[Rhodes22-list] using a tablet for navigation

[Graham Stewart]

Tom:

I played around with Navionics, SailFreeGps, Wavve and iBoating. Which is best depends on how you use it. Navionics is clearly the most powerful and complete but it is also the most expensive. In my case I am only sailing in familiar and hazard free waters and want a program that is easy to use and inexpensive. I don't have a need for a chart plotter so much as I just enjoy playing with it. The fact that I can't see the screen under most daytime lighting unless I go below makes it all less attractive.

In my case I think I will go for either SailFreeGPS (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frederic.sailfreegps&hl=en_CA&gl=US ) or Wavve (https://wavveboating.com/ ). Wave is just about perfect for me except that for some strange reason it does not show boat speed until you are going more than 5 knots - which for me is more than I go most of the time. What it does have is depth readings that you can set for the draft of your boat so that you will get a warning should you wander into shallow water. It costs only $20 per year. SailFreeGPS is not entirely free but at $10/per year for the paid version is pretty good. It is surprisingly capable and has some unique features such as a man overboard feature the impresses me. Some of it is very technical for me. It has a great screen that tracks course, direction and speed.

However, If you are doing any serious navigating in new locations Navionics seems like the obvious choice and that no doubt is why it is the most popular by far.

Graham Stewart
gstewart8 at cogeco.ca


-----Original Message-----
From: Rhodes22-list [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Tom Van Heule
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:15 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] using a tablet for navigation

I view in the shade of cabin.

I did a test of navionic pro this year and will give them my money next
year.

Why spend 1000 on a marine unit today, only for the nits. (Nits are units
of measurement for screen brightness)

What apps are your favorite?

On Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:59 AM Graham Stewart <gstewart8 at cogeco.ca> wrote:

> This year I began to play around with using an older tablet (Samsung
> ST-520) with various navigational programs. While this technology is
> fascinating and attractive I find it almost useless for the simple reason
> that in daylight conditions the screen is virtually unreadable.
>
> I would be interested to know what do others might do to address this
> problem?
>
> Graham Stewart
> Agile, Rodes 22, 1976
> Kingston Ontario
>
>
>
>