OK.
I'm going to try and clarify a few things so that hopefully it puts an end to some of the rumours and bad info.
#1 - Sonar Charts Live does not record your sonar data, it converts your sonar data into maps. It will not fill up your card. RavYak is correct on the math, there is thousands of hours of space on the card to store map data.
#2 - Using a Navionics card on a Lowrance sonar unit does NOT require that your recorded data is uploaded to Navionics. You have the CHOICE to upload your map data to Navionics if you want to add to their public map database, but it is in no way required. Your Sonar Charts Live data is 100% private.
#3 - Any mapping you've done while your Navionics+ subscription is active is permanently yours to use. If you allow the subscription to expire, you won't be able to create any new maps or access any new publicly available map data, but you WILL have access to your existing maps.
#4 - The Navionics updates and lake data are large. Minimize the area you're updating and uploading onto your card to the areas you fish. That's fairly simple to do in the computer update program, and the amount of data to cover all of AB and SK is very reasonable. It gets crazy when you start adding ON, QC, etc...
#5 - You can record other files to the Navionics+ card. If you have a single SD slot unit, you can still record your sonar data files to the Navionics card for use with C-MAP Genesis. You just have to be more diligent about copying them to a computer and deleting them.
#6 - The size of your sonar files can be drastically reduced with zero map quality loss by selecting to record the 2D sonar data only, just select .slg as the file type. Using that setting, a full 8 hrs of sonar data is approx. 500-600 MB. If you record the DI/SI data as well (.sl2), an 8 hr log will be about 2 GB. You can easily save 2-3 full days of data onto a Navionics card depending on how you record. Another useful tip is to create a new sonar data file every hour or so, several small files will upload much quicker than one large file, and there's a lot less risk of losing your data. I've found that you also get better map results, especially when merging trips, if there aren't large distances between data points. If you plan on doing a long run over 20mph while changing spots, stop the recording when you leave and start a new recording when you get setup again.
I'm really hoping that Lowrance or Lowrance and some mapping partner (C-MAPs?) come out with a live mapping program that doesn't require a yearly subscription, and I'm hoping they do it much sooner than later. If I really had my wish list, I'd agree with RavYak that I'd LOVE to see a way to edit your live mapping data after the fact too, that would be huge.
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