What is the cheapest tablet to buy with GPS

[Croak]

Says it all in the title really.

 

[bozlite]

Tesco's Hudl gets some good reviews. I'm not sure it's the cheapest, but it is cheap.

 

[lustyd]

it is cheap.

It may be cheap but at what cost? The Robin Reliant was a cheap car that had most of the attributes of other cars and yet somehow it died off after the "cheap" factor wore off.

Start with a list of what the device must be able to achieve. Does it need a watertight case for instance - usually this ties you to more popular devices such as Samsung or Apple. Does it need a good screen? Does it need to last more than 45 minutes on battery while doing things?

Unfortunately I'm an Apple fan, so will always come to the conclusion that a 12+ hour while busy battery life, widely available genuine and third party accessories, wide choice of apps and excellent hardware quality and spec is the right choice

 

[pvb]

The Nexus 7 takes some beating. Compared with the Hudl, it has a better screen, faster processor, better camera, no bloatware, and - crucially - is available with 3G connectivity.

 

[jerrytug]

A quick google will find the website of a company called London Chartplotters, who sell a range of generic tablets with plotter software and whole of UK charts, starting at about £100.
I have no connection with them but I would start there, as they appear to have done all the installation computer mumbo-jumbo which makes my brain melt.

 

[Andrew_Trayfoot]

Don't listen to the battery life, waterproof, apple (loads of money), etc... people.

Both the Tesco & Argos offerings will do fine with Navionics on them. Just make sure that have full access to the Play Store.

If you have an Android Phone then download the phone version onto that and then put that same Google account on the Tablet and you will not have to pay twice.
You can install it on as many devices (using the same account) as you like at no extra cost. It even downloads the latest charts!

Mine lives under the spray hood in a case I made myself out of plywood. Have used it in some pretty rough weather with no problems.
See the attached photos.

I purchased a 12v powered waterproof USB socket which I installed in my instrument panel - so no issues with power.
My 3 year old Lenove A1 will run for about 4 hours on a full battery with the screen on constantly, so even if the boat supply fails I have a chart plotter with an independent power supply (better then a dedicated plotter at 5 or 6 times the price).

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

A quick google will find the website of a company called London Chartplotters, who sell a range of generic tablets with plotter software and whole of UK charts, starting at about £100.
I have no connection with them but I would start there, as they appear to have done all the installation computer mumbo-jumbo which makes my brain melt.

+1

 

[lustyd]

Don't listen to the battery life, waterproof, apple (loads of money), etc... people.

I never said don't buy it, I said make sure you understand why it's cheap up front. All the points I made are true, your ply case emphasises that. I'm sure a lot of miles were done in reliant robins too, just less quickly and with less luggage with fewer sharp corners. Once the limitations are understood there is great value to be had in cheap electronics for certain scenarios but since the OP specified only GPS it's hard to gauge the scenario without assumptions such as good screen and waterproofing with good battery life.

 

[dunedin]

It may be cheap but at what cost? The Robin Reliant was a cheap car that had most of the attributes of other cars and yet somehow it died off after the "cheap" factor wore off.

Start with a list of what the device must be able to achieve. Does it need a watertight case for instance - usually this ties you to more popular devices such as Samsung or Apple. Does it need a good screen? Does it need to last more than 45 minutes on battery while doing things?

Unfortunately I'm an Apple fan, so will always come to the conclusion that a 12+ hour while busy battery life, widely available genuine and third party accessories, wide choice of apps and excellent hardware quality and spec is the right choice

HUDL is pretty good. And can easily get waterproof cover suitable for almost any tablet.

Lot of the Apple is made from generic components - including screens, I believe, which are made by their rivals.

Its a bit like cars - can get pretty much the same mechanical spec in a Skoda, Seat, VW or Audi, at vastly different costs. If you have the cash the Audi has nicer plastics than the Skoda. But if you compare specs carefully you can get top function for less price

 

[Croak]

Thank you for the replies

I'm afraid the Reliant Robin analogy isn't a good one they were developed for a v special market (B1 licence category).

I have owned 6 Reliants, 4 Rebels a Scimitar and a Tractor.

Has the HP Slate 7 HD 3404ea got proper GPS?

 

[lustyd]

HUDL is pretty good. And can easily get waterproof cover suitable for almost any tablet.

Lot of the Apple is made from generic components - including screens, I believe, which are made by their rivals.

Its a bit like cars - can get pretty much the same mechanical spec in a Skoda, Seat, VW or Audi, at vastly different costs. If you have the cash the Audi has nicer plastics than the Skoda. But if you compare specs carefully you can get top function for less price

While true for many tablets the spec of the components Apple use are often different. The flash memory for instance is nothing like that in a Samsung tablet, the processor is also custom giving more oomph per watt of power. There are many subtle differences which the layman won't notice when comparing pixels and memory.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I'm afraid the Reliant Robin analogy isn't a good one they were developed for a v special market (B1 licence category).

I have owned 6 Reliants, 4 Rebels a Scimitar and a Tractor.

I loved my Reliant Rialto. Sniffed petrol and went like the clappers.

 

[TonyBuckley]

I loved my Reliant Rialto. Sniffed petrol and went like the clappers.

I had a Bond Bug 700es. A reliant with style of the time. Just as easy to turn it over however.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I have a Samsung Tab2 10.1" tablet which works very well with Navionics app. Make sure you get the one for tablets - they do a cheaper version for smart phones. £38 for the whole of UK, Holland, Belgium & N France. Samsung does have gps. My friend used it in preference to his R********* very expensive plotter as it had a much bigger screen. The 7" Samsung also has gps.

 

[ffiill]

It may be cheap but at what cost? The Robin Reliant was a cheap car that had most of the attributes of other cars and yet somehow it died off after the "cheap" factor wore off.

Start with a list of what the device must be able to achieve. Does it need a watertight case for instance - usually this ties you to more popular devices such as Samsung or Apple. Does it need a good screen? Does it need to last more than 45 minutes on battery while doing things?

Unfortunately I'm an Apple fan, so will always come to the conclusion that a 12+ hour while busy battery life, widely available genuine and third party accessories, wide choice of apps and excellent hardware quality and spec is the right choice

Well my hudl does about 18 hours of normal use TV videos internet etc
Unlike the mini iPad its main rival it has a micro SD expansion slot taking memory up to about 50 GB plus a nice rubberised waterproof case
Camera isn't the best but I use my Samsung galaxy for that.
In my opinion apple products are sold to people who believe the hype and think that by paying over the odds they get something better.
Apple is only good for high flying graphic design where it excels.

 

[Bodach na mara]

Getting back to the original question, the OP wanted a recommendation for a tablet that has BUILT-IN GPS, something that seems to have been ignored among comments about Reliant Robins. The Nexus 7 may have (I seem to remember my son using one to tell me where he had broken down) but I do not really know. Same for the Hudl.

The tablet I was given for my birthday by the family is an Acer B1-711 and it has GPS built-in. It also has provision for extra memory in the form of a microSD flash memory card to supplement the on-board 16Gb flash memory. I have the MemoryMap (free) app and their complete UK charts (£25 when I bought them) installed and have tested them on the water. It is almost as good as a chartplotter (but a fraction of the price) with the provisos that:

I haven't found a way to add a heading line,
The default track display is invisible and
the display is always North up; track-up does not seen to be available.

So that tablet should meet the OP's requirements. It also has provision for a Sim card and watch out which aps you install for navigation as some rely on downloading cartography on the fly from the internet. Software for a boat must have the charts in internal memory.

 

[Spyro]

I have an ipad, I wouldn't buy another. I also recently purchased a Samsung galaxy 8 inch tab. Cost me £130. Its brilliant! I almost bought a Hudl after using my mother inlaw's but the camera on it is dreadful.

 

[LadyInBed]

It is almost as good as a chartplotter (but a fraction of the price) with the provisos that:

I haven't found a way to add a heading line,
The default track display is invisible and
the display is always North up; track-up does not seen to be available

Compare tablet with tablet or phone, but don't even attempt to compare to a chart plotter, unless you can plug in AIS, connect it to your autohelm and on some, add in a fish finder and radar overlay!
Plus the things you mention above, but granted, a CP can't access the Internet - yet

 

[chewbacca]

I have a Samsung galaxy tab 7" version which has built in GPS. The MX Mariner app works perfectly

 

[pvb]

Getting back to the original question, the OP wanted a recommendation for a tablet that has BUILT-IN GPS, something that seems to have been ignored among comments about Reliant Robins. The Nexus 7 may have (I seem to remember my son using one to tell me where he had broken down) but I do not really know. Same for the Hudl.

Nexus 7 and Hudl both have built-in GPS.