Anybody Using Navimatics for iPad?

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Pat Anderson

New member
Jeff Siegel (Active Captain) posted here about this product, so I took a look. This looks like the perfect solution for a major part of the Great Loop - it is the coverage that caught my attention. One $25 package has the US & Canada East Coast, another $25 package has the US & Canada Great Lakes. Plus the Active Captain cruising data. There is a third $25 package, US & Canada West Coast, and I would probably get that too. Where else can you get that much coverage, especially the Canadian part, for $75? I don't think that Navionics (which I currently have on the iPad) has Canadian coverage at all, but I could be wrong about that...

Check it out here.

I would love a review from anybody who has actually purchased and used it!
 
Pat, Heather is running Charts and Tides for the West Coast on her I phone now that we have Chack Chack back from our Great Loop trip. I think you would love it on an I Pad to use in conjunction with your chart plotter. On the loop we ran CMAP on our Standard Horizon CVP 350 usually with some over zoom and a laptop running Tiki Navigator with a Navionics card underzoomed. Since you have never been to any of the places you are going to that day its nice to have the big picture on one screen so you know where in the heck you are headed and the immediate detail on another.
I think Charts and Tides would do that and give you the bonus of Active Captain at your finger tips to give you some insight into potential marinas and anchorages.

Eric
 
Thanks for the feedback!

Did you blog your Great Loop trip, Eric?

helm":f5xwul9c said:
Pat, Heather is running Charts and Tides for the West Coast on her I phone now that we have Chack Chack back from our Great Loop trip. I think you would love it on an I Pad to use in conjunction with your chart plotter. On the loop we ran CMAP on our Standard Horizon CVP 350 usually with some over zoom and a laptop running Tiki Navigator with a Navionics card underzoomed. Since you have never been to any of the places you are going to that day its nice to have the big picture on one screen so you know where in the heck you are headed and the immediate detail on another.
I think Charts and Tides would do that and give you the bonus of Active Captain at your finger tips to give you some insight into potential marinas and anchorages.

Eric
Click to expand...
 
Pat,

You can get Canadian coverage with the Navionic app for the ipad. I got all of the US AND all of Canada for about $40 TOTAL. You still have to download (for free) the regions of the map you need/want. Some of the more remote inland lakes in Canada may not have much in the way of a map. For example, I just downloaded a map to cover Lake Athabasca (spanning the Alberta/Saskacthewan border) and there's no detailed contours. However, all of the coastal areas around Canada have decent detail.
 
Pat,

I have been running Navmatics Gulf Coast on my iPad for about a year. I essentially use it for situation awareness. I keep it on small scale while I use my Garmin plotter up close. The contours and numbers are harder to see than other chart plotters I have used. The depth contour coloration is different and takes some adjustment to get used to. At night, I remove it from the helm and place it on the v berth cushion because--even in night mode with the brightness turned down--it is brighter than I prefer. None of these are huge issues. I have used it as primary navigation on occasion in familiar waters. Using the built-in iPad GPS it is very accurate. I am still in evaluation mode in the decision on whether to use it as my primary plotter. So far, I find the performance acceptable, the iPad format very nice, ActiveCaptain convenient, and the price right.
 
Pat

Have only used it on Yellostone Lake for testing. Like Jim said think it's best use will be "situational awareness in small scale" due mainly to no COURSE UP & boat position not AUTO CENTERED. Have all the maps for Southeast Alaska & think it will be a very good addition to the Garmins 276 & 545 We already have. Would work as a primary chart, but think it would be best used like I'm planning.

Jay
 
I use the iPhone version of Navimatics Charts and Tides on my phone as a backup chartplotter and an easy to reach access to ActiveCaptain data. I absolutely love the app and would buy the iPad version in a heartbeat. Highly recommended.
 
I have roughly the same app for my I-phone and would not be as nimble without it. Don't know how many times we have looked out the window and decided to plan a short boat trip, pulled out the phone, checked the tides, planned our destinations and done so with total reliability.
Once on the water the tide info is always great for fishing or travel through rip areas or shallow areas.
 
I too use it on my Iphone as a backup chartplotter and primary waypoint plotter. While underway, I like having one plotter zoomed up close and the other displaying the big picture. Since using this app., I have ceased using my laptop as a secondary plotter.

-Greg
 
I also have been using it for the Gulf (just did the upgrade last night). I love the Active Captain. But feel that other guides are best for planing. I have found some errors in Active captain--and when I do, I contact the poster--often they had not been to that point--and really didn't know what the situation was.

The Charts on Navionics HD (which I have all of the US, Canada and the Caribean are better (and a bit more expensive), All of these things are in flux, and getting better with each upgrade.

I think that this is one tool, of several which one can use. For the Great Loop I would also get Mark Doyle's series also. I also still like to read guide books and history--much of this is on the internet--and I will copy other's blogs and put it on my computer to compare with. (Now all I need is another C Dory!)
 
Just got back from the Douglas Channel, BC Pacific coast. Got full amazing coverage on my I-Pad from the Navionics app. The app is well worth the $40.00 I paid for it. The Ram mount also performed well. Not sure how to efficiently drop waypoints, but the track log, depth contours and mapping are excellent. One minor limitation is that some of the lakes in Alberta have not been contoured.
Wapiti
 
Another positive vote for the Navionics App for ipad. We ran the App every day as an addition to the Raymarine C80 Navionics chartplotter, on our summer cruise of British Columbia. Dixie enjoyed the big picture view, also quick reference to tides and currents or local info. We also used the tracking feature daily to keep a mileage log.

Brent
 
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