We know someone who bought the Ipad w/out the GPS, but then bought a GPS dongle. We thought it was worth the little extra expense to have the GPS version and not having a dangling dongle.
Looking for tablet and need suggestions for sailing apps
- Thread starter RonRock
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I have a GPS - plotter.
On my iPad I have Charts & Tides. A companion program that integrates with is Active Captain (free). Google Active Captain to read all its feuatures. I really like the hazards icon - not only marks but gives suggestions (ie shoaling at an entrance with notes from sailors how to navigate). Shows spots to anchor with comments; evaluates marinas, etc.
The more I use it the more I am impressed as fellow sailors are continually updating it.
It is like and electronic cruising guide.
On my iPad I have Charts & Tides. A companion program that integrates with is Active Captain (free). Google Active Captain to read all its feuatures. I really like the hazards icon - not only marks but gives suggestions (ie shoaling at an entrance with notes from sailors how to navigate). Shows spots to anchor with comments; evaluates marinas, etc.
The more I use it the more I am impressed as fellow sailors are continually updating it.
It is like and electronic cruising guide.
...I also bought the wifey an iPad for Xmas (evil grin)...yesterday I downloaded iNavx ($50), navionics west coast ($50), NOAA raster charts (free) and joined X-traverse ($10/yr).
Tomorrow my Bad Elf GPS arrives VIA Amazon ($99). Played w/ it last night setting up the charts, waypoints & routes. So far I'm very impressed. Will be soon installing AIS & weather apps. Good luck!
Tomorrow my Bad Elf GPS arrives VIA Amazon ($99). Played w/ it last night setting up the charts, waypoints & routes. So far I'm very impressed. Will be soon installing AIS & weather apps. Good luck!
A lot of the replies seem to be focusing on iPad vs dedicated chart plotter.
I think that depends on the type of sailing you’re going to do. If my safety depended on a GPS I would want at least two GPS devices, one being dedicated to GPS.
As another poster noted, Practical Sailor has several good articles on sailing related apps. Most of the GPS type apps have been noted in previous posts.
There are many other uses for an iPad or tablet on a boat.
Here are a few that I use on my iPad and iPhone type devices.
Weather - WeatherBug is a neat weather app that includes Spark. Spark scans for lightning strikes and tells you how far away lighting is. I also use MyRadar Pro for weather radar.
Manuals – I either downloaded or scanned all my manuals into PDF. I tried using different PDF readers and settled on Evernote. Evernote is a note keeping software. I found EN has the best synch function between my laptop, iPhone and iPad. No more paper on the boat. If I need to read the GPS manual I can open it with EN.
Sailing Log – There are several apps for details on your boat, spending, maintenance, trip log, receipts, etc. Again, I use EN for tracking this information. EN allows you to search inside of scanned documents also. Need to remember what wax you purchased and from where? Just do a search in EN to find it.
(Can you tell I like Evernote)
As for what device, that is a personal preference. I stayed away from Apple products for years but two years ago I decided to try an iPhone. Now we have two iPhones, two iPads, and one iMac. Everything synchs very nicely so no matter which device I enter a note into Evernote or take a photo or download music, it all goes to all devices.
There are a ton of apps for idevices and most are free or very low cost. That and ease of use are the main reason I went with Apple. I did not do a cost comparison to other phones and tablets as I knew Apple is always the most costly.
If you go with an iPad, know that one or two apps are not compatible with older versions. One I found was Garmin BlueChart Mobile. I have the iPad 1 (wife has the iPad Retina) and I do not miss the apps that don’t run on the earlier iPads.
While bright sunlight does make it harder to read the screen in sunlight, I find it harder to read my Garmin GPS due to the size.
Have fun!
Ward, Cool to read your comments on Evernote, I downloaded it recently but haven't had a chance to use it yet... now I am very encouraged. I got it because it seemed really perfect for collecting ideas, pictures, etc. on things I want to write mini articles about so you've confirmed its use. Thank you!
Display
I don't really know much about these things but I am using a black and white NOOK that has be en broke into in my Libelle sailplane. It is totally sunlight readable, seems to be even brighter in sunlight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8Tf-qidp0
I don't really know much about these things but I am using a black and white NOOK that has be en broke into in my Libelle sailplane. It is totally sunlight readable, seems to be even brighter in sunlight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV8Tf-qidp0
Perhaps it is because we mostly race and cant be that careful about water BUT we even have are share of issues with stuff getting damp at the nav station
We also still use handhelds and mark position on paper every hour on overnight races as we just don't find that many surprises at 6 knots
I am still not understanding what your missing as my plain 72H can display 6 important items of your choice in terms of how things are going between here and your next waypoint ?
We also still use handhelds and mark position on paper every hour on overnight races as we just don't find that many surprises at 6 knots
I am still not understanding what your missing as my plain 72H can display 6 important items of your choice in terms of how things are going between here and your next waypoint ?
So, I'll weigh in on this one. And I am doing it in full sunlight in my cockpit on my iPad.
I recently made the conversion to the iPad for navigating. I did a post on my blog about it. (http://svsmitty.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/ipad-navigation-and-other-boat-uses/) There are two links in my blog to other cruising blogs that discuss iPads being used in Mexico and the Bahamas.
As a little background. We live on our boat while it is in the water and I work from the cockpit fairly often. I have used iPhones, Android phones, a Toshiba Android tablet and various laptops. All of them have issues with viewing in direct sunlight. The iPad 3 or 4 with Retna Display does not! You can see it perfect either with or without polarized sunglasses. Absolutely no issues with visibility.
I have not taken any extended trips with the iPad yet so I can't really comment on battery life yet. But I have had the iPad on running the Navionics app with no wifi, bluetooth or cellular, just the GPS for location, and it used 7% of the battery capacity.
I am using the Lifeproof case and while it does not have a waterproof connection for the charger it is a really small opening and I am not that concerned about that being open for charging in good weather. In bad weather, the battery life seems to be very close to the 10 hours predicted by Apple, if not a little better. I am also adding an extra 12 volt outlet under the dodger.
There are several good apps for navigating and I am not really the best to discuss them all because I have only used Navionics so far. In my blog post there is a link to a post by Road Trip that discusses several of the options and what they liked and didn't like. I also read a review of the Garmin app that liked the features but didn't like that you had to buy the updates. As an example, Garmin put out 5 updates to the North American charts for 2012 and that would be $14.99 for each and you don't get a list of what was updated to know if it was critical or not. Updates on Navionics are free.
I hope this was helpful.
Fair winds,
Jesse
I have the IPad 3 with the cel/gps feature and use Navionics HD(Marine&Lakes USA&Canada) with the Nav Module. Excellent little app. I have crosschecked it with my Garmin 3006c a few times and they both display identical information. I use it mainly for back up but it is great for planning and getting tide and current information. The touch screen makes it a breeze to operate and as was mentioned, the zoom feature is great for tired eyes. As I can access the net with it, I can even do a little research on actual weather and current conditions. I bet it is only a matter of time before there is a bluetooth connection for wind and depth instruments. You can already interface with the new Raymarine plotters(smart move). I also use Boat Beacon, Compass Eye, Sailflow and Weather Eye HD. The AIS feature in Boat Beacon is amazing. Once your MMSI number and boat information is entered, you can be seen by all other boats in the area with your speed and direction. There is a collision alarm built in that can be activated. It does appear that you need to have the cel feature to use the GPS. My IPad is much more than a back up plotter though as you would find out if you owned one. There are now more than 300,000 apps. easily searched using key words. Am I a fan, yes. Just like all Apple products that I have, it just works... As far as waterproof cases, there are lots to choose from, just google waterproof Ipad case. Bobs yer Uncle. Cheers,
Small boat experience
I keep my iPhone handy while sailing, and as others have said, at 6 knots there aren't any real surprises!
As for battery life, I just start the app up when needed and shut the app off after referencing location until needed again -- like hopping along navigation marker lights/ATONs at night. And I just put the phone down below when worried about splash or risk of falling overboard--I won't go forward with it in my pocket! I will occassionally and overnight plug it into the 12v power ports below for a recharge when on an overnight trip.
I mainly use two apps: 1. Navionics--has vector charts with nice details that are scalable. and 2. Charts (yep, thats its name), which is raster based but more user friendly in its controls. (mainly a function of getting familiar with how an app works though) For those asking, Raster charts are the scanned NOAA charts, while Vector charts are computer generated representations with scalable features; rasters are only zoomable without "scalability." If that makes sense.
I also use Polar navigation on my MacBook to chart courses and have some success with emailing waypoints and routes to myself and then opening it up on my iphone in CHARTS app. Neat feature! can also email them out as well back to laptop app. Not sure if this can be done in Navionics.
CHARTS is cheap but highly useful. EDIT: Oops, no active captain integration in these apps; I was thinking of my Polar Navigation app on the laptop, sorry!
That's my 2 pesos.
I keep my iPhone handy while sailing, and as others have said, at 6 knots there aren't any real surprises!
As for battery life, I just start the app up when needed and shut the app off after referencing location until needed again -- like hopping along navigation marker lights/ATONs at night. And I just put the phone down below when worried about splash or risk of falling overboard--I won't go forward with it in my pocket! I will occassionally and overnight plug it into the 12v power ports below for a recharge when on an overnight trip.
I mainly use two apps: 1. Navionics--has vector charts with nice details that are scalable. and 2. Charts (yep, thats its name), which is raster based but more user friendly in its controls. (mainly a function of getting familiar with how an app works though) For those asking, Raster charts are the scanned NOAA charts, while Vector charts are computer generated representations with scalable features; rasters are only zoomable without "scalability." If that makes sense.
I also use Polar navigation on my MacBook to chart courses and have some success with emailing waypoints and routes to myself and then opening it up on my iphone in CHARTS app. Neat feature! can also email them out as well back to laptop app. Not sure if this can be done in Navionics.
CHARTS is cheap but highly useful. EDIT: Oops, no active captain integration in these apps; I was thinking of my Polar Navigation app on the laptop, sorry!
That's my 2 pesos.
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I can't find that app. Is it called "Simple Charts" maybe for $9.99?Charts (yep, thats its name), which is raster based but more user friendly in its controls. (mainly a function of getting familiar with how an app works though) For those asking, Raster charts are the scanned NOAA charts, while Vector charts are computer generated representations with scalable features; rasters are only zoomable without "scalability." If that makes sense.
...
CHARTS is cheap but highly useful, and it has Active captain imported into it. Nice!
Thanks,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Its listed as "Marine Charts"
-- note: sorry about the comment about Active Captain integration, I wish it did, but I was thinking of my Polar Navigation app on the laptop. Still a good app however.
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