Best device for navionics on board.

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I've found navionics on my phone so useful that I want to get a bigger tablet for my yacht at the chart table. I've still got paper charts and a Garmin GPS so there will be a back up.

Does anyone recommend the best value/performance tablet to buy. I'm assuming it will need either a pay as you go sim or a contract and obviously GPS. What are people using?
 
Don't think you'll need a sim, you can download charts via wifi at home before you go.

I've no idea if you'll find one that can do it, but my phone can set up a memory card as part of the main memory. This is a very useful attribute as apps seem to want to put a good chunk of themselves in the main memory; on previous phones, I'd often run out of memory in spite of having 50GB of space on the card.
 
moondancer2 said:
I've found navionics on my phone so useful that I want to get a bigger tablet for my yacht at the chart table. I've still got paper charts and a Garmin GPS so there will be a back up.

Does anyone recommend the best value/performance tablet to buy. I'm assuming it will need either a pay as you go sim or a contract and obviously GPS. What are people using?
Click to expand...
I find Navionics very useful on my phone so always use it on my phone. Are the disadvantages of using two, unconnected devices for navigation outweighed by a slightly bigger screen?
 
I got Navionics for my phone, also a tablet for it which I now hardly use for that purpose, the phone in my pocket is still so much handier.

But I still hanker after something "built in" which isn't subject to battery power, or dodgy/sensitive charging arrangements, which just works when switched on, doesn't fall asleep etc.

Latest thought is a smallish Onwa like the kp39 from Aves marine. You'd pay extra for non proprietary charts like Navionics though...
 
I use an old google Nexus tablet for navionics, it works fine. Pretty much any tablet will do as long as it has GPS and enough memory to store the charts that you download for offline use. You can also do your planning on the web version and then sync to your various devices...
 
Just_sayin' said:
If you use an iPad you will need one that takes a sim but you don't need a sim.

There are two distinct sorts of iPad ... WiFi and Cellular or just WiFi.

You need the first one.
Click to expand...

Being the owner of a wifi-only ipad I disagree. Your argument is based on the (true) fact that the wifi-only ipad has no internal GPS but you don't need internal GPS. You have two obvious alternative options:
1. bluetooth GPS. The 32GB wifi-only ipad is £349. The cellular one is £479. A garmin glo 2 is £84 on amazon, so the ipad+glo combo saves you nearly £50 and you can use the glo with your laptop or other devices too.
2. Use boat's GPS over wifi. As I recently demonstrated in another thread, the current Navionics boating accepts GPS data (as well as AIS) over wifi.

Of course that's only ipads not android tablets. Built-in GPS is undoubtedly convenient, I'd just argue that it's convenience I wouldn't spend £130 for. YMMV.
 
I'm using a Blackview BV9500, which is a rugged Android phone with roughly the shape, size, weight and durability of a small brick. You can submerge it, the battery is huge and lasts for days and it doesn't mind being dropped or bashed around. The screen is somewhere between a normal phone and a tablet and suits me fine for Navionics, although we do only use Navionics as secondary navigation tool (primary is OpenCPN on a bigger screen). Advantage is that you can also use it as phone (good belt required) and take it on dinghy rides so you can easily find the entrance to the Lidl river on Corfu :)

And of course it's got an excellent GPS receiver, barometric pressure sensor and dual SIM card slots. The camera is unfortunately hampered by crappy firmware, or it would be a great phone. Still, for boating use it's pretty good.
 
laika said:
Being the owner of a wifi-only ipad I disagree. Your argument is based on the (true) fact that the wifi-only ipad has no internal GPS but you don't need internal GPS. You have two obvious alternative options:
1. bluetooth GPS. The 32GB wifi-only ipad is £349. The cellular one is £479. A garmin glo 2 is £84 on amazon, so the ipad+glo combo saves you nearly £50 and you can use the glo with your laptop or other devices too.
2. Use boat's GPS over wifi. As I recently demonstrated in another thread, the current Navionics boating accepts GPS data (as well as AIS) over wifi.

Of course that's only ipads not android tablets. Built-in GPS is undoubtedly convenient, I'd just argue that it's convenience I wouldn't spend £130 for. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Fair enough choice but I would spend that and more for simplicity.
 
I use a 10" Galaxy Tab A ... works fine.

I bought a €12 case for it, cut the front flap off, drilled and countersunk the back, stiffened it with a bit of plastic sheet (could use aluminium), and screwed it over the hole where my old black and white chart plotter used to be. It now clips in and out and is powered using a flying lead from the USB sockets mounted below it ....

Think twice about a WiFi only ... with a SIM it can also get weather info and use apps like Windy autonomously without the need for a WiFi Hotspot - I often take the tablet to restaurants and bars to plan the next days sailing and there's not always WiFi - I also stream Spotify to my stereo (pictured above the tablet) - EU free roaming means my German SIM works anywhere (Just avoid Switzerland!!!)

1598796053141.png
 
RupertW said:
Fair enough choice but I would spend that and more for simplicity.
Click to expand...
Unless the GPS source has added function. I already had a garmin in reach + which i bought for tracking and coms on a long offshore passage so when it came time to upgrade my iPad I knew I didn't need the inbuilt GPS so could use the price different to get a higher spec non cellular iPad.
 
laika said:
Being the owner of a wifi-only ipad I disagree. Your argument is based on the (true) fact that the wifi-only ipad has no internal GPS but you don't need internal GPS. You have two obvious alternative options:
1. bluetooth GPS. The 32GB wifi-only ipad is £349. The cellular one is £479. A garmin glo 2 is £84 on amazon, so the ipad+glo combo saves you nearly £50 and you can use the glo with your laptop or other devices too.
2. Use boat's GPS over wifi. As I recently demonstrated in another thread, the current Navionics boating accepts GPS data (as well as AIS) over wifi.

Of course that's only ipads not android tablets. Built-in GPS is undoubtedly convenient, I'd just argue that it's convenience I wouldn't spend £130 for. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I'm going to disagree with your disagree :)

You're not spending £130 for GPS, you already stated you have to buy an external GPS, so the extra cost is less than £50. Using the boats GPS over wifi means you are reliant on the boat systems working. You have to run two devices and if the boat GPS fails you don't have a backup, which you do have with built in GPS.

If it's down to money, a 10" Samsung tablet, with built in GPS is only £140, you could buy three for the cost of your iPad and Glo.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
I use a 10" Galaxy Tab A ... works fine.

I bought a €12 case for it, cut the front flap off, drilled and countersunk the back, stiffened it with a bit of plastic sheet (could use aluminium), and screwed it over the hole where my old black and white chart plotter used to be. It now clips in and out and is powered using a flying lead from the USB sockets mounted below it ....

Think twice about a WiFi only ... with a SIM it can also get weather info and use apps like Windy autonomously without the need for a WiFi Hotspot - I often take the tablet to restaurants and bars to plan the next days sailing and there's not always WiFi - I also stream Spotify to my stereo (pictured above the tablet) - EU free roaming means my German SIM works anywhere (Just avoid Switzerland!!!)

View attachment 97799
Click to expand...

You could use the money you saved to buy a set square :-)
 
If using a non cellular iPad, when connecting to a wifi within the boat or using blue tooth,
1, blue tooth is not that reliable
2 using Wi-fi or blue tooth uses extra battery power.
3. No longer is stand alone.
4 cannot be used in the tender or someone else’s boat
 
Baggywrinkle said:
I use a 10" Galaxy Tab A ... works fine.

I bought a €12 case for it, cut the front flap off, drilled and countersunk the back, stiffened it with a bit of plastic sheet (could use aluminium), and screwed it over the hole where my old black and white chart plotter used to be. It now clips in and out and is powered using a flying lead from the USB sockets mounted below it ....

Think twice about a WiFi only ... with a SIM it can also get weather info and use apps like Windy autonomously without the need for a WiFi Hotspot - I often take the tablet to restaurants and bars to plan the next days sailing and there's not always WiFi - I also stream Spotify to my stereo (pictured above the tablet) - EU free roaming means my German SIM works anywhere (Just avoid Switzerland!!!)

View attachment 97799
Click to expand...
Brilliant. That's the sort of thing I was thinking of
 
Rocksteadee said:
If using a non cellular iPad, when connecting to a wifi within the boat or using blue tooth,
1, blue tooth is not that reliable
2 using Wi-fi or blue tooth uses extra battery power.
3. No longer is stand alone.
4 cannot be used in the tender or someone else’s boat
Click to expand...


I will give you #2 and a bit of #3

#4 depends on your GPS source

my experience * is that bluetooth is super reliable in this application.



* Based on a maximum of 18 days and 5 hours continuous use with no interruption of signal. Longer than that I cannot judge.
 
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