iPad, iPhone or iPod UK charts for £5.99

[jon]

Not for android yet, but this app from Sail Timer seems good value:
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=3b35304600fdfa13455e1e6da&id=eb4ecbd029&e=c1b6a4aeda


'UK charts
£5.99
This month to celebrate summer sailing in Britain, we are pleased to announce a special package for sailors: low-cost marine charts to go along with our free app and wireless anemometer.

We have never seen prices this low on UK hydrographic charts. You get all of England, Ireland and Scotland for under £6.'

 

[Cantata]

Looks 'too good to be true', somehow. I will wait for others to spend their 6 quid first and report back, I think!

 

[JJS]

Actually, the SailTimer Charts Edition app is free, so there isn't really any risk with these low-cost charts. The app also comes with worldwide road maps and aerial photos. Even just like that, without using the Admiralty charts, when I enter a waypoint I can get full tacking results.

They have screenshots and demos on the web site (plus you are protected by your credit card company and by iTunes). So the app is definitely worth a try. Even most GPS chartplotters can't display the tacking results in this app, like your optimal tacks, polar plots, and Tacking Time to Destination.

 

[dunedin]

Looks 'too good to be true', somehow. I will wait for others to spend their 6 quid first and report back, I think!

OK. I'll be that mug! Downloaded the app (there seems to be a free one and a £9.99 one, and not clear what the differences are - but as this is a "bargain charts" test guess which one I went for)
Currently downloading very slowly a west coast chart. Looks like it generally works from Internet (not ideal) but can download an area in view - so will see how this works

 

[planteater]

I went for it too. The basic plotter app seism to have extra functionality related to tacking when connected to the optional wireless wind vane. The charts themselves are simply scans of the hydrographic office paper chats. The include all the various notes, scales etc. which can not be switched off. These are tiled like a jigsaw puzzle and overlaid onto a base road map.

It's a strange system but it's all there for the princely sum of £5.99

 

[bikedaft]

So can you use it out of wifi/mobile range? What memory capacity do you need to say download all of west coast scotlan? Ta

 

[dunedin]

Initial reaction mixed. It's got a lot of admiralty charts for every little money.
But very slow to download - and on 1st generation iPad rather slow to scroll / refresh.
Also on initial bash it seems to want to revert to current location when looking at charts, even with GPS position switched off in settings.

May need more time to investigate properly - but nothing like as intuitive after 5 minutes as my Navionics on Android phone.

 

[dunedin]

So can you use it out of wifi/mobile range? What memory capacity do you need to say download all of west coast scotlan? Ta

In theory yes, can download in advance. Tried briefly with Flight Mode switched on and some charts are there

But with Apple's carp approach to file management, and the App not giving much clues either, very difficult to work out what it has actually downloaded (cannot just look at files on drive as I can on the android)

 

[SAWDOC]

We had a recent thread on a similar Android app MXmariner where you got a similar deal. The limitations of the app seem to be on plotter functionality rather than on the charts themselves which seem fine for purpose. and no need for wifi - you do need a gps signal to locate your device on the downloaded chart background.

 

[JJS]

...it seems to want to revert to current location when looking at charts, even with GPS position switched off in settings.

The cross-hairs in the upper-left corner are a "Follow-Me" toggle. When blue, your current position is centered in the screen, and the charts move past you. When white, you can move the view to other locations regardless of where you are.