Tablets and Nav Apps

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derekbland

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I don't have the boat yet but if all goes well'ish Wednesday, I may well soon finally have something. Anyoo, I have seen lots of discussions regarding tablets for nav apps and armed with your opinions as well as reading reviews on tablets I took the plunge. I want a tablet as a backup to paper chart plotting but also to be able to view You Tube, Netflix etc.

I decided to go towards the low to mid-range. I looked at the Lenovo, I think it was Tab3, around £99 and apparently they have reduced the resolution and people have complained about this. I then looked at the Samsung Tab E at around £179 and it got a fair few bad reviews. I ended up settling for the Samsung Tab A which got very good reviews and was £229. I wanted a case but the Samsung one was £40. My thoughts were to go to PC World, see what they looked and felt like and then order on line. However, the assistant asked me to wait whilst he checked something. A few minutes later, he said for and extra £3, I could have the overpriced £40 case and MacAfee's and some other stuff that I won't use, total £232. Wanting my new toy now, I bought it.

The tablet is heavy but the screen is excellent and with 2gb Ram and 32gb hard drive with capacity for memory card it is more than enough. The magnetic case is superb and has two stand positions.

I have downloaded the free trial version of Navionics HD and have been playing with it. I haven't used it in anger as need a boat for that but so far am very impressed. One of the things that seems very useful is the info on tides and the graphical representation when you open the detail section. I intend to check this info with the almanac but if it is accurate, it could save a lot of time flicking through pages in the almanac. The one downside to Navionics seems to be good quality tutorials. I have found a few but many seem to focus on fishing which I have little to bugger all interest in doing.

I realize I'm an almost newby but have based my decisions off of the posts on here as well as speaking to instructors and owners. I intend to use It for plotting and tracking a course as well as info on marinas and the app seems to do this well.
 
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I have Navionics Europe app which was about £20 several years ago and this lets me download all of Europe ( memory permitting) as i wish and has no ongoing fees.

I have not looked at the current deal but I assume i have got lucky.

I bought a new phone 3 days ago and almost went android but this app ( and the assumed cost of replacement) was one thing that stopped me.

I have just bought a Wifi to Seatalk dongle that will allow me to used the boat GPS and depth.

When they link it to the Autohelm (the is apparently one app that does it - I will google and see if I can find it - that will probably render the plotter slightly redundant!

I also just found this from Raymarine- I will play later but assume it needs a compatible plotter which is a shame.

Remember the main issue is that the tablet displays are not good to view in sunlight, however the Navionics App is exceptional in my view.
 
jrudge said:
I have Navionics Europe app which was about £20 several years ago and this lets me download all of Europe ( memory permitting) as i wish and has no ongoing fees.

I have not looked at the current deal but I assume i have got lucky.

I bought a new phone 3 days ago and almost went android but this app ( and the assumed cost of replacement) was one thing that stopped me.

I have just bought a Wifi to Seatalk dongle that will allow me to used the boat GPS and depth.

When they link it to the Autohelm (the is apparently one app that does it - I will google and see if I can find it - that will probably render the plotter slightly redundant!

I also just found this from Raymarine- I will play later but assume it needs a compatible plotter which is a shame.

Remember the main issue is that the tablet displays are not good to view in sunlight, however the Navionics App is exceptional in my view.
Click to expand...

Fully accept the sunlight bit and tested it in the garden yesterday. We have a pond but doesn't come up with any nav hazards and so decided not to risk it :D I found that so long as my body shaded it from direct sunlight, I could see the display plenty clear enough. If all goes well and I have a boat in the next couple of weeks, then I need to learn more about the plotter I have and how/if I can sync the two of them. I may be bugging you with a PM for further advice.

I think you were saying that you may be able to link Navionics to the Autohelm. If that's correct then that is a very funky feature and I would be interested.
Cheers
 
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http://inavx.com

Is the app that also controls the Auto Helm.

The snag seems to be that you have to buy the charts and this then costs (possibly on a recurring basis) so it rather depends how badly you want autohelm control!

EDIT just looked and the med charts are $69 for 1 year but they dont remove on expiry but are tied to that iPad. Charts have to bough separately for iPad and iPhone. I use the phone one more for planning so whilst not Inav fault per se as the charts come from Navionics the bill starts to mount.


Screen display in sunlight is just one of these things and as long as ( as best you can) you consider it when mounting the iPad it should be manageable.
 
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i bought a used Galaxy Tab A 7 (£65 off ebay) and found it to be excellent. GPS lock is amazingly quick (compared to my Galaxy S5 phone) and it has an 'outdoor' screen mode which turns it up to max brightness. I have it on a rail mount on my open boat and don't have any problems in sunlight except when i have sunglasses on but this may be due to them being polarised. I didn't bother with the HD version of Navionics, just got the standard one and it's fine on the Tab. costs me £12 to renew each year and syncs across all my android devices. really is brilliant.
 
The other issue to be mindful of is overheating. I had my ipad in the garden at the weekend and it went over temp in about 10 minutes.

I use the Navionics app and concur with jrudge that it's excellent
 
markc said:
The other issue to be mindful of is overheating. I had my ipad in the garden at the weekend and it went over temp in about 10 minutes.

I use the Navionics app and concur with jrudge that it's excellent
Click to expand...

I don't do Apple products, just a personal choice.

Question, do you know what the red and blue arrows for the tides represent? I know direction and speed. I wondered if it's something to do with flood and ebb tides? Clarification please.
 
I have the Navionics app on an IPAD and it's very impressive. I assume red is an ebb tide, blue is flood. If you click / touch the arrow it gives you tidal information at the bottom of the screen and you can swipe through the tide times / heights.
 
Overheat happens to my Lenovo tablet, on our hotter days in the UK mine has come up with an overheat alarm and wants to shutdown. To get around this I partly cover it with a towel, I also suspect having to have the brightness on full and charging may not help either. However, I also have my Garmin chartplotter so not been such an issue for me and it only happens a few time during the year. For me I use the Garmin for closer view and the tablet for a wider view, works well.

For Navionics, I have the standard version (not HD) as this allows me to use it on my Android phone and any other devices.
 
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TQ1 said:
I have the Navionics app on an IPAD and it's very impressive. I assume red is an ebb tide, blue is flood. If you click / touch the arrow it gives you tidal information at the bottom of the screen and you can swipe through the tide times / heights.
Click to expand...

Navionics tutorials or user info is pants! Anyhoo, i don't think it is ebb and flow now as the arrows show that. I think the red and blue arrows represent whether the flow is increasing or decreasing in speed and so red increasing and blue decreasing. I have checked this out by using the tide flow prediction that comes up at the bottom that you can scroll and pretty sure this is why. Have a look, let me know what you think.
 
TQ1 said:
Just had a quick look, beats working! Sorry, you're right. I didn't read the question properly.
Click to expand...

No problem. It's a funky feature and very useful. At some point I want to check the info it provides on tides is same as in the almanac If they match will be a happy bunny. If anyone has checked this already please let me know?
 
For the tidal flow it is as you state, red increasing flow and blue decreasing
Using the Navionics for tide height and set and drift is very lightweight.
Much better tide app is “Tides Planner” by Imray. Cost £4 for a years licence but is worth every penny as I now only buy Reeds every few years
 
Rocksteadee said:
For the tidal flow it is as you state, red increasing flow and blue decreasing
Using the Navionics for tide height and set and drift is very lightweight.
Much better tide app is “Tides Planner” by Imray. Cost £4 for a years licence but is worth every penny as I now only buy Reeds every few years
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I will look it up.
 
derekbland said:
I think you were saying that you may be able to link Navionics to the Autohelm. If that's correct then that is a very funky feature and I would be interested.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Not sure that linking with the auto pilot is that helpful.
I've been able to do this for years but I always let the ship's fitted plotter drive the autopilot.
In the past, I would upload a route to the on board plotter from the PC (in my case but it could be a tablet etc).
Then let the on board plotter run the route.
These days, we only use a simple "go to" so that makes it even easier for the ships plotter.

That said, I always have another system running alongside the ship;s dedicated kit.
The alternate system also has different charts from the ship's plotter thus providing different/more information.
The two systems then run in parallel checking each other.

In your case, if your new boat already has a Navionics based plotter, you could load OpenCPN onto your new Android device - I can probably help with any charts.
 
Regarding data ,
Navionics and C-map are fairly accurate for standard port tidal info, not so accurate for some of the secondary port info and tidal streams . I have found them to be up to an hour out and anything from 0.1 to 0.6 out on tidal height. and similar on tidal flow, as a general where are we in day type of thing , they are great but would still check against an almanac for anything requiring precision.
I have played with an I pad using the Raymarine apps and was impressed with how well they worked.
 
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powerskipper said:
Regarding data ,
Navionics and C-map are fairly accurate for standard port tidal info, not so accurate for some of the secondary port info and tidal streams . I have found them to be up to an hour out and anything from 0.1 to 0.6 out on tidal height. and similar on tidal flow, as a general where are we in day type of thing , they are great but would still check against an almanac for anything requiring precision.
I have played with an I pad using the Raymarine apps and was impressed with how well they worked.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I wonder how where they get their info re heights if their depths are out. One thing I think I worked out is that the tide times shown are BST and not UT. I could be wrong but when I compared a few days ago they were an hour ahead.
 
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