Recommendations and advice re. basic tablet to run Navionics

[Alicatt]

When on the boat I can tether the tablet to my phone via wifi hotspot if I need updates then and there, otherwise I check for updates before I go to the boat and download any over the house wifi.

I have the western and northern Europe on the tablet, it covers UK, Benelux, France, Germany and most of the Baltic. The PleasureBoating app is direct from the dept of transport in Belgium and holds details of your boat documents and what licences you have.
The red dot on the second pic is roughly where my boat is

 

[PaulGS]

Lots of interesting advice - thank you everyone for contributing. After some weighing of various competing criteria I plumped for a cheap (presumably Chinese) Doogee T10S - link below. £93 off eBay.

Doogee T10S - Full tablet specifications

 

[Refueler]

Lots of interesting advice - thank you everyone for contributing. After some weighing of various competing criteria I plumped for a cheap (presumably Chinese) Doogee T10S - link below. £93 off eBay.

Doogee T10S - Full tablet specifications

Looking fwd to you updating this thread with your opinion after you get it ...

 

[PaulGS]

Looking fwd to you updating this thread with your opinion after you get it ...

Delivered in under 48 hours. Half an hour and £40 later I've got the Navionics app installed and UK charts subscribed (I immediately cancelled the renewal - in a year's time do I still have the charts but not receive updates?). The unit feels very solid; screen larger in life than perhaps absolutely necessary. Seems to work the same when offline (which it'd need to do obviously!) - are the charts automatically downloaded onto the tablet (there's a 'download maps' feature which would seem to contradict that idea)? All I can do now (300+ miles from my boat) is have a play around. One oddity: there are a couple of deep wrecks shown near to my mooring, but a very prominent one - never completely submerged and close to shore - not shown at all.

 

[Refueler]

Looking fwd to you updating this thread with your opinion after you get it ...



Delivered in under 48 hours. Half an hour and £40 later I've got the Navionics app installed and UK charts subscribed (I immediately cancelled the renewal - in a year's time do I still have the charts but not receive updates?). The unit feels very solid; screen larger in life than perhaps absolutely necessary. Seems to work the same when offline (which it'd need to do obviously!) - are the charts automatically downloaded onto the tablet (there's a 'download maps' feature which would seem to contradict that idea)? All I can do now (300+ miles from my boat) is have a play around. One oddity: there are a couple of deep wrecks shown near to my mooring, but a very prominent one - never completely submerged and close to shore - not shown at all.

OK ... you paid for the subscription then cancelled the renewal ?? I just hope that it doesn't affect your updates for this year.

The updates are done via the option below Download Maps ... Update Maps. As long as you are internet connected it will download and install updates. Once you reach end of your subscription - the maps you have paid for and downloaded will still work perfectly - but you will not be able to update them after the renewal date - which you cancelled. There are no download maps unless you choose to add to your maps already downloaded.

There is absolutely no need to be online to use ... I know an odd person here and there have reported need to go online to get working again - but that is most likely due to them doing something silly and corrupting the app.

Personally for the small cost - I have subscription running and already its seamlessly renewed ... which I find better than most other packages I've looked at.

 

[Alicatt]

While I find the Navionics great for the sea, and I have a subscription to it, it does leave a little to be desired on the inland waterways, The Nautical Maps App was the one recommended by everyone in our Yacht Club for inland waterways Nautical Maps App | UK, NL, DE & BE (it is in English as well as Dutch and German)

 

[Refueler]

While I find the Navionics great for the sea, and I have a subscription to it, it does leave a little to be desired on the inland waterways, The Nautical Maps App was the one recommended by everyone in our Yacht Club for inland waterways Nautical Maps App | UK, NL, DE & BE (it is in English as well as Dutch and German)

I don't think it was ever intended for serious inland waterways work ... I know that it shows the river I live and boat on ... but its detail is not exactly hydrographic !!

I do need sometimes to stop and think a bit when using the app out on sea ... its not 100% there for user-ability but its not bad ..

 

[Refueler]

I don't think it was ever intended for serious inland waterways work ... I know that it shows the river I live and boat on ... but its detail is not exactly hydrographic !!

I do need sometimes to stop and think a bit when using the app out on sea ... its not 100% there for user-ability but its not bad ..

Its certainly more friendly to use than the Garmin UHD MFD I have on board ... that drives me nuts !!

 

[Alicatt]

I don't think it was ever intended for serious inland waterways work ... I know that it shows the river I live and boat on ... but its detail is not exactly hydrographic !!

I do need sometimes to stop and think a bit when using the app out on sea ... its not 100% there for user-ability but its not bad ..

It's not toooo bad on the inland waterways, it does give some hydrographic info and it will route you along the canal, it takes a bit of time to work it out but it gets there. The other app, Nautical Maps, does not give hydrographic info but it does route you quite quickly and if your phone/tablet is on the interweb then it will show AIS info of vessels on the canal, plus it gives a lot more detail about the locks, bridges, and services along the waterways. Visuris's app "Pleasure boating" does that too but due to data protection it only tells you there is a boat there and only when in Belgium.

 

[Alicatt]

Its certainly more friendly to use than the Garmin UHD MFD I have on board ... that drives me nuts !!

Oh oh... I have a UHD 95sv, not powered it up yet and was waiting until spring before fitting it and the sounder to the boat

 

[PaulGS]

OK ... you paid for the subscription then cancelled the renewal ?? I just hope that it doesn't affect your updates for this year.

The updates are done via the option below Download Maps ... Update Maps. As long as you are internet connected it will download and install updates. Once you reach end of your subscription - the maps you have paid for and downloaded will still work perfectly - but you will not be able to update them after the renewal date - which you cancelled. There are no download maps unless you choose to add to your maps already downloaded.

There is absolutely no need to be online to use ... I know an odd person here and there have reported need to go online to get working again - but that is most likely due to them doing something silly and corrupting the app.

Personally for the small cost - I have subscription running and already its seamlessly renewed ... which I find better than most other packages I've looked at.

It's the subscription renewal that's cancelled - expires in one year's time. The cost isn't massive but the depletion of my finite resources is a case of death by a thousand pinpricks; I'll avoid any expense that's not absolutely necessary. I'm late in life to sailing and I'm not going to be going very far in the next couple of years anyway.

 

[Refueler]

It's the subscription renewal that's cancelled - expires in one year's time. The cost isn't massive but the depletion of my finite resources is a case of death by a thousand pinpricks; I'll avoid any expense that's not absolutely necessary. I'm late in life to sailing and I'm not going to be going very far in the next couple of years anyway.

TBH ... most people have survived on old charts and even with advent of electronic charts - the frequency of updates was in the early days far less than the paper jobs ... they had weekly NtoM ... I can remember ECDIS getting an update disc each 1/4 if lucky !!

My full Baltic charting on the Garmin MFD is 2022, Swedish card is valid for updates to cont - but its a pita to do ... my Onwa is latest K2 ... I haven't updated my works pro setup since the January revision ... am I risking it ?? I don't think so !!

My Navionics App though ... for the 39 euros - I'll update that ... in fact I check every couple f days and usually there's something for my charts. Last week was a big one ... over 2gb ... but usually its 100mb or less

 

[Baddox]

... Navionics app installed and UK charts subscribed (I immediately cancelled the renewal - in a year's time do I still have the charts but not receive updates?).

With previous version you would have but it appears that the Ts&Cs have been updated and now you only get the charts for a year.

From Navionics' website.
"You can manage your subscription anytime, and you can turn auto-renewal off.
Charts, overlays, daily updates and advanced features are not accessible after the subscription expires"
Navionics | Mobile App for Boating and Fishing

 

[Refueler]

With previous version you would have but it appears that the Ts&Cs have been updated and now you only get the charts for a year.

From Navionics' website.
"You can manage your subscription anytime, and you can turn auto-renewal off.
Charts, overlays, daily updates and advanced features are not accessible after the subscription expires"
Navionics | Mobile App for Boating and Fishing

I am trying to see how that can work ... lets say you put your phone / tablet into airplane mode and have no communication connection at all ... how does Navionics then cause your charts to not still work after the year is up ?

Ok .... I've finally found the section with that comment about no access ... I think you have taken it out of context - its in the section regarding renewal of expired subscription ... and is actually saying you cannot download charts / updates .. cannot use overlays etc.

The charts you already downloaded should still work.

Garmin | United States | Navionics Support

Its typical poor wording to cause re-instating subscription ... I could only find it on US site !!!

That's my reading of it anyway.

 

[Andrew_Trayfoot]

I am trying to see how that can work ... lets say you put your phone / tablet into airplane mode and have no communication connection at all ... how does Navionics then cause your charts to not still work after the year is up ?

Ok .... I've finally found the section with that comment about no access ... I think you have taken it out of context - its in the section regarding renewal of expired subscription ... and is actually saying you cannot download charts / updates .. cannot use overlays etc.

The charts you already downloaded should still work.

Garmin | United States | Navionics Support

Its typical poor wording to cause re-instating subscription ...

That's my reading of it anyway.

Anything you have downloaded carrys on working on that device for ever...
Simple as that.
Ps if you just want uk south coast coverage then the North Europe subscription is slightly cheaper.

 

[Stemar]

It seems Santa didn't dig too deeply into my activities this year, so the Doogee duly appeared.

First impressions are that it loads Navionics and runs it well. I've downloaded the whole of the Channel and its used 15% of its available memory. The screen is very clear and plenty bright, but, obviously, I don't know what it'll be like in summer sun. Battery life seems decent, though I'll leave it on charge when using it as my plotter.

In short, so far so good. it's doing what it says on the tin.

 

[pandos]

It seems Santa didn't dig too deeply into my activities this year, so the Doogee duly appeared.

First impressions are that it loads Navionics and runs it well. I've downloaded the whole of the Channel and its used 15% of its available memory. The screen is very clear and plenty bright, but, obviously, I don't know what it'll be like in summer sun. Battery life seems decent, though I'll leave it on charge when using it as my plotter.

In short, so far so good. it's doing what it says on the tin.

Is there any option for wireless charging.? I couldn't see it on the spec on Amazon, but sometimes features like this are omitted.

I have a rugged phone that is waterproof etc and find the wireless charging great, no pricking around with wires.

Part of this years work will be to fit some charging pads on the boat so I can just drop it into place to charge without relying on those flimsy connectors and leads.

 

[PaulGS]

There's certainly no wireless charging on my Doogee T20S - but at this price point I wouldn't expect it. Life isn't going to be a torment because of its absence though.

 

[Stemar]

None of my kit has wireless charging, so the boat has a load of charging points scattered around.

 

[Slowboater33]

I'd be leery of buying a refurbished tablet. I got one from London Chartplotters two or three years ago. I got fed up with the provided plotter software and went to install Navionics to find that the current version won't run on the tablet's Android, which thinks it's up to date.

I'm currently in negotiations with Santa about one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/DOOGEE-Octa-Core-Processor-2000×1200-10800mAh/dp/B0C5XPD1BZ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1Y0FHTXWUSN00&keywords=doogee+r10+rugged+tablet&qid=1702457989&sprefix=doogee+rugged+tablet,aps,58&sr=8-3&th=1

If it turns out that I've been a good boy. I'll report back in the New Year.

Bit late but my London chartplotter won't load navionics either.