I've had replies from many experts saying they spent countless hours trying to downgrade their Garmin software (to before version 10.0 release) and were never able to. 

Garmin probably thought they were being clever. In reality they pushed long time customers towards other products. I'll be next.

Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2021 at 9:48am
Just wondering ..
Sure you have gone thru very thoroughly so far
 Several things
 Im not a garmin user other than our vehicle units, using NZ open source maps and Garmin Basecamp/ Mapsurce  on the computer.
 I have also after lot messing around (hacking code) managed to mount the G2 maps on it. Havnt mounted the later maps.
For marine I use navionics , which is now also owned by Garmin.
About a yr ago had a similar issue with navionic map update.. much of the detail as above had disappeared off a lot of the east coast tiles. (maybe also west didnt check)
 It was rather a bother because we would drift the shallows , bays, close (5/10m) into reefs, cliffs etc.
 Contacted navionics and about a day or so later they came out with an update that fixed it.. the morning of of our next trip.

Another thought, do those missing details become visible if zoom right into lower levels?



Posted By: Millsy
Date Posted: 27 Oct 2021 at 5:46pm
Originally posted by Steps Steps wrote:

Just wondering ..
Sure you have gone thru very thoroughly so far
 Several things
 Im not a garmin user other than our vehicle units, using NZ open source maps and Garmin Basecamp/ Mapsurce  on the computer.
 I have also after lot messing around (hacking code) managed to mount the G2 maps on it. Havnt mounted the later maps.
For marine I use navionics , which is now also owned by Garmin.
About a yr ago had a similar issue with navionic map update.. much of the detail as above had disappeared off a lot of the east coast tiles. (maybe also west didnt check)
 It was rather a bother because we would drift the shallows , bays, close (5/10m) into reefs, cliffs etc.
 Contacted navionics and about a day or so later they came out with an update that fixed it.. the morning of of our next trip.

Another thought, do those missing details become visible if zoom right into lower levels?



I've done all things to fix this for around 6 months.

But you are on the right track with the Navionics being owned now by Garmin. I sent an email to this email address [email protected] and received an answer that aligns with your thinking. 

"The G3 data (derived from the merger with Navionics) doesn’t have those areas digitized separately and just shows an overall large marshy area."

The answer I got from the Garmin US and Aus/NZ teams was the usual "try this trick" "try this button" like it is something I am doing and I dont know how to use the gear. I have hacked almost every NZ G2 Chart out there and made customs charts and map all of my Garmin products over the years so I think I know when something isn't right. Which means I also know when someone in customers service is full of sh#t.

So back to my original post. Be aware that if you are buying or upgrading your Garmin Chartplotter you will end up with interior charts with less detail to your old G2 charts.

Cheers for the reply Steps


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