Geonav Chartplotter

D

drfeno

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
RO Number
30284
Messages
133
Hello,

I just purchased a Geonav G12 from Ebay, and it's looking like a bad decision. I realize they are older, but I was thinking it would at least work, and allow me to navigate. Its in physically perfect condition, however, I believe its in need of a software update. it boots, but the menus are clunky. Humminbird(parent company) doesn't want to hear about it. Does anyone perhaps have a flash drive or other media with The Geonav OS software.?

Thanks, Dave
 
Will it find satellites and display current position on screen, hopefully on a chart?

I ask because we have a rather old (maybe not as old as your G12) Garmin 498. Seems the GPS remembers some information about satellites from one usage to the next. If that "next" is too many days, the GPS will show the chart but won't get a fix. This isn't exact, but if our 498 won't get a fix after not being used for a few months. Say we winterized, it wouldn't work at splash time.

Satellites, or information about them, changes steadily and if the GPS hasn't kept track of those changes, the total amount of change is too much for it to work with from memory. On ours, there's a key sequence. If I hold one of the keys down, then press POWER and hold both down about 15 seconds, GPS knows it has to rebuild that little file. Takes a few minutes but then a fix appears.

We have internal antenna and have to do this either on the boat or at least outside. If yours uses an external antenna, I'm sure it would have to be connected.
 
The only time I've ever seen any GeoNav electronics was at a boat show maybe 7-8 yrs ago I believe. Similar to what j-d says above, many gps units will take a very looong time to acquire actual present position if the last time they "acquired" was far away, and even that may require another start or 2 to get it back on the hunt.

You do have the GPS antenna connected , yes? As j-d asked, does the G12 show any satellite lock-on to indicate the antenna may actually work correctly?

If this is a WAAS receiver, it's possible the set is confused by the long ago satellite repositioning (that with Northstar equipment required SW upgrade to address that and tide data ephemeris.)

Do you have the Installation/User Manual for the G12? If so, does it have instructions for inputting approximate present position to greatly speed up the satellite search( some GPS's provide that helpful function) ?

If you think the G12 is actually faulty, you should be able to contact the seller for exchange refund if the G12 was advertised as fully working normally. Then ebay will refund if the seller does not,.... as long as you did not claim it was a "gift" to avoid the extra selling charge.( As I'm sure you know, never do that since it erases any recourse for the buyer.)

Or, for grins, you could try contacting Bruce Angus who was(is?) Marketing Director for Johnson Outdoors which owned GeoNav.
https://contactout.com/Bruce-Angus-3533142

http://www.disvent.com/contenido_web/descargas/archivo_descarga_0c95d392.pdf ( Geonav Italian old website in English)

FWIW-Panbo has an archived write-up on the G12 and I believe there is a video (uTube?) demo-ing its use.
 
Thanks for the replies,

I did contact Humminbird, which did build these things from 2009 - 2011. They will in no way support it. they won't give out software or work with you on it. they did send me the users manual for it, and it does say that some menus need a gps antenna connected for them to work, but its not necessary for it to boot and look around the menus. I tried leaving it powered on for a couple of hours, and on my return, it was completely locked with a blank screen, unresponsive to any buttons. I had to disconnect power in order to shut it down. After that, it no longer boots at all. The power comes on, the backlit control wheels light up, but the screen remains blank. I also looked into repairing it at a 3rd party electronics repair place (there are several if you search for them). 2 places said they would not work on Geonav stuff at all.

Anyway, I contacted the seller and told him what was going on, and he agreed to take it back for a refund. I'll only be out the return shipping. Lesson learned.

Thanks,

Dave
 
That's a shame the purchase didn't work out , but good to hear it sounds like the seller will likely "make you whole" again except for return shipping.
Hopefully the next attempt at navigation device purchase will be more fruitful.
 
Even if it's old, better to have something with a manufacturer still at least available for some questions even if the product isn't current. GARMIN is a good example of that. Our GPS498 is functionally similar to some newer (and now also obsolete) models. A big difference was 498 used an old style proprietary "thumb drive" for system and map updates. I was able to get the system update very inexpensively by "renting" the special chip with the new OS on it for $50 which they refunded when they got the chip back. It has full "coastal" maps which I did not pay to update. Plenty adequate for the boating I do and the local knowledge I have.

Suggestion: Go ahead and comb eBay, Craigs, all that. BUT!!! Put a "Wanted to Buy" describing what you'd like, the area you run in, and about what you want to pay. Does it need to be Sounder too? I like having separate screens running for Nav and Sounder, but the 498 is a combo unit and I've been using it split screen since my old Garmin sounder burned out. My fault. Oh, it still works, just can't see the screen anymore because I left it on the boat (which was covered) when not using it. 498 comes inside every day. And GARMIN no longer services that model... Nor my 498. Last I checked they'd refub the one with external antenna but not my model with internal. Part of why I didn't buy new chart software. When it dies, I'm $150 closer to a new unit and it'll probably be a GARMIN.
 
I did return the Geonav, the seller was very good about it. I'm still in the market, and doing more diligent research. I don't need it to be a sounder, I have an older Garmin 178C sounder that I use for depth. I don't really care about bottom contours, only how deep the water is and it works for that. Thanks for all the input.

Dave
 
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