Garmin Covers the Waterfront with New Chartplotter Lineup Featuring Pre-Loaded Cartography

Garmin’s new line of chartplotters literally puts the world at boaters’ fingertips,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “With Garmin’s newly-enhanced marine cartography, mariners can spend less time deciphering charts and more time enjoying their time on the water. These new units offer a wide variety of display sizes and networking options that will attract everyone from the weekend angler to the dedicated offshore mariner.”

The GPSMAP® 492 features built-in Marine Detail Charts of the United States coastline, including Alaska and Hawaii – utilizing elements of Garmin’s new BlueChart® g2™ technology. These charts provide integrated maps for a much smoother presentation. BlueChart g2 has all the detail of traditional BlueChart, but with 3D perspective, and richer detail and content – data like tides and currents overlaid on the chart. Other chart features include shaded depth contours, port plans, wrecks, restricted areas, and more.

For boaters who spend their time on inland lakes, the GPSMAP 392 boasts 50-meter shoreline resolution for lakes across the entire continental United States. In addition, highly-detailed 10-meter resolution is furnished for more than 2000 of these lakes. The vast majority of these high resolution lakes include depth soundings. In addition, the maps depict USCG lights; a wrecks and obstructions database; tides and currents overlaid on the map; interstates, state highways, and rural roads; and a unique selectable three-dimensional display. Inland lake maps are also provided via regional data cards, so boaters have the option of loading Garmin’s other new chartplotters with these maps.

The GPSMAP 292 features an enhanced World Wide Basemap with a 300-meter shoreline resolution, and features major interstates and highways, and real-time information on tides and currents for the United States.

All units can be supplemented with BlueChart g2 data cards as well, which offer the same features as pre-loaded charts – plus highly-detailed coastal roads and points of interest such as restaurants, lodging, local attractions, and more. Full-color aerial photos of ports, marinas, bridges, and navigational landmarks are also initially available for the east coast of the United States from Georgia through Maine, selected lakes in the Great Lakes region, and partial coverage of the west coast. The estimated retail price for U.S. data cards starts at $199 – far less than competitors’ data cards.

The GPSMAP 492, 392, and 292 are all loaded with Garmin’s new CANet – a Controller Area Network that allows users to connect two chartplotters and a GSD-21 or GSD-22, Garmin’s new black-box sonar devices over a 1-megabit network. The GPSMAP 292, 392, and 492 are pre-programmed for use with Garmin’s new black-box sonar units, and the system can be easily installed by boat owners. Boaters can also connect the new Fishfinder 340 to the CANet to display sonar information on its new line of chartplotters.

For those who want a space-saving chartplotter and sonar combination unit, Garmin also offers the GPSMAP 298, GPSMAP 398, and GPSMAP 498. These units include either dual frequency or dual beam sonar capability, in addition to the chartplotting abilities of the GPSMAP 292, 392, and 492.