Bad Elf or Dual

[SailorRob]

Hi all. I have been using Navionics with my iPhone and I now have an iPad that I thought would be useful for navigation too. The problem is that I don't have the iPad with a built in GPS. So I need to buy a receiver and I was wondering if anyone has tried the Bad Elf or the Dual receiver. By the way, these are just back ups to my Garmin handheld - that has a very small screen and isn't as nice to look at as the iPad.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[THECUSCUS]

I use the Dual for my ipad. Works fine and has good battery life (will outlast the ipad). And there is an app, that gives you a lot of good info on your Puck (batt life, position, sats used, ). Don't know about the Elf.

 

[jtm]

I'm at same process as you- recently got an ipad2 and plan on installing inavx( check out the apps review on Practical Sailor recently). I considered the Bad Elf and the Dual. I like the bluetooth approach price differential aside) as I can mount the dual on the ped or a cabintop rail or dodger rail and have it handshake to the ipad via bluetooth.
What I see about the Bad Elf plug-in to the ipad ( which i would use in the cabin for planning/mapping purposes) is a degraded sat signal , and more importantly - the plug-in to the bottom socket of the ipad is just begging to be broken off in an unfortunate movement. I think Dual xgps150a (bluetooth) is the easy choice!

 

[RonRelyea]

I've got the Bad Elf bluetooth .. works fine with my iPad 4 ... nice standalone features too

 

[THECUSCUS]

I keep my Dual puck down below on the table and can bring the ipad out into the cockpit, and have never had a signal problem (satelite or bluetooth). But my boat is small, you guys with larger craft may have differing results.(ok no jokes here)

 

[dscribner]

Bad Elf had a pretty decent write-up in Ocean Voyager mag. If I didn't hate Apple so much, I'd probably pick one up myself.

 

[Captn TJ]

Panbo.com is a great source for anything concerning electronics. I know Ben has reviewed bad Elf not sure about dual.

 

[SailorRob]

Hey you guys are great. I was wondering about the durability of the Bad Elf. Now there is a Bad Elf Pro. Just when things seemed so simple! I may just go with the Dual.