Navigation by iphone -no thanks

SAWDOC

SAWDOC

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Can I suggest that the yachting press is little more than a marketing tool for various commercial interests?
No sooner has the craze to have the latest chartplotter/ais reciever/ twenty-first century anchor dissipated somewhat than there is a plethora of articles informing us of the next "must have" item. This month it is the iphone ( just as a back up of course) - a touch screen moisture sensitive piece of kit which seems to be ticking everyone's box. Last year the consensus seemed to be that any chartplotter worthy of the name had to have a screen size of at least 5 inches to be anyway practically useful - seems whenever we get into a sales fenzy we blissfully ignore such details. Just makes me more determined to keep it simple.
Less fragile kit = less possibility of equipment failure = more successful independent sailing
 
Like most organisations / people today. They would sell their mothers soul to the devil as long as they continue to make money and ever increasing amounts of it.
 
Well. They're dammed if they do. Dammed if they don't!!
Have u actually tried the navionics on an iPhone? I skim read the article and agree with the findings. It is exceedingly handy for planning but as they say I would only use it as a backup plotter
 
Having tried one, I cant imagine that anyone will plan to use an I Phone for real life plotting. It is what it says - a phone. But it has lots of other functionality and that makes it a really attractive gadget. I like gadgets. Most men do. Including Colin Jones.

I think it was a good article. Lord only knows that you lot winge enough about how boring the mags are, but just imagine how much worse they would be if they only focussed on what had been around for years and on self sufficiency. You can have it both ways.

And if you think that a big outfit like Apple, up to their eyes in I Phone demand, have paid PBO to publish the article you are kidding yourselves.
 
Bosun Higgs said:
Having tried one, I cant imagine that anyone will plan to use an I Phone for real life plotting. It is what it says - a phone. But it has lots of other functionality and that makes it a really attractive gadget. I like gadgets. Most men do. Including Colin Jones.

I think it was a good article. Lord only knows that you lot winge enough about how boring the mags are, but just imagine how much worse they would be if they only focussed on what had been around for years and on self sufficiency. You can have it both ways.

And if you think that a big outfit like Apple, up to their eyes in I Phone demand, have paid PBO to publish the article you are kidding yourselves.
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Nothing wrong with the article and no I don't think it is anyway as blatant as Apple paying PBO -I just think the yachting community (ie us) are led very easily by marketing of non essential items and conned into thinking they are essentials or that they somehow make us better sailors. They don't.
 
I have an i phone, i bought it before i had a boat. I think Its brillaint for helping us sailors. You obviousely have to know how to use one and get the right apps for it. I planned my trip on it for december, river crouch to portsmouth, was brillaint with all the tide apps aswell. I never used it for navigation as i have a chartplotter allready. But its not just the apps and the phone, its the internet to, i can check emails whenever and wherever , providing i have a signal which is 95% of the time. Even on the boat.

I can see the op has based all of his comments on that article in the mag, clearly you wouldent be saying this if you ever used one. I have read the article and its fairly good, bar the price, you can get a cheaper one if you know where to look!
 
This is Yachting Monthly's scuttlebutt, not the PBO complaint line!! :D

PBO have their own forum, and I wouldn't want anyone thinking Yachting Monthly ran that test. :)

I have and iPhone and the navionics software, both paid for by myself, and I wouldn't use it for navigation, it's handy for pub planning or checking where you are without leaving your bunk, or explaing to friends where you've been or where you're planning to go

And while the idea of the £15 chartplotter, is an attention grabber, it's not sold as a chart plotter, or a replacement for one...it could be an emergency back up for me if my charplotter and my standalone system both went down, but I'd still use it in conjunction with charts
 
The only real benefit I have found is when exploring upstream in the dinghy. I have used it several times for this and it does mean that you can get much further without running aground. Make sure you keep it in a condom as it will not tolerate getting wet!
 
SAWDOC said:
ignore such details. Just makes me more determined to keep it simple.
Less fragile kit = less possibility of equipment failure = more successful independent sailing
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Yes the poor guy on the Raymarine stand I chatted to said, "you can buy the charts for the whole country for £99.95 on the Iphone and there charts start at about £150 per region. How can you compete.

I wanted to assure him that Boats will always have chart plotters because most people will use the Iphone to control the music onboard or talk on the telephone and not risk ALL of that for a 3 inch screen that takes them away from the reason they are out in the boat in the first place! Being away from the work related phone calls.

PS On a separate note I had a bit of giggle with the chap selling the DECKBAND gear that his next door neighbour selling a home stereo device to control your music play lists and stereo for a whopping £250 should have a quick look out for the 99p application that connects Iphone to the users entire laptop music folder that can be controled from the palm of your hand for 250th of the cost. Poor block really missed the bandwagon there 8 years ago.
 
SAWDOC said:
led very easily by marketing of non essential items .
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Now there's a can of worms! What is non essential? To SWMBO, having her toe nails painted and a pedicure is one of the essentials of life and I wouldnt like to argue otherwise! Bit frivolous maybe, but who are you to decide what my essentials are or indeed vice versa.

In this life you have to learn to think for yourself rather than let the marketing men do it for you. Though as an ex marketing man, I would have loved to ever have had that power - the reality was really rather different. The best you could ever hope for was to make people consider your product.
 
SAWDOC said:
Nothing wrong with the article and no I don't think it is anyway as blatant as Apple paying PBO -I just think the yachting community (ie us) are led very easily...
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I think you have it the wrong way round, PBO ran the article in response to consumer demand. If you want confirmation just search these very forums for iPhone threads, there have been lots!

It is hard not to be excited about a product like the iPhone, it really did re-write the book. Until it came along web browsing on phones was clunky and software was expensive, while the machine itself is pricey it represents outstanding value when you consider what it would take to reproduce all of that function in something as easy to carry on board.

Perhaps Garmin's new phone/plotter will be more appropriate?
 
tel1 said:
I have an i phone, i bought it before i had a boat. I think Its brillaint for helping us sailors. You obviousely have to know how to use one and get the right apps for it. I planned my trip on it for december, river crouch to portsmouth, was brillaint with all the tide apps aswell. I never used it for navigation as i have a chartplotter allready. But its not just the apps and the phone, its the internet to, i can check emails whenever and wherever , providing i have a signal which is 95% of the time. Even on the boat.

I can see the op has based all of his comments on that article in the mag, clearly you wouldent be saying this if you ever used one. I have read the article and its fairly good, bar the price, you can get a cheaper one if you know where to look!
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I think you can even get a spelling checker for I-phones?
 
lw395 said:
I think you can even get a spelling checker for I-phones?
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I think having a pop at someone's spelling, could be considered rude.

Ever thought that these forums attract people from all over the world where English is not necessarily their first language? Or someone could be dyslexic?
Or they could just be in a rush? Or of course they could be using a mobile device and have fat fingers? Does it matter?

Everyone makes typos, grammatical errors or errors in punctuation, and while it would be wonderful if every post was spelt perfectly, grammatically correct with the punctuation in the right place, life isn't like that and neither are these forums.
 
snooks said:
I think having a pop at someone's spelling, could be considered rude.

Ever thought that these forums attract people from all over the world where English is not necessarily their first language? Or someone could be dyslexic?
Or they could just be in a rush? Or of course they could be using a mobile device and have fat fingers? Does it matter?

Everyone makes typos, grammatical errors or errors in punctuation, and while it would be wonderful if every post was spelt perfectly, grammatically correct with the punctuation in the right place, life isn't like that and neither are these forums.
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Well maybe, but some people who post very poorly typed stuff should realise that they are labelling themselves by doing so.
Yes it does matter imho.
Sure we all make mistakes and standards in here are rightly lower than in say a YW editorial, but people who make no effort to make their posts readable are, in a way, rude too.
I hope the person I mocked isn't too upset but takes the point that some people will ignore his potentially valuable opinions, because they are well across the line of being too badly presented.

At least he wasn't banging on about grammar ('grammer' in the lounge) schools.
Cheers,
 
lw395 said:
I hope the person I mocked isn't too upset but takes the point that some people will ignore his potentially valuable opinions, because they are well across the line of being too badly presented.
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Any distraction caused by spelling must be insignificant compared the thread now being de-railed by your spelling issue. So I guess the spelling was more important to you than discussing consumer-lead versus manufacturer-lead editorial decisions in the publications who host this very forum, I cannot say that I agree with your priorities.

Edit: Just added a poll on the topic:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225448
 
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Well it wasn't just me who drifted the thread.
FWIW, I know more than one YM instructor who use smart phones as a 'private' backup and log of their students' antics.
A useful teaching aid too.
The toys are impressive, but it's not something they would rely on.
It shows that the user interface of plotters could be developed from where it is now.
 
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