Cheap n Cheerful iPad external GPS?

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Catamaran

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Mornign all,

Anyone got any experience of connecting a cheapish GPS to a WiFi only iPad for use with Navionics?

All the GPS units I've seen are around the £100 mark, but these seem to be endorsed by Apple. They also seem to be ultra fast lock for aviation type situations... not the sort of thing we'll need bobbing along at 5kn! I've tried to connect a really old GPS bluetooth jobby, but the iPad and iPhone won't even recognise the bluetooth connection. (My macbook does, on the other hand!)

This is just for a back-up system, so if we can get a cheap one to work, we can leave it on the boat.
 
What version of ios are you running Version 8.3 had issues with location Services - sorted out in 8.4. I use a Skypro XGPS 140. Not cheap and cheerful but uses GPS and GLOSNASS allows multiple connections and I think is well worth the extra money.
 
I use a GNS5870 with my Ipad Mini. I also bought an Overboard Ipad mini waterproof cover and it works great. The GNS is small and slots into the back of the overboard pouch. I think I paid around £80-90 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/GNS-5870-MFI-...e=UTF8&qid=1438000008&sr=1-1&keywords=GNS5870
Mine has not seen very much use so I'm not the best judge. I also heard that Garmin do one and the Bad Elf units are supposed to be quite good.
 
Just bite the bullet and buy the bad elf gps. Not cheap, but do you want a cheap item to tell you where the hidden rocks are? No.
...................
I thought the water was deeper than this!!!!
 
Running 8.4... I think the issue is just that Apple are bastards and won't give you the freedom to attach whatever you want via GPS!

It's not my ipad, but a mate's... I'm contemplating suggesting he buys a cheap Android tablet to run Navionics and nothing else, and I'll give him my GPS thingy.
 
All good advice on GPS units but have a scout round ebay at second hand 3G Ipad2 units - you might be able to get one not a lot different in price to the GPS unit and then no issues with connections/batteries etc
 
The standard I pad gps chip may tell you which pub you are in but my 1st generation steam powered I pad with bad elf will show which table I am sitting at. That's what I want. Accuracy.
 
johnnyseagull said:
The standard I pad gps chip may tell you which pub you are in but my 1st generation steam powered I pad with bad elf will show which table I am sitting at. That's what I want. Accuracy.
Click to expand...

I take the point but I think its a bit unfair. My 3G ipad2 tells me which pontoon I am on in the marina and which way I am facing and allows me to drop the pick on a seabed contour line for fishing - that'll do me. I guess it is a balance between budget and performance for all of us - just trying to give OP another choice.
 
Thanks for the heads up. However, I have been using mine (is4.3) for three years now. Just shows how much I know about computers. It has taken me all along the SW coast and from Wales to the Clyde and the inner Hebrides. It took me blind through the rocks and shoals at Eigg to a perfect anchorage, and out again.
Johnny Seagull
 
johnnyseagull said:
Thanks for the heads up. However, I have been using mine (is4.3) for three years now. Just shows how much I know about computers. It has taken me all along the SW coast and from Wales to the Clyde and the inner Hebrides. It took me blind through the rocks and shoals at Eigg to a perfect anchorage, and out again.
Johnny Seagull
Click to expand...

If you are using GPS to provide blind navigation, thick fog or whatever, bear in mind that most charts were drawn up before the days of GPS, and could be, could be, wildly inaccurate.
 
I bought a HUDL 1 for £25 and put Navionics on it. The Hudl probably doesn't perform the same as an iPad, but cost vs effectiveness, it's brilliant.

+1 on the comment about the accuracy of charts. While the GPS may be insanely accurate, the charts are not. In the old days there was so much error, everyone gave hazards a wide berth - but with the perceived accuracy of GPS there is a risk that hazards on the chart may be 'in the wrong place'. I think there is less risk of this around the UK than somewhere like the South Pacific, but I still give hazards a wide berth.
 
Even with a top of the range fitted chart plotter and brand new maps, I'd still give hazards a wide berth... I wouldn't want to rely on a GPS of any quality for close-quarters manoeuvring!
 
Having just been given an iPad 2 I have researched the issue. It seems that Apple have only enabled Bluetooth for certain things, and GPS is not one of them, so unless you jailbreak it a cheap Bluetooth GPS will just not work.
 
Norman_E said:
Having just been given an iPad 2 I have researched the issue. It seems that Apple have only enabled Bluetooth for certain things, and GPS is not one of them, so unless you jailbreak it a cheap Bluetooth GPS will just not work.
Click to expand...

Not so. Upgrade the software to 8.4 and the issue with location is resolved. I have a GNS2000 bluetooth GPS and it is great on my iPad3.
 
Norman_E said:
Having just been given an iPad 2 I have researched the issue. It seems that Apple have only enabled Bluetooth for certain things, and GPS is not one of them, so unless you jailbreak it a cheap Bluetooth GPS will just not work.
Click to expand...
Not so ... I have an iPad 2 with no 3G, so I got a Dual XGPS150 for about £70 which worked with the iPad 2... There were issues with some versions of IOS and its recognition of external GPS source, which was fixed in IOS 8

I managed to drop that ipad shortly after and now have an iPad air 1, which still involves a bit of fiddling with settings ...but it seems fabulously accurate wit Navionics
 
Bathdave said:
Not so ... I have an iPad 2 with no 3G, so I got a Dual XGPS150 for about £70 which worked with the iPad 2... There were issues with some versions of IOS and its recognition of external GPS source, which was fixed in IOS 8

I managed to drop that ipad shortly after and now have an iPad air 1, which still involves a bit of fiddling with settings ...but it seems fabulously accurate wit Navionics
Click to expand...

agreed - apple screwed up with the previous update and wrecked the bluetooth connectivity which upset us and also pilots who use it too. I bought a bluetooth bad elf - not the cheapest but excellent. I decided not to compromise on quality with the gps receiver as i didn't want a sketchy bluetooth connection and I an very very pleased with it.
 
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