Why You Need an iPad and the Navionics App

Jim, thanks for the help. I am starting to look into the i-Pad type (size) devices, and looking like I prefer the Android but am shy of the not unlimited data plans.

Didn't realize you could use it without being connected to a data plan. I like the size of the kindle Fire, but not the price of the i-pad, nor do I have any other apple devices (yet) :disgust

One thing really nice about my C-120. I can run the screen with 2 charts on it, one for close around, and one for the BIG picture and not need a microscope to see where i am on either.

I-Pad vs Smart phone ---- hummmm :?

Thanks for a very enlightening discussion.:hot

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
The Raymarine menus outside the basic functions are totally illogical, and almost random. Go back to Barry's thread on C80 "secrets" to see what issues a huge number of folks were having. Try locating, using and resetting the trip computer, for example. This is trivial on Garmins. Buried WAY deep in places you would never think to look on the Raymarine.

Never use the fish finder, so I will take your word for it on that!

starcrafttom":c5rjqzxa said:
pat I still have a c-80 and don't mind the interface and menus at all. I know that the garmin is better but they all work basally the same. My biggest complaint with the c-80 was the depth finder. it never gave arches for fish just blobs and clouds.

Like I said iam sure the garmin and others will be wireless or bluetooth in the future.
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:cigar
 
Pat, and Tom,

After having the Raymarine on our C-Dory and now the Garmin on our Ranger I have an opinion. I thought then and I know now that the the Raymarine is cumbersome but usable, the Garmin is way user friendly and a joy to use. We have a Lowrance fishfinder/chart plotter on our small boat and find it very easy to use also... just MY opinion.
 
Just out of curiosity, what type of wireless connection does the wireless Raytheon use: Bluetooth or some proprietary frequency/format?

I'm still looking for a cheap way to hook the radar to my PC.

Boris
 
journey on":370jc0se said:
Just out of curiosity, what type of wireless connection does the wireless Raytheon use: Bluetooth or some proprietary frequency/format?

I'm still looking for a cheap way to hook the radar to my PC.

Boris
Click to expand...

Raymarine uses standard wifi as far as I know. The newer E series (and maybe C series) also supports wifi but an additional wifi access point has to be added into the network and doesn't support screen sharing like the E7. Check out www.panbo.com for the most comprehensive info I've seen for the new Raymarine gear.

As far as I know, at this point the only way to get radar data from the Raymarine equipment to a laptop or iPad is just mirroring the E7 screen to the other device.
 
Pat Anderson":3alwjg7m said:
A comment on the refurished iPads - be sure you get a 3G not WiFi only model. You don't need the data plan but only the 3G model has the GPS chip, which of course is the whole point out on the water. You don't need a data plan, you can download the chart data via WiFi. You need data for the satellite overlay but that is foo foo anyway.

On the Kindle Fire, that is a very good question, and we will need someone who owns one to tell us. And possibly Amazon will see the light and open up the Kindle Fire to the whole range of Android apps. But right now, Amazon is tightly controlling the apps you can run on the Kindle Fire, and they really only want you to use it to read / view / listen to Amazon content, not use it as a general purpose machine like the iPad.

There is a whole slug of Android tablets about to be released, however, which ought to run Navionics just fine. They will have much lower prices, starting at about $250, according to what I have read. Adios, little handheld backup GPSes!
Click to expand...

You could buy the WIFI only model and a Bad Elf GPS for it and it would save you $30. The Bad Elf Gps is a 64 channel device I haven't tested on the lake yet but it does appear to be more accurate on the streets.
 
20dauntless":2jeu8oez said:
One of the coolest parts of the new Raymarine E7 is that routes can be wirelessly exported from an iPad or iPhone running Navionics to the chartplotter, which can then drive the autopilot. I still haven't figured out how to get routes from my iPad to my C80 and have all but given up. Apparently it also has an all new user interface including touchscreen and real buttons. There sure have been a lot of advances in marine electronics since I got mine back in 2008!
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Does the E7 have a page view for navigation to a waypoint showing the boat relative to the course with an indicator to steer starboard or steer port by "n" degrees?
 
yes, the e7 has all the features of any of the raymarine products. go to the site and look at all the video's.

now I am not trying to sell raymarine over another brand. I an just pointing out that they are the first, and I highly doubt the last, to offer bluetooth repeating and sync to your handheld device and what a great idea it is. You can plan at home, as pat is doing , and then walk on to the boat and with a push of a button down load all you way points, route, etc on to your MFD. and after a long day fishing you can load all you favorite spots to you handheld to use later in emails or post or just to keep a record. hell even share with others at a c-brat gathering and exchange favorite anchorages and routes with the whole group. Its the first step of social media into a mfd mounted on the boat. As more brands use this format I will be able to down load my favorite crab spots from my raymarine to my phones navionic program to pats navionic on his phone so he can latter up load it to his Garmin. This is big and will change how we share our boat info regardless of pats inability to learn the simple raymarine format :wink:
 
You all are way ahead of me in the technology department and would appreciate some advice. We are shopping for chartplotter capability. Basically all we have now is the Garmin 60CSx handheld with the marine card. Both my wife and I are due for upgrades on our smartphones. We have Androids but are looking at the Iphone. We are also considering an Ipad for convenience for work related travel and personal use. It sounds like the Navonics software is a good way to go.

With this in mind, what do you recommend?
 
I have recently joined the 20th century electronics world (I'm not 100 year behind, but certainly am 12) and purchased a verizon android tablet. I got it to be a wi-fi hot spot and internet access on the boat and for weather radar. I do not have a useable cell phone signal at home, so I have paid little attention to all the phone stuff available. Yesterday, I downloaded the Navionics Marine and Lakes for $9.99. I must say, It's great! I have been cruising here on the couch and I'm very impressed. The charts stay on the device and work without an internet connection. With a connection it shows your position. Pretty cool. I recommend it!

Bruce Cassal
"Carpy"
 
Bruce, for $5 more, you can get Navionics for US & Canada both. I have been doing a virtual Great Loop cruise on the iPad. Try turning on the Google satellite overlay!


bcassal":h5ldxcyd said:
I have recently joined the 20th century electronics world (I'm not 100 year behind, but certainly am 12) and purchased a verizon android tablet. I got it to be a wi-fi hot spot and internet access on the boat and for weather radar. I do not have a useable cell phone signal at home, so I have paid little attention to all the phone stuff available. Yesterday, I downloaded the Navionics Marine and Lakes for $9.99. I must say, It's great! I have been cruising here on the couch and I'm very impressed. The charts stay on the device and work without an internet connection. With a connection it shows your position. Pretty cool. I recommend it!

Bruce Cassal
"Carpy"
Click to expand...
 
I don't have a Raymarine cardreader, I wish I did, so I could use my Navionics CF cards for the C80 with the computer. All I have is a standard CF cardreader. I have saved some waypoints from Raytech Planner to the CF card and loaded them to the C80 but without the Navionics CF cards, it is almost pointless, since Raytech Planner can't read ENC vector charts. Coastal Exlorer is really great but it can't export a nav object file to the Raymarine format. This leaves only transfer via NMEA, which is WAY beyond my comfort level.


starcrafttom":yy2x0usu said:
this is interesting.https://raymarine.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1420

Pat do you still have the raymarine card reader?
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bcassal":1hby7k7r said:
I have recently joined the 20th century electronics world (I'm not 100 year behind, but certainly am 12) and purchased a verizon android tablet. I got it to be a wi-fi hot spot and internet access on the boat and for weather radar. I do not have a useable cell phone signal at home, so I have paid little attention to all the phone stuff available. Yesterday, I downloaded the Navionics Marine and Lakes for $9.99. I must say, It's great! I have been cruising here on the couch and I'm very impressed. The charts stay on the device and work without an internet connection. With a connection it shows your position. Pretty cool. I recommend it!

Bruce Cassal
"Carpy"
Click to expand...

Bruce, I'm behind you but still looking, and have kind of zeroed in on the verizon android tablet or smart phone. I'm surprised at the connection comment. I thought the Pads come with a GPS on board. Is this something that can be added as an ap or do you have to find a pad that already has a GPS built in? :?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

P1050742_1.thumb.jpg
 
jkidd":oum5aza8 said:
You could buy the WIFI only model and a Bad Elf GPS for it and it would save you $30. The Bad Elf Gps is a 64 channel device I haven't tested on the lake yet but it does appear to be more accurate on the streets.
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I have the BadElf on my WiFi iPad (1st gen) and it's terrific. Plus I'll be able to move it to a subsequent iPad (which will also be WiFi only).

While it's substantially better than the built-in GPS, it does have a few quirks. One is that - since it takes up the device connector - you have to source a (micro USB? I forget...) cable to charge the iPad. The second is that the BadElf powers down when you switch away to a different app and I found the reacquisition time uncomfortably long. So I jailbroke my iPad and installed Backgrounder to keep the app (and GPS) running.

You also have to be aware of the dongle if you are handling the iPad outside a cradle - it seems possible to damage the connection if banged against another surface.

Depending on your usage these issues might not be deal-breakers.
 
hardee":r68ywjy7 said:
bcassal":r68ywjy7 said:
I have recently joined the 20th century electronics world (I'm not 100 year behind, but certainly am 12) and purchased a verizon android tablet. I got it to be a wi-fi hot spot and internet access on the boat and for weather radar. I do not have a useable cell phone signal at home, so I have paid little attention to all the phone stuff available. Yesterday, I downloaded the Navionics Marine and Lakes for $9.99. I must say, It's great! I have been cruising here on the couch and I'm very impressed. The charts stay on the device and work without an internet connection. With a connection it shows your position. Pretty cool. I recommend it!

Bruce Cassal
"Carpy"
Click to expand...

Bruce, I'm behind you but still looking, and have kind of zeroed in on the verizon android tablet or smart phone. I'm surprised at the connection comment. I thought the Pads come with a GPS on board. Is this something that can be added as an ap or do you have to find a pad that already has a GPS built in? :?

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

P1050742_1.thumb.jpg
Click to expand...

In a word: nope. You'd have to check each individual device to see if it has a built-in GPS chip. Most smart phones do, many tablets do not. If you are seriously thinking of something to use for backup marine navigation, I recommend something with a built-in GPS chip. So I don't sound like a broken record, one last comment on the iPad: the wifi only model does NOT have a GPS chip. The wifi/3G models DO have a GPS chip. While you can add a 3rd party GPS to the iPad, it's just one more thing to mess with. The GPS in our 1st generation wifi/3G iPad is every bit as accurate as our Raymarine E-80. The GPS chip in Joan's iPhone and my Droid Bionic, likewise, seem to be just as accurate.

I agree with what's been said about the Raymarine user interface, but once you learn it, it's no big deal. I like my Raymarine. BUT, the iPad running the same Navionics charting is way more intuitive. If I were doing it all again, I'd still want a dedicated chartplotter that is integrated with the radar, depth finder, autopilot, and VHF, but the iPad is certainly a great back-up, and does so much more. If you aren't interested in the integration, I could see the iPad as the main nav source.

So, regarding the additional $$ for the wifi/3G model iPad over the wifi only model (or many of the Android tablets) - you could spend more money getting an add-on GPS, or spend the extra bucks now and have it all built in. And if you WANT to connect to one of the cell providers, you have that as an option, and it's not a long term commitment, just month-by-month.

Do you NEED one? Probably not. They are easy to use, very handy and versatile... but for most of us it is a matter of want, not need. Having used one, I find it was worth the cost. Verizon had a hot deal on a tablet when Joan got her iPhone... after using our iPad, she tried the Android tablet and said, "No thanks." But, she doesn't like to use my Droid, either. The iPad is just easy and integrates so well with iTunes and all the great apps. Just sayin'.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Don't forget that there are external GPS units which can work with any phone or tablet with blue tooth. or the 30 pin connector of the iPhone or i pad. Bad Elf is one of the better known units, and seems to work well with the i phone or i pad series.
 
I just downloaded the Navionics US/Ca app on the Ipad. VERY cool. Much better than Navimatic or anything wlse I have looked at. What a deal at $15.00.

Got to play with it some more and catch up with Pat.
 
One could pay the $99 for the Bad Elf GPS unit or just spend about the same additional for the wifi/3G iPad. The Bad Elf will use more battery power than the internal GPS chip. Upside: you can use the Bad Elf with the iPad in airplane mode (I haven't had the need to let the flight crew know that they are off course. :wink: ) Unless you already have a wifi only iPad, I don't see the advantage of having something sticking out of the iPad form. If you're buying an iPad, I'd still recommend that you go for the wifi/3G models, and have the built-in chip.

Here's a review of the Bad Elf:

http://gps.about.com/od/accessories/gr/ ... d-iPod.htm

Other reviews I've read on the Bad Elf state that it does give the iPhone more accuracy than the built-in chip; for most boating situations, 20' vs 33' probably isn't going to be an issue.

Options - as a college professor of mine used to say, "You pay your money, you make your choice."

Best wishes,
Jim
 
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