Tablet Nav for a beginner

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johnmcc

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This summer I hope to be sailing my Shrimper out of Shoreham Harbour, mostly day trips "round the bay" but maybe along to the Solent later. I last had a boat on the South Coast from 1977-1983. I'm happy with simple chart navigation, but a lot has changed since then (mooring charges for a start!) and I'm interested in using a cheap tablet PC to augment the paper and hand-bearing compass. Any advice on suitable Apps or progs? I'm a bit baffled by some of the acronyms I've encountered, so be gentle with me!
 
OPENCPN great mapping program on Android £7.49 or there about , from Google Store, and then you can buy the whole of the UK charts for £20 they are very good and easy to use.
Make sure your tablet has internal GPS , some say they do but it is not activated.
Lots of Sailing apps on Goolge Store , for tides. navigation , etc,
 
As well as OpenCPN, the other two main ones are Navionics (most like a traditional installed plotter) and Imray (essentially images of their paper charts, with a few navigation functions laid on top).

Pete
 
If you are baffled by any acronyms please ask here as I'm sure people can help. Some people are very techie and some not, I fall into the later camp. When I had navionics on my lenovo (android) tablet I was very happy. I doubt you are going to install AIS but that might be the only reason for avoiding navionics on an android tablet. It does cost a bit more but it is very user friendly. I suspect you can play with sample charts on your home computer to see differences in user friendliness. I may be wrong but I get the feeling that most people who use Open CPN use it on laptops, and often vere towards being quite able in the techie department.:). I now use the same tablet with the marine navigator app and Visit My Harbour charts, but miss my navionics (my son wiped the charts off in an update).
Perhaps the real reason I'm not so happy with my choices is because so seldom do I need to practice using the equipment. I'm Solent based and usually know where to go.:)
 
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Navionics has always been my go to mobile / tablet app, its intuitive and fairly straight forward, you dont have to get the subscription to use the basic functions of it, my subscription has lapsed and i havent renewed yet, all the things i need still work fine, the charts on my tablet are more up to date than my plotter tbh.

icon below in case your looking in the store;

navionics-250x250.png


you can get tide info on navionics but if you like to plan on shore Imray is easier for forward planning and i use the imray tides planner app for tides and currents, (more for its tidal atlas and chart overlay), that's a subscription for £3.99 a year

icon below, not to be confused with Imray navigator, which is priced similar to Navionics if i recall correctly.

246x0w.jpg


I use Apple as my platform, which has been reliable so far, im sure they're available on Android too
 
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For 5 years I used a combination of Navionics, iNavX and the Imray apps on an cellular iPad (without a sim card in).
I channelled the AIS data from my SH2200 via a wifi point into iNavX upon which I had paid for Navionics charts.

By far and away the go-to app has been Navionics. It's very very easy to use and provides a lot of information including tide & current data in real-time.
For an option, you can get the Imray app and a FREE chart by purchasing the Shell Pilot book - I have also tried that and its essentially Raster Charts with a somewhat clunky UI.

I love the Imray Tide Planner app, so simple and obvious that its just a no brainer.

I am only now (after 5 years without one) purchasing a chart plotter - only because I want to start playing with an autopilot and instruments, we will continue to use Navionics on the app however.
 
More out of interest than need, a couple of years ago I bought a Lenovo Tab, downloaded the Marine Navigator App for a few pounds plus the whole of U.K. Raster charts via the Visit My Harbour website/membership.

My boat has a Vector chart plotter so I bought the Tab due to the familiarity of Raster charts. The Lenovo also has a reputation for extremely long battery life.

It has fairly basic functionality but would, per OP, augment paper charts and a compass. Daylight vision is dreadful. It was cheap as chips.

Familiarity with Windows, Android or iOS is probably a major consideration. Vector vs Raster, day light vision, screen size and battery life should feature in your decision making process.
 
I’m another one for Navionics. It’s just so simple, download the app, start it and away you go. Charts are updated regularly, the route planning bit is useful and it’s a great aid to doing “what if” thinking. I use it mainly as a planing aid and back up rather than a chart plotter as I use the installed plotters for actually sailing.
 
I've used a hudl and also a Sony waterproof phone and ZX2 (H8216)
The phone is great as it has a really good daylight screen that is good in bright sunlight and relatively cheap.
I'm another Navionics user, you do have to remember to zoom in to see smaller details as they aren't shown on zoomed out images you might use to plan a route. The tidal flow rates and directions are very useful.
 
johnmcc said:
This summer I hope to be sailing my Shrimper out of Shoreham Harbour, mostly day trips "round the bay" but maybe along to the Solent later. I last had a boat on the South Coast from 1977-1983. I'm happy with simple chart navigation, but a lot has changed since then (mooring charges for a start!) and I'm interested in using a cheap tablet PC to augment the paper and hand-bearing compass. Any advice on suitable Apps or progs? I'm a bit baffled by some of the acronyms I've encountered, so be gentle with me!
Click to expand...
This new cardinal system takes a bit of getting your head round!

Why not just stick to paper charts? Your mobile phone should give you a GPS fix if your really need that degree of accuracy given you are just planning day trips around the bay.

I admit to having a tablet onboard, but the only use of it for boaty things is to get GRIB files for weather when we can get a WiFi signal before a long passage.
 
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