Nav apps for phones - your thoughts please.

Bobc

Bobc

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I've had the Navionics app on my phone for a few years now, but the price seems to be going up by £10 per year now, so I'm starting to question the value to me.

I don't use it for navigation. I really just use it for tidal heights and I sometimes use the compasses to measure the rough distance between 2 points for basic passage planning.

Is there an app out there that will do this for me for less that £50/yr?
 
There are various free apps that can give you basic navigation measurement / distance stuff with low detail charting ... but to get tidal may not be so easy.

I must admit that 50 quid a year for Navionics on tablet / phone - to me is not a bad deal considering the price for Navionics on a plotter ! I actually use the tablet app more than the plotter .... but I not only boat on the Sea - but also River and the Venta River where I live is very well covered by the app. In fact its the only charting apart from what I drew myself and vectorised that covers it ..
 
Compass app (free). Boat Speed. This one comes with a great speedlog.
Tidal app (free) Tides,
Check the trip planning section on Predict Wind (free)

RE; I've had the Navionics app on my phone for a few years now, but the price seems to be going up by £10 per year now,

If you DON'T resubscribe the app and charts will stay on your phone to use.
You just miss out on the (very few ) navigational updates.

gary
 
The Orca app is free and it’s really good. I initially was drawn to it because of its nice night mode, but I liked it a lot and soon bought their hardware thingie too. The app is certainly worth a look on its own.
 
garymalmgren said:
Compass app (free). Boat Speed. This one comes with a great speedlog.
Tidal app (free) Tides,
Check the trip planning section on Predict Wind (free)

RE; I've had the Navionics app on my phone for a few years now, but the price seems to be going up by £10 per year now,

If you DON'T resubscribe the app and charts will stay on your phone to use.
You just miss out on the (very few ) navigational updates.

gary
Click to expand...

You miss out on far more : > overlays ... planning .... updates etc.

I have a couple of guys who stayed with it without re-subscribing .. they soon changed their minds ...
 
I like to be able to click on the tidal arrows on the chart to get the tidal data, so I want a chart-based app, not jist a tidal app.
 
Bobc said:
I like to be able to click on the tidal arrows on the chart to get the tidal data, so I want a chart-based app, not jist a tidal app.
Click to expand...

In the old days of BSB charting .... I scanned and calibrated Tidal atlasses and loaded them into Chart prog's .... so I could flip from actual chart to tidal chart and see my position in the tidal ... I just had to make sure I knew the time offset from Dover or whatever reference ...
 
ShaneO said:
The Orca app is free and it’s really good. I initially was drawn to it because of its nice night mode, but I liked it a lot and soon bought their hardware thingie too. The app is certainly worth a look on its own.
Click to expand...
It is a great interface. What is the hardware thing?
 
Stay away from SavvyNavy because their vector charts miss out a layer of data that includes certain man made objects such as fish farms and height restrictions below power cables. Where I sail, fish farms are fairly common and while most are obvious the mussel farms are low in the water and may not be marked. Apparently SavyNavy are aware and this may be corrected by now or at a future update.

I use Memory Maps and UKHO Raster charts on my phone as part of my subscription for the iPad (my back up system on the boat). The plotting features for routs is very clunky, but it works. For rough compass courses and distance you can use a simple single line rout and it will give course and distance between the two points.

Memory Maps for All app is free, UK chart based on UKHO charts in raster format costs £25 per year. If you don't renew charts stay on your device but do not get updated. UK & Ireland Marine Charts – Memory-Map Outdoor Navigation Apps | Ordnance Survey | Hema Maps

I agree that Absolute Tides is a good App and low cost around £3 per year for that years tide data. Shows state of tide and displays Admiralty Tidal Atlas page for the day and current time, which can be scrolled back and forth ahead and behind standard port. Can also be dowloaded to AppleMac laptop, which I have just discovered and your purchase validated on that device. I assume this feature is available for non Apple laptops, it is on Google Play as well.

You criteria for less than £50 per year, and desired functionality is well served by Memory Maps and Absolute Tides, for total of £28/year and can be used on phone and other devices as well for the same subscription. What's not to like?
 
Last edited:
I’m old fashioned and like the raster charts of Memory Map. £23 odd a year. For tides I use Imray but only the free version which gives 24hrs tides along with the tidal stream option for a fiver (one off payment). Easy tide on the internet gives a 7 day tide prediction.
 
ctva said:
I’m old fashioned and like the raster charts of Memory Map. £23 odd a year. For tides I use Imray but only the free version which gives 24hrs tides along with the tidal stream option for a fiver (one off payment). Easy tide on the internet gives a 7 day tide prediction.
Click to expand...
Me too. It’s also a platform for Antares Charts of course, the main reason I use it. But having become familiar with it I’ve now downloaded the entire OS folio at 25k and 50k and bought a lifetime subscription. It’s really useful all year round, in the car and walking. Loaded on both tablet and phone it’s always handy.
 
Just downloaded Orca and Tides apps, and between the pair they seem to do all I need.

Thanks to all for your suggestions.
 
Further to my post #10, regarding Savvy Navvy, I read on Facebook that they are implementing the layer in the next fortnight that is missing and as such fish farms and overhead power lines and clearances (HAT) will then be shown as expected. That is good news.

From Post 10
... their vector charts miss out a layer of data that includes certain man made objects such as fish farms and height restrictions below power cables. Where I sail, fish farms are fairly common and while most are obvious the mussel farms are low in the water and may not be marked. Apparently SavyNavy are aware and this may be corrected by now or at a future update.
Click to expand...
 
DoubleEnder said:
It is a great interface. What is the hardware thing?
Click to expand...
They call it Orca Core, it’s got its own GPS (so has to be installed somewhere sensible for that) and a gyroscope, and wifi and Bluetooth, and plugs into existing backbone equipment to gather data and send it to connected phones and tablets. In my case as an example, the boat came with both generations of Raymarine SeaTalk gizmos wired together, and the Orca Core plugged in seamlessly, putting depth and location and speed and full AIS and autopilot control (and wind data, if that were working at all) on my phone and tablet. I pulled out and sold the Raymarine chartplotter installed at the chart table. It’s nice to be able to get all that info anywhere on the boat with my phone, anybody on crew who cares can connect their too, and for novelty value, I can steer the autopilot from my smartwatch. I love it!

Obvious downsides of not having a chartplotter in some circumstances, of course; my use case is currently fair-weather Med sailing and I’m not much for constantly staring at a screen in the cockpit anyway.
 
Memory Map. The best phone, IPhone charts app there is. Simple to use and cheap. I have navigated the whole east coast using it.
 
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