Simple affordable chart-plotting app

[DoubleEnder]

I used Navionics ( now Garmin) on an iPad for a long time very happily. It was bought as a backup to a Standard Horizon plotter but very quickly became the default instrument. I sold the iPad when I sold my boat
Now I’m about to begin sailing again I bought a cheap Android 10” plotter. It was very cheap and is also very bad at acquiring and keeping satellites. I’ve only tried it with Garmin/ Navionics but I’m returning it and I’ll treat myself to a new iPad I think. The app and the charts on Navionics seem fine to me. I like the tide data and generally think it’s very good value.
I know Android tablets are cheaper. But I’m familiar with Apple and I know their products work.

 

[[70521]]

I don't know if it will continue to work offshore.....but if I switch off WiFi at home the chart becomes vivid red but still appears to be usable. Can anyone expand on this?

.

It does not, well not in the middle of Lyme Bay.

Its OK for just offshore where you can get a mobile phone signal.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I used Navionics ( now Garmin) on an iPad for a long time very happily. It was bought as a backup to a Standard Horizon plotter but very quickly became the default instrument. I sold the iPad when I sold my boat
Now I’m about to begin sailing again I bought a cheap Android 10” plotter. It was very cheap and is also very bad at acquiring and keeping satellites. I’ve only tried it with Garmin/ Navionics but I’m returning it and I’ll treat myself to a new iPad I think. The app and the charts on Navionics seem fine to me. I like the tide data and generally think it’s very good value.
I know Android tablets are cheaper. But I’m familiar with Apple and I know their products work.

I recommend that you do not buy new Apple iPads for use on a yacht, but instead buy second hand from the likes of: -

Blackmarket.co.uk second hand iPads
Music Magpie.co.uk second hand iPads

All the functionality and reliability without the stupid price.

 

[doug748]

A safe assumption is that if the chart comes “free” it is very superficial / lacks detail for navigation, very out of date, an illegal rip-off - or all three. There are a handful of exceptions, such as Norway and USA, but In most other countries a fee needs to be paid by the chart publishers to get access to the Hydrographic Office data.
Lots of options listed above for affordable charts and Apps. Not sure Orca would be the best starting point for a first time user, but each to their own preference.

It's available on Play Store with 100,000 downloads so it's a fair bet it's doing nothing illegal. The charts look fine and are illustrated further up the thread. I see now It's fifty quid a year for updates and charting that works offline.

Actually I would quite like a plotter with superficial, out of date charting as long as it was free and you could add waypoints. That worked well in the interregnum between GPS and the introduction of real, dedicated charting. I recall my Garmin GPS 96 ( free onboard world map included! ) with great affection. I may be getting it out again soon. : -)

.

 

[fredrussell]

mmmmm interesting ...

Fred - what happens when you turn off data internet ? Pals of mine who have EXPIRED charting - they appear to not have same..... but they are all using tablets where they don't need internet data as with a phone.

Good question. I turned off data and I stopped getting the annoying banner. Hadn’t thought of that, cheers.

 

[SaltyDan]

I have downloaded memory maps onto my phone. Free version so far. Looks to be good enough for what I need.

Any thoughts on Garmin Glo 2 GPS receiver? Judging by the jumpiness of my SOG figure on the memory maps app it would seem my phone's GPS data has room for improvement.

 

[Refueler]

I used Navionics ( now Garmin) on an iPad for a long time very happily. It was bought as a backup to a Standard Horizon plotter but very quickly became the default instrument. I sold the iPad when I sold my boat
Now I’m about to begin sailing again I bought a cheap Android 10” plotter. It was very cheap and is also very bad at acquiring and keeping satellites. I’ve only tried it with Garmin/ Navionics but I’m returning it and I’ll treat myself to a new iPad I think. The app and the charts on Navionics seem fine to me. I like the tide data and generally think it’s very good value.
I know Android tablets are cheaper. But I’m familiar with Apple and I know their products work.

Must have been a bad tablet .... I have 6 Android Tablets ... basically I've been using them for many years and most have processors that cannot update to latest Android version ... They all pick up GPS fine ...

The one I use at present for Navionics and for watching F1 when away from the big screen at home ... is a Headwolf 8" Dual Sim Android Tablet ... blistering fast ... both sims are 5G capable .. where many dual have one at 4 and other at 5 capable. SD Card ... C USB .... WiFi ... GPS (Glonass, Galileo and USA GPS) ..... cost was about 120 euros if I remember right .... from Banggood.

 

[Refueler]

It's available on Play Store with 100,000 downloads so it's a fair bet it's doing nothing illegal. The charts look fine and are illustrated further up the thread. I see now It's fifty quid a year for updates and charting that works offline.

Actually I would quite like a plotter with superficial, out of date charting as long as it was free and you could add waypoints. That worked well in the interregnum between GPS and the introduction of real, dedicated charting. I recall my Garmin GPS 96 ( free onboard world map included! ) with great affection. I may be getting it out again soon. : -)

.

Not free but substantial saving ....

There are 'sellers' of expired SD card CMap and Navionics on eBay .....

I picked up an SD card of Baltics Navionics which expired end 2024 .. so had latest updates done till then for about 50 quid. Instead of the 300 quid for a current card.
Put in my UHD 92sv Garmin ... fired up lovely.

At that price - I am happy to replace maybe end of this year with next latest ...

 

[citygent111]

No experience of savvy navvy but I do have Navionics (so another vote for that) and whilst it too has an automated route function you can also plot routes and waypoints manually. I would be surprised if savvy navvy doesn’t let you do the same but as I said, I have never used it.

Navionics is relatively cheap for U.K. Ireland & Holland, which also appears to cover the Channel and north coast of France and I have the app on both my iPhone and iPad for no extra cost.
.

I've tried Savvy Navvy, Garmin's Navionics/Boating app, and Marine Navigator from VMH. My boat has an OLD Garmin GPS unit, I think its a 451. It has only the base chart, so is pretty much useless.


VMH charts on their app are ok, I'm not a fan of the Admiralty charts, but maybe as a small powerboat they are aimed more at sailors? For me, the Garmin Boating app is perfect. £40 a year is peanuts - costs me 3 times that to fill her up with fuel! Offline works well, route planning is easy. Only complaint is that since Garmin took over, they've removed the web version where you could plan routes and save them to your account.

Savvy navvy was horrible. Too expensive, I think it was trying too hard.

 

[ylop]

I have loaded a number of these apps but they mostly appear to do nowt unless you give them money.

Last night I tried Orca at random (In retrospect I see it was suggested in post 21). After a bit of thinking time it showed me a chart and my position on it. You appear to be able to zoom in and out of most of the known world. It cost nothing but there are further options.
Orca appears to do all I want in a free pocket plotter, ie a zoomable chart with a dot showing where I am. As for anything else, I know nothing.


I don't know if it will continue to work offshore.....but if I switch off WiFi at home the chart becomes vivid red but still appears to be usable. Can anyone expand on this?

.

Free Orca continues to work without WiFi/internet on areas that you have previously zoomed in on. In my experience this is available months later - but I don’t think there are any promises that a device memory shortage or a version upgrade won’t loose the cached data.

What Orca definitely won’t do without spending big bucks is show AIS or other boat instruments, which some system can do relatively cheaply. Orca want you to buy an “Orca Core” for that luxury. But that would then give you a feedback loop to an N2K network to control an autopilot etc.

 

[DoubleEnder]

I've recently purchased an Android Chart Plotter from Visit My Harbour as I prefer the look and feel of Admiralty Charts. In my opinion Navionics is ghastly.

The reasoning was the end of new paper chart production, from time to time I crew on other peoples boats and do the odd delivery trip and now don't need to prise the mobile phone from the frozen hands of a sleeping skipper to check where we are.

So are these Admiralty raster charts? It looks interesting

 

[Fire99]

I hate spending money .... but I have to say that overall - Navionics on a Tablet is very good.

I paid about 150 for a new 8" tablet with very high speed (knocks iPads and Samsungs for 6) ... twin SIM ... SD Card ... Full WiFi - GPS - Bluetooth etc. You may think 8" is small - but it slips into my jacket pocket ... its big enough to show all clearly ... but small enough to be handy.

The complete Baltic Sea chart set is about 45 quid a year subscription. Once downloaded - you can update literally every day or leave it longer between - your choice. If you let subscription lapse - you keep the charts but cannot update anymore .. also you lose the extra layers such as AIS etc.
When you compare the subscription price to the SD Card ... its a no-brainer ...
I have it installed on my Phone as well as the Tablet and they both share the same account
It compliments my Garmin Plotter on board which has SD card based Navionics ..

I have to agree that Navionics is very good. I first dismissed it as a bit of a toy but you naturally gravitate towards what works in my opinion, and I mostly grab the Navionics before using the various fixed plotters on the boat. And now with my NMEA interface, I've overlayed AIS targets onto it in about 5 minutes..

Out of interest what (8") tablet did you go for?

 

[Refueler]

I have to agree that Navionics is very good. I first dismissed it as a bit of a toy but you naturally gravitate towards what works in my opinion, and I mostly grab the Navionics before using the various fixed plotters on the boat. And now with my NMEA interface, I've overlayed AIS targets onto it in about 5 minutes..

Out of interest what (8") tablet did you go for?

Headwolf from Banggood ......

Not so easy in Latvia to source ... shops sell Samsung and similar ... or iPad ... so I usually buy online ... lot cheaper and specs are far higher.

 

[steve yates]

"So don’t tell your pal to take care with his unexpired charts, just tell him to log into his account occasionally and he’ll be fine."

Please read MY text on that ... he's been using EXPIRED for ages .... at least 3yrs that I can recall ...... but its most likely much longer ..

No I saw that, I used expired charts as well, and only buy a subscription every two or three years.
What I meant is he should just sign into his garmin account, via the web not the app, occasionally. He doesn’t have to do anything, just close the page again.
It’s solely to do with being on garminscustomer database, nothing to do with expired/unexpirde/subscription/no subscriptions.

 

[steve yates]

I have downloaded memory maps onto my phone. Free version so far. Looks to be good enough for what I need.

Any thoughts on Garmin Glo 2 GPS receiver? Judging by the jumpiness of my SOG figure on the memory maps app it would seem my phone's GPS data has room for improvement.

I have one for my wireless only ipad, works a treat. Very fast.

 

[Fire99]

Headwolf from Banggood ......

Not so easy in Latvia to source ... shops sell Samsung and similar ... or iPad ... so I usually buy online ... lot cheaper and specs are far higher.

Thanks mate.. Interesting stuff..

 

[citygent111]

So are these Admiralty raster charts? It looks interesting

I looked at their tablet package, but opted to buy my own. Got a Samsung Tab Active 2 of eBay for £35. Works great - it's the same one they sell at London Chart Plotters.

Doesn't have a lot of memory, so it's a dedicated boat tablet.

I've bought the Marine Navigator app and the UK Charts package. You get a spare activation code for the charts so I've installed it on my phone too as a backup.

Also got the Garmin Boating app (sub expires April), and today I added Orca free version.

Orca looks nice, but navigation and offline charts are subscription only at £44 a year. I tried to plot a route, but it only seems to have automatic routing, rather than manually adding waypoints. From Beaumaris to Caernarfon, it tried to take me all round Anglesey! They all seem to do that, but at least in Boating you can plot it manually.

Boating app is £40. I think I'll stick with this, and have Marine Navigator as a backup. That is quite a fiddly bit of software, you can tell it hasn't been professionally developed, but it's still nice to have.

 

[alahol2]

I have downloaded memory maps onto my phone. Free version so far. Looks to be good enough for what I need.

Any thoughts on Garmin Glo 2 GPS receiver? Judging by the jumpiness of my SOG figure on the memory maps app it would seem my phone's GPS data has room for improvement.

Go into ...Settings...GPS settings... Make sure that Velocity Averaging is ticked.

 

[Greg2]

Please dont forget to try the FREE. ORCA APP (Orca | The Orca CoPilot App is now free ). - There are bought ones too, for 49euros that version has much nicer charts than avionics.
Subscription prices and functionality | Orca Help Center

Funny how after reading / contributing to this thread an advert for Orca appeared on my FB feed!

That said I duly clicked on it and their offerings do appear to be quite good as an alternative to a fixed chart plotter or possibly as a back-up to one.

I have the Navionics app, which I like, but I may well give the free Orca app a go to see how I get on with it.
.

 

[bergie]

Not so easy in Latvia to source ... shops sell Samsung and similar ... or iPad ... so I usually buy online ... lot cheaper and specs are far higher.

You might want to look at Samsung's line of "Tab Active" industrial tablets. Not quite as cheap as the Chinese brands, but waterproof and come with the option of doing pogo pin charging. On our boat the primary plotter tablet sits on a charging cradle in the cockpit with no mess of USB cables to deal with.

We also use Orca on our phones and tablets for route planning or checking some details (like CPAs of incoming AIS targets). Sometimes it is convenient to have multiple screens.