Electronic Charts on an ipad

[wingdiver]

Not me - not an Apple user - but a friend has just got hold of an ipad and is looking at the idea of using the chart apps that are available to download to it.
I guess the main thing is that an external GPS of some sort is going to be needed otherwise it will lose signal once offshore. Presumably anything with a suitable output would do as long as there is an adaptor to connect to the ipad.
Has anyone got experience of using an ipad with chart software that could provide some pointers.
Thanks
D

 

[Supine Being]

Not me - not an Apple user - but a friend has just got hold of an ipad and is looking at the idea of using the chart apps that are available to download to it.
I guess the main thing is that an external GPS of some sort is going to be needed otherwise it will lose signal once offshore. Presumably anything with a suitable output would do as long as there is an adaptor to connect to the ipad.
Has anyone got experience of using an ipad with chart software that could provide some pointers.
Thanks
D

If it's an iPad with integrated 3G then it will also have full GPS so there's no need for a mobile signal or an external GPS device.

There are a few different chart apps including Navionics, Imray, and Plan2Nav. Personally I think it's good as a backup but I wouldn't use it as my main device due to lack of robustness and difficulty reading the screen in full sunlight.

There are a bunch of threads in the other YBW forums going into much more detail.

 

[ianfr]

We have the Navionics app on an ASUS TF300 Android tablet, which is half the price of an Ipad.

The app was £47 and the maps are bang up to date.

The tablet has GPS, and Wifi. As a backup to the main chartplotter its brilliant.

We are hoping that Navionics will improve the functionality of the app especially in route editing.

Regards

Ian & Jo

 

[benw]

I have used the Navionics with both original iPad and now iPad 2. The latest version has integrated wind and tide info as opposed to a grib file download which was very useful.
A couple of slight issues are use in bright direct sunlight and using at night on the lowest setting. The first is relatively easily sorted having under the spray hood. The latter i have yet to solve but is quite blasting when off shore with no other light sources around.
Wondered if a screen cover may help reduce it even more but have not had the opportunity this year yet.
Waterproofing is easily sorted now, battery drain is ok allowing a 12 hr passage providing you set the screen turn off at a reasonable minute or so.
A great second plotter or excellent addition to a basic gps.

 

[Otter]

It's fast becoming our main plotter. A wireless 10 inch touchscreen plotter with up to date full northern European charts would cost how much? The iPad cost me £300 from Tesco on eBay, the charts cost £25 in a Navionics sale and have unlimited free updates. With the iPhone running as a hotspot I can use the same piece of equipment as a laptop and general browser. The only thing our main plotter does better is display AIS data. This is possible with an iPad but it would need £400 of extra equipment to do that on the iPad. The other issue is that very occasionally an iPad will spit its dummy out and crash an app that is using too much processing power or memory. Could be entirely the wrong moment for that to happen. But if the wireless NMEA kit comes down a lot in price then the main plotter may go. We are fortunate to have it in a wheelhouse but it does also mean in case it could go on deck.