5 FREE Chartplotters That Are Legally and Technically SUPERIOR to Navionics On October 27, 2017, Garmin acquired Navionics for an undisclosed sum. In the years that followed, the US and Canada subscription price rose from $14.99 to $49.99 — a 233 percent increase. The desktop route-planning tool was removed in July 2024 with no functional replacement. In October 2018, a database containing 261,259 customer records — including real-time vessel positions and boat speed — was discovered sitting on the public internet with no password. This video documents what happened, and what sailors have been navigating on instead. The five systems in this video draw on official NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts — the same IHO S-57 vector standard required by commercial ECDIS systems on ocean-going vessels under SOLAS regulations. NOAA distributes these charts for free from its Office of Coast Survey, updated every weekday evening. The chart data Navionics sells under subscription is produced by the same federal agency and distributed at no cost from a government website. This video explains the five complete setups, what each costs, and why none of them require a Garmin account. Topics covered include OpenCPN open-source navigation software and NOAA ENCs for US coastal waters at zero annual cost; O-Charts oeSENC international chart packages at approximately twenty dollars per region with no expiry date; OpenPlotter on Raspberry Pi as a purpose-dedicated chartplotter for under one hundred dollars in hardware; the NOAA Custom Chart web application as a free replacement for desktop route planning; and OpenCPN on Android paired with O-Charts for international mobile navigation under one hundred fifty dollars total. Chapters: 00:00 The Acquisition 05:42 What Garmin Didn't Disclose 09:01 The Question They Can't Answer 11:14 Five Systems That Require No Subscription 16:55 The Arithmetic of Independence References: Garmin acquires Navionics. Garmin Newsroom. garmin.com/newsroom. October 27, 2017. Garmin-owned navigation unit exposed thousands of boat owners' data. TechCrunch. October 8, 2018. Boating app: Price Adjustment. Navionics official blog. navionics.com. October 2023. What the heck happened to Navionics web version. Sailing Anarchy Forums. August 2024. Navionics Chart Viewer Website Decommissioned by Garmin. WavveBoating.com. 2025. Issues with the Navionics Web App. Trawler Forum. trawlerforum.com. January 2025. NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts. NOAA Office of Coast Survey. nauticalcharts.noaa.gov. NOAA Custom Chart version 2.0. NOAA Office of Coast Survey. nauticalcharts.noaa.gov. February 2023. About OpenCPN. OpenCPN Project. opencpn.org. OpenCPN GitHub Repository. github.com/OpenCPN/OpenCPN. OpenCPN Version 5.14.0 Release. GitHub. September 2025. O-Charts — Charts for OpenCPN. o-charts.org. Build a Raspberry Pi chartplotter for your boat. Raspberry Pi official blog. raspberrypi.com. Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Smart Marine Hub with OpenPlotter and Signal K. Copperhill Tech. June 2025. Navionics Pricing — Complete Guide. WavveBoating.com. March 2026. OpenCPN — Grokipedia. grokipedia.com. March 2026. Make a GPS Navigation System for a Boat with a Raspberry Pi. AllAboutCircuits.com. GARMIN LTD Form 8-K FY2024. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. sec.gov.
