Garmin BlueChart® Mobile App Reviews

Apparently, it has ZERO support for MOST inland lakes (where I am). It has great lakes, and coastal areas, but Lake Martin in Alabama, ZERO detail. THis is after I bought the North America map set for $44.99! The description does say anywhere that it doesn’t cover MAJOR inland lakes. Totally deceptive. I really want a refund on this thing.

This app is knowingly sold to skippers who navigate Hong Kong waters without warning that the charts contain zero navigation information for the area. This is fraudulent negligence in my opinion and may put lives at risk.

Update 5/2016 Use as my simple everyday app. Easy to use and clear charts. Would like some indication of ETA and ETD when running a route. I realize that you are not really activating a route but I would like your tables of route points to have a column for distance and time to end of route. @@@@@@@@@@@@@ This is ok for what it is but it could be so much more. I expected a NAV app like other in iTunes but major problems. - does not navigate to a waypoint or route - icons are Way too big, they need to size to zoom level. - current vector should plot on chart for overview. - winds at stations should plot speed and direction now one or other. - love the way chart areas can download so you only get what you need. - Love the charts so far. More after I use them for few cruises. - Cannot edit active captain entries except for reviews.

Very disappointed. Total waste of $50. Would have been nice to know. Who knew it wouldnt include the biggest body of water in the central US and home of The Shootout??????? Boooo!

This has worked well for us for coastal and offshore navigation. I purchased the premium weather option which now does not work. As usual getting support from Garmin is almost impossible. The charts are too expensive also.

This app will not navigate you to a waypoint. The only map orientation is north up. It not worth $50. There are better cheaper options available.

Does not include ANY major lakes in central Texas. I spent $30 on this and can not use it at all.

When I first got this app 4 years ago, I paired it with a Dual GPS "puck". Worked beautifully for pre-trip charting and following along in real time. Then Garmin came out with their own mini GPS and they suddenly disabled external GPS support....for anything but Garmin products.....and their support says it was never intended as a real time charting app, bit there is a button for external GPS in the app...which clearly worked before. I will be going back to Navionics since they dont play hardball with the GPS you use.

Very useful marine navigation app. Uses same charts as my Garmin chart plotter so transition from looking at it and then glancing at iphone or iPad is seamless. App is free but charts are $30. Still a very good deal.

Use it all the time to plan trips...I do wish it has the ability to set cruising speed per segment of your trip. Only lets you have one for the whole route you plan. Also...premium weather is nice but seems to be no longer functional

I used love this app but I think the last update messed it up. I always like recording my path but ever since the last update when I set it to record it draws straight lines from where I start to where I next look at the app. This used to never happen. I hope they fix it soon.

They removed the ability for the app/GPS to run in the background, even though that functionality has existed from the beginning. They probably did it so it wouldnt cut into their Chartplotter sales. Wait, I already have one of those, so they are punishing their own customers for no good reason.....

Ive purchased the North America maps and the reservoir that I frequent in Alabama is not charted, rendering this app useless for me. Ive tried to contact Garmin for a refund or instructions on how to load satellite maps so I can still utilize this app. I have yet to get a response, so chances are your local lake will not work and youll waste your money.

I have had for about one year. Totally unable to navigate to a waypoint. Very simple request, create a waypoint and go from your present position to it. There appears to be a routing function, totally useless for me. I am a fisherman going from point to point. This product has a good base map but its navigation abilities are totally below GARMIN standareds.

Really - Really Garmin. Management needs to get involved here in a big way. You owe us at least a set of free maps for the serious idiocy we continue to endure. In case you dont realize it, your failure to properly beta test your software update is NEGLIGENT and could get people killed. There is NO excuse for your failure to properly test your updates, none. As a result, I no longer "auto update" anything on my iPad and will wait months before I even think about "updating" this app again (now that it is apparently fully functional again). Forced to update because my premium weather failed I discover logging off of the Garmin "sign in" and back on magically makes it work again. Ive owned the app since early 2013 and have sailed over 4500 miles using it (as a backup and a primary planning tool). It is (now once again) a wonderful tool that has become seemingly unreliable because you dont BETA test your upload. I have literally hundreds of saved anchorages (that often nicely match the wonderful Active Captain data) and love it. I just cant stand needing to figure out how to make it work again whenever you push an update. The new program could automatically log you off and on if that fixes the problem - but no, for the third time you push an update that needs more work. I used this App in 2014 to sail from Washington DC to Bar Harbor Maine and back and absolutely loved it. It has now gotten me to South Florida and back and I hope to keep adding routes and anchorages long into the future. When you fixed it with the (Feb 2016) update it was even better, no it is even much better - and I loved it then. Now another update brings the UNRELIABLE back to the Garmin name - how about some free map update for all the pain - put that in your next update script. The truth is Ive also given this app a Five star rating and a one star. The SECOND time you fixed it and the third time you broke it. Now you get a four star. To give your readers some background on the love/hate (1/5 star rating) relationship you see at the App Store for this product, they (Garmin) pushed updates (in 2014 and again 2015) that broke a major part (serious crash problems and serious route planning and measurement tool issues) of this otherwise great app. I was lucky, I wasnt actively cruising at the time but the app was almost totally useless for months on end. All criticism aside of the fatal updates they pushed, you will not find a better App to plan your cruise and have as a backup for your primary chart plotter when it is working. Its nice with one purchase to have it on all my Apple devices. I found myself using this as my go-to device to get information fast, when fast is important, as well as during nightly route planning. All the new bells and whistles theve added are worth the wait but not at the cost of breaking it once a year. Ill continue to dream about a set of free maps but wont hold my breath.

Missing most lakes. Has Great Lakes and a few major lakes, but I would like to see more lakes such as Lake Lanier in Atlanta which is a fairly large lake. If Garmin wants to sell lakes as another option, I would be fine with that as long as its reasonably price. About $20 would be a reasonable price. Would also be great to be able to switch maps to Apple or Google maps to figure out how to get to places. Very handy for people who trailer boats! It also doesnt sync your data between multiple devices. I have it on my iPhone and iPad. I use the iPhone on the boat.but prefer to to planning at home in my iPad. Routes, waypoints and tracks should be synced. Is iCloud! Would also like to see fishing data! Upgrades to charts should be cheaper!! Cant believe that I have to pay full price again for chart updates! But still a really good app to have!

Ok, I really do like the app. But the speedometer is very small and difficult to see. I have another GPS speedometer/heading app that is larger and easily readable, but the Garmin BlueChart app does not support the Apple iOS "Split-View" capability, which would enable me to see the BlueChart app with a more readable speed next to it. Both things should be done to improve the app - provide an overlay or section on the screen with larger speed, distance and headings, AND implement the split view capability.

This app is frozen on my phone. Unable to open or delete it, its been sitting there for months trying to update doing nothing but taking up space and annoying me with a gray icon. Thanks for the headache Garmin.

I use this app regularly on my iPhone and iPad. While it takes a little getting used to, I find it perfect to plan routes and check sea conditions. I learned to keep the number of map tiles down (I started with about 1/4 of the globe) so it doesnt take forever to start or download updated ActiveCaptain info.

Ive looked but it appears there is no SOG reading. How basic is that?