Navionics new Boating App has anyone used this yet?

Actually, I was just about to download this Navionics Boating app onto my iPad but, having read the vast number of shockingly negative reviews (with valid justifications for the negativity), have decided not to.
 
I think you will find more people happy with it than those who are not, many of the issues people report are hardware not the software. I’ve been using it for the last 4 years without fault.
 
Scala said:
err what shocking reviews ? It’s fab.
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+1
What shocking reviews?
Not on here, couple of grumbles but at £34 compared to £240 plus for a chart plotter map, I think it is a no brainier.
My fav feature is the pub interface....take iPad to the pub, buy beer, sit down and plot next days route
 
Another happy user here. New app can be used on tablet and phone for one payment. Latest generations of phones are waterproof and big screen. Very convenient. The £34.99 charge is a annual subscription so not quite as cheap as it might seem.

I took a mate out on my boat who is a old school Yacht Master examiner. We plotted a weekend sail of about 60 miles in the Bristol Channel. Him with paper chart and tide tables. Me with Navionics and tide apps.

It took me 1/5 of the time and I was able to do a lot more “what if” contingency’s scenarios. His rational was that the paper chart will never run out of battery or get broken. Mine is that the iPad and phone both sync and offer therefore resilience, I have multiple ways of charging and always could fall back on the paper chart / chart plotter if needed. I do check quickly the Navionics course against the paper chart however as a safety measure prior to departing.
 
The new app just brought together a group of functions they had on others and brings the app to multiple devices and syncing with many chart plotters. Never had any issues.the auto routing saves loads of time preplanning.

As said doing planning and routing at home or in the pub is great and the then syncing with plotter brilliant.
 
Thanks for the reassurances. I was perhaps being a bit neg when I posted yesterday (one of those days!), and I also suppose some of the critical reviews on the app site were from users of the old version who didn't like change or experienced bugs in the first release.

£35pa is nominal for what one gets - a good backup on a portable 9.7" screen to the fixed plotter on passage, and the ability to plan in the pub!

Cheers
Jon
 
Dutch01527 said:
Another happy user here. New app can be used on tablet and phone for one payment. Latest generations of phones are waterproof and big screen. Very convenient. The £34.99 charge is a annual subscription so not quite as cheap as it might seem.

I took a mate out on my boat who is a old school Yacht Master examiner. We plotted a weekend sail of about 60 miles in the Bristol Channel. Him with paper chart and tide tables. Me with Navionics and tide apps.

It took me 1/5 of the time and I was able to do a lot more “what if” contingency’s scenarios. His rational was that the paper chart will never run out of battery or get broken. Mine is that the iPad and phone both sync and offer therefore resilience, I have multiple ways of charging and always could fall back on the paper chart / chart plotter if needed. I do check quickly the Navionics course against the paper chart however as a safety measure prior to departing.
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The £35 is only if you want to keep charts continuously up to date. I have only just resubscribed after 5 years of use. Compare this to updating a chart plotter at £200 plus annually
 
So I downloaded the app this afternoon and had a play with it. Fairly straightforward and intuitive but some pointless information in the menu like places to eat at my destination.

But what I don't understand is that, having paid £35 for the UK, Ireland and Channel coast as far as Belgium, I wasn't able to download all of this area in one go. Not that I'm likely to need Scotland and Ireland for a long while as I currently only sail both sides of the Channel, but the download window has only an expandable rectangle which can be placed anywhere in the world but is limited in size (therefore one can't select the whole of the UK and Ireland).

Also, as far as I'm aware, this app isn't a full passage-planning package. Although tidal arrows are shown in real time on the chart, the Route function displays distance and time at your inputted cruising speed (and calculated fuel-consumption) for each leg, but doesn't enable any start date/time and therefore completely ignores tides.

I'm going to buy a shock-absorbing surround for the iPad but not a waterproof one, as on passage it'll stay plugged in to the 12v supply on the chart-table... alongside the actual paper charts and tidal atlases!
 
Babylon said:
Also, as far as I'm aware, this app isn't a full passage-planning package. Although tidal arrows are shown in real time on the chart, the Route function displays distance and time at your inputted cruising speed (and calculated fuel-consumption) for each leg, but doesn't enable any start date/time and therefore completely ignores tides.
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I was having a little nose at this online and I thought that it was ignoring the tides because I was passage planning on the website. Then I thoguht it was because I wasn't ticking something.

I wonder if anyone has any further information on how it calculates the tides?
 
Alskade said:
I was having a little nose at this online and I thought that it was ignoring the tides because I was passage planning on the website. Then I thoguht it was because I wasn't ticking something.

I wonder if anyone has any further information on how it calculates the tides?
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It doesn't take tide into account. It's a route planner, not a passage planner. Same as it gives ground track, not CTS, I'm not aware of any dedicated leisure chartplotters that can do this...?
 
Babylon said:
...But what I don't understand is that, having paid £35 for the UK, Ireland and Channel coast as far as Belgium, I wasn't able to download all of this area in one go. Not that I'm likely to need Scotland and Ireland for a long while as I currently only sail both sides of the Channel, but the download window has only an expandable rectangle which can be placed anywhere in the world but is limited in size (therefore one can't select the whole of the UK and Ireland)....
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It's expecting that you go online before your next trip and download (and refresh) the localised area(s) of interest. If you download nothing then all you get is a base map, but if you were to download the whole of europe it's not fit in your tablet... In other words you need to think a bit differently with it.
 
Babylon said:
So I downloaded the app this afternoon and had a play with it. Fairly straightforward and intuitive but some pointless information in the menu like places to eat at my destination.

But what I don't understand is that, having paid £35 for the UK, Ireland and Channel coast as far as Belgium, I wasn't able to download all of this area in one go. Not that I'm likely to need Scotland and Ireland for a long while as I currently only sail both sides of the Channel, but the download window has only an expandable rectangle which can be placed anywhere in the world but is limited in size (therefore one can't select the whole of the UK and Ireland).

Also, as far as I'm aware, this app isn't a full passage-planning package. Although tidal arrows are shown in real time on the chart, the Route function displays distance and time at your inputted cruising speed (and calculated fuel-consumption) for each leg, but doesn't enable any start date/time and therefore completely ignores tides.

I'm going to buy a shock-absorbing surround for the iPad but not a waterproof one, as on passage it'll stay plugged in to the 12v supply on the chart-table... alongside the actual paper charts and tidal atlases!
Click to expand...

The tidal arrows show the tide in real time i.e. now. But if you click on the arrow it will show you the predicted tidal stream for any date and time in the future along with the tidal curve. If you click on the tidal height symbol, it will similarly show you the predicted tidal height for any date you wish.
 
Babylon said:
So I downloaded the app this afternoon and had a play with it. Fairly straightforward and intuitive but some pointless information in the menu like places to eat at my destination.

But what I don't understand is that, having paid £35 for the UK, Ireland and Channel coast as far as Belgium, I wasn't able to download all of this area in one go. Not that I'm likely to need Scotland and Ireland for a long while as I currently only sail both sides of the Channel, but the download window has only an expandable rectangle which can be placed anywhere in the world but is limited in size (therefore one can't select the whole of the UK and Ireland).

Also, as far as I'm aware, this app isn't a full passage-planning package. Although tidal arrows are shown in real time on the chart, the Route function displays distance and time at your inputted cruising speed (and calculated fuel-consumption) for each leg, but doesn't enable any start date/time and therefore completely ignores tides.

I'm going to buy a shock-absorbing surround for the iPad but not a waterproof one, as on passage it'll stay plugged in to the 12v supply on the chart-table... alongside the actual paper charts and tidal atlases!
Click to expand...

1. You need to play with it more to learn how to use it (I am talking about Navionics). You are only limited by the available device memory when downloading charts. Yes the selectable rectangle has a maximum size but you can move the chart around underneath the rectangle. If you make the rectangle too large you will end up downloading useless areas of ‘land’ detail.
2. I would still recommend you do get a waterproof case (I recommend Lifeproof Nuud covers).
 
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