iphone + navionics app

[nathank]

Just a quick question as i cant really understand one particular thing.
What is the big advantage of having a gps on the boat when you can just buy the app for 20 or 30 bucks for iphone?
I use it all the time and it is super accurate, records waypoints.. shows a track (so you know the drift direction etc.. why spend 1000's on a unit plus sd card?? am i missing something?

The only thing i can think of is screen size which doesnt matter to me..

[thelump]

It lacks the ability to load up marks from an SD card. Have to do it one at a time. Also runs off a battery. But agree it is good. How much must they be making off their cards?

[nathank]

you can put them in manually and they store.. no need to worry about them getting deleted, ive got a 12v charger which the phone plugs straight into on the dash :)

But your right!!!! 500 plus for a card, 20/30bucks for the exact same thing as an app?? outrageous!

[Justin Rossiter]

I found that both my iPhone and iPad were nowhere near as accurate as my GPS unit, plus I like hitting the button to mark the spot. It isn't that expensive for a combo unit with a micro SD card now.

[nathank]

but you still have to pay for the sd card.... ok cool one vote, for hitting a button to mark the spot, i have to tap the screen. I only venture offshore about 18ks tops.. the marks i have (some) are little pinacles and it puts me on the money every single time.. Not that i catch fish all the time lol

[ozynorts]

I use it on the Ipad and it chews the battery really quickly. I plug the Ipad in to the charger socket but al that does is slow the rate of discharge. However I am thinking about getting it for the iphone as well.

[goat boy]

I've tested it side by side with dedicated GPS units and the ap on a tablet is very accurate all the time (though I guess this depends on your actual units quality of receiver). The benefits of a phone or tablet is the price and also pinch screen zoom (which I guess is available on actual units now but refer to the first benefit). The cons are battery life but yeh, run some power to it and usually solved. You can also extend battery life by turning off all your background crap that you don't need and putting the unit to sleep when you dont actually need it (I do this, with no dedicated power and get 3 day trips easy by just using the tablet when I actually need chart function, a little garmin data only unit handles all the marks and stuff).
I was going to say a con is waterproofing but there are water proof cases out there and Sony now have the xperia z tab with is IP7 certified right out of the box.

[jmwarner]

When everyone is talking about SD cards do you mean the navionics cards or just a regular SD?

[Robbo76]

What's the app called? I tried looking for my ipad, but couldn't find anything. I am a noob on computers though. :)

[Zippidy]

Look for "Marine: Australia&NewZealand".

Alternatively, "Navionics".

[morphias]

Couldn't agree more goatman. Plug it in to 12V power and you can go as long as you like. GPS accuracy is very dependant on the quality of the GPS chip in the device and the antenna.

I use Navionics on a Samsung Galaxy tablet and on my HTC One and it is brilliant. I love the way you can have it pull in the tide times for any location, etc, as well.

crApple GPS accuracy has always been woeful. The reputable brands running Android have excellent accuracy. crApples also suffer from not being able to keep charge up with the rate of discharge. I do IT for a job and crApple are rapidly being left behind by Android.

It is a PITA that to add a mark is 4 screen touches instead of one...they really need to add this to the main screen.

I am very interested in the new xPeria tablet and it would probably be my next buy or recommendation as a chart plotter for a boat. My uncle just spent $3K on a new GPS chart plotter for his 50' cruiser and I didn't have the heart to tell him he could have achieved the same thing for ~$600-800 (price determined by whether or not you want 4G) and had internet, etc, built in.

What they need is an app that can interface wirelessly or via USB with a sounder and radar and dedicated units will rapidly become a thing of the past.

Ben.

[nathank]

Very true about turning off all the background apps.. to do this double tap the round home button and it loads all the apps that are running at the bottom of the screen.. hold one app untill it wobbles and has an x in the top left corner then delete them all but the navionics app.. my ipad or iphone always sits at 100% when plugged in but if you dont have a charger on board u wont stand a chance and have a flat battery inside an hour and a half or so.. I have used both the iphone and ipad app but have found (unfortunately) my iphone app is better..
The contour lines are just awesome.. i fish a spot where it jumps from 40/41m into 36/35m and its bang on.. so much so i turn my sounder off nowdays when drifting along it..

[ozynorts]

What's the app called? I tried looking for my ipad, but couldn't find anything. I am a noob on computers though. :)

http://www.navionics.com.au/index.php/en/apps