London Chartplotters recommendation

Rum Run

Rum Run

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7 Apr 2011
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Me: Midlands, Boats: East Coast
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I had the urge to replace my elderly iPad with something less fruity so combined that with broadening my nav equipment by buying from London Chartplotters.
A rogue button on the eccentric website led me to pay for something no longer in stock so Steve Davis immediately phoned me to ask me what I wanted to do out of the options of equipment had in stock or a refund. I ended up with a tablet plus AIS receiver and all the bits and bobs like chargers and cables including a substantial screen mount. So far everything seems integrated as a turnkey system.
I would recommend LCP to anyone needing a tablet or PC plotter and if you have trouble with the website he can sort things out for you by email or phone - the person you talk to is the one doing the work and taking responsibility.
Usual disclaimer- My only connection with LCP is as a satisfied customer
 
Rum Run said:
I had the urge to replace my elderly iPad with something less fruity so combined that with broadening my nav equipment by buying from London Chartplotters.
A rogue button on the eccentric website led me to pay for something no longer in stock so Steve Davis immediately phoned me to ask me what I wanted to do out of the options of equipment had in stock or a refund. I ended up with a tablet plus AIS receiver and all the bits and bobs like chargers and cables including a substantial screen mount. So far everything seems integrated as a turnkey system.
I would recommend LCP to anyone needing a tablet or PC plotter and if you have trouble with the website he can sort things out for you by email or phone - the person you talk to is the one doing the work and taking responsibility.
Usual disclaimer- My only connection with LCP is as a satisfied customer
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We are going through this process right now so thank you for the recommendation. The tablet mount has just been delivered from Amazon and will probably be going back.
 
The best I can say about London Chart Plotters is that they are cheap. They are also helpful but I found that the quality of the tablet was rather poor and the plotter software also poor compared to Navionics. It is about 4 years since I bought their tablet and plotter s/w and things may have improved.
 
Mataji said:
The best I can say about London Chart Plotters is that they are cheap. They are also helpful but I found that the quality of the tablet was rather poor and the plotter software also poor compared to Navionics. It is about 4 years since I bought their tablet and plotter s/w and things may have improved.
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I have the same views, having bought a package about 2 years ago. I never used what I received from him on the boat.....

I suggest Navionics on a tablet, or what I used last year is Navionics on my chinese water-proof hammer-proof phone which was absolutely brilliant. I bought the 5" version on amazon for about 100 quid and I use it all of the time, , I also have open cpn on my old tablet (which has a bigger screen for my old eyes in the rain)

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Years ago I bought a tablet from them but they neglected to tell me that with the tablet screen on bright and running the nav app the supplied charger would not be able to keep up with the device’s current draw. They (somewhat moodily) refunded me so fair enough, but I would advise people to check charger will keep up with the device when it’s working hard.
 
fredrussell said:
Years ago I bought a tablet from them but they neglected to tell me that with the tablet screen on bright and running the nav app the supplied charger would not be able to keep up with the device’s current draw. They (somewhat moodily) refunded me so fair enough, but I would advise people to check charger will keep up with the device when it’s working hard.
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I wasn't quick enough to look for a refund a year later he asked to be allowed to take it and fix it under guarantee.
I posted it back and eventually it was returned dead as a brick..but with a renewed set of maps which I was expected to pay for and the return postage.

I think the software was marine navigator. the maps were raster charts...
 
I have a tablet from London Chartplotters which is there as back up to my fixed plotter.
Must be 5 years later and it was still working last time I checked. For the price at the time it was good value . The navigation software would get me home.
When plugged into the boat via a USB cable the state of charge is maintained at 100%

A Navionics chart card alone cost more than I paid for the tablet with the software included.
 
I bought an old rugged Panasonic one from Steve together with Marine Navigator software. This has AIS capability supplied via WIFI. This, together with a big bundle of raster charts from Viewmyharbour, seems to me an excellent value independent back-up system to my Raymarine chart plotter / Navionics system.
 
Last edited:
fredrussell said:
Years ago I bought a tablet from them but they neglected to tell me that with the tablet screen on bright and running the nav app the supplied charger would not be able to keep up with the device’s current draw. They (somewhat moodily) refunded me so fair enough, but I would advise people to check charger will keep up with the device when it’s working hard.
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I think he has taken this issue on board as the kit supplied to me had a DC-DC converter included, which can be hard wired into the boat 12v supply.
On a side note, in a professional capacity I have found a few tablets to suffer from the inability to charge fast enough when in hard use, including iPads in one situation
 
I found the service and after care at London Chartplotters really good. I wanted a low cost tablet for my Antares charts. I had a call back to explain the options and the pack came last year, with a 12v converter as well as a stand and clamp for locating it in the cockpit. My tablet was reconditioned and I was warned about battery capacity. As well as the manual pre loaded onto the tablet, I had a handwritten set of instructions that just stopped short of being labelled “for dummies”. The charts were loaded and all I needed to do was switch on......my kind of technology. So far, no problems.
 
pandos said:
I have the same views, having bought a package about 2 years ago. I never used what I received from him on the boat.....

I suggest Navionics on a tablet, or what I used last year is Navionics on my chinese water-proof hammer-proof phone which was absolutely brilliant. I bought the 5" version on amazon for about 100 quid and I use it all of the time, , I also have open cpn on my old tablet (which has a bigger screen for my old eyes in the rain)

Cubot KINGKONG MINI Orange Cell phones Sale, Price & Reviews | Gearbest
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Did you try installing Navionics onto the London Chartplotters Tablet?
 
Just got a setup from them. A waterproof Samsung tablet in a rugged case and an AIS receiver. It may not be the most sophisticated setup, but it meets my needs and is half the price of a "proper" chartplotter. I'm not bothered about battery life as it'll always be plugged in on the boat. I don't expect it to last long running at maximum brightness with the GPS chip going all the time.

If I were crossing oceans, I'd spend the money for a proper integrated system, but I reckon I'd still be after something like that as a backup.
 
I have a tablet as back up.
As said I don't think you can expect to run a tablet without a power supply connected.
 
MartynG said:
I have a tablet as back up.
As said I don't think you can expect to run a tablet without a power supply connected.
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I keep two tablets on the boat - both eBay bargains costing less than 100 quid.
I have one tablet in the cockpit I use for coastal navigation.
Battery life is about 5 hours.
When the battery runs low, I switch to the other.
By the time that one runs out of juice the other one is recharged.
 
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