GARMIN Quickdraw Contours

[jimh]

GARMIN have announced a new product for introduction in January 2016 called QUICKDRAW CONTOURS. The best aspects of Quickdraw Contours are

--Quickdraw Contours is free

--Quickdraw Contours is easy

Quickdraw Contours is a software package and is either already included or can be downloaded, and executes on GARMIN:

--echoMAP™ CHIRP combo series

--echoMAP series,

--GPSMAP® 7400/7600 chartplotter series, and

--GPSMAP 8000/5x7/7x1/8x0/10x0 series.

Quickdraw Contours works with

--any Garmin Panoptix™ transducer,

--any HD-ID™ sonar,

--any CHIRP-enabled, Garmin DownVü™ transducer or NMEA 2000®-compatible depth transducer

Quickdraw Contours creates:

--personalized charts with 1-foot contours

--data that you can keep for just yourself, share with Garmin, or share with friends

GARMIN says all you have to do is continue to fish or navigate your boat while Quickdraw Contours creates your maps. A GARMIN website has examples of screen presentations that will be seen from Quickdraw Contour user-created bottom contour charts. See

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod543340.html

The most notable aspect of Quickdraw Contours:

--it is free;

--the contour mapping is created on your own chart plotter; you don't have to transfer your data to some central processor and wait a week to get a new chart; there is immediate processing of new chart detail;

--you can manage the distribution of the data yourself; that is, keep it private, share it with friends, or share it with everyone (Garmin).

[jimh]

Here is an excerpt from the press release from GARMIN that introduces their new software QUICKDRAW CONTOURS:

Garmin International Inc...today announced Quickdraw Contours, a free, easy-to-use software feature that lets mariners instantly create personalized [high definition] fishing maps with one-foot contours on any body of water. Quickdraw Contours results appear instantly on a compatible Garmin sonar-enabled chartplotter and the maps can be kept private or shared with others at no cost...

Quickdraw Contours is powerfully simple. Once it’s turned on, users will instantly see contours with labels generated right on the screen as the boat moves. There’s no waiting around or sending the files to Garmin. The results are quick and accurate, and can be viewed in real-time, or created in the background for use at a later time...Quickdraw Contours clearly shows where usable depth information has been collected and where gaps exist, so users can easily see what still needs to be collected.

...Quickdraw Contours also offers user-generated points of interest (POI) and waypoints. The POIs can be used to notate interesting information about a particular location, and waypoints can be added to mark a favorite spot or notable location for future reference.

The collected data can be stored on any off-the-shelf SD or microSDTM card, as well as existing Garmin BlueChart® g2, BlueChart g2 Vision® and LakeVü HD Ultra cards. Once the Quickdraw Contours data has been collected, users can opt to share it with others simply by copying the files to another card, or they can choose to keep it private; Garmin does not require that the data be shared, nor is there a fee to keep it private.

This software feature will come standard on the new 2016 echoMAP® CHIRP products, and will be available as a free software update for all other echoMAP and many GPSMAP® series products. It can be used with any depth transducer, including Garmin Panoptix, HD-ID, DownVü, and NMEA 2000 transducers. To learn more about Quickdraw Contours and all of the 2016 Garmin marine products, visit garmin.com/marine2016.

[kwik_wurk]

Good to know [about GARMIN Quikdraw Contours]. I am planning a Garmin upgrade this summer. I fish a lot of unmarked ocean pinnacles and ledges that are rather small, 50-feet in height in 200-feet of water. I would love to get the contours down by doing multiple passes and see what comes up when rendering at home.

[You don't have to wait. The contours are created instantly. See the press release above: "users will instantly see contours"--jimh.]