iPad and GPS Options

[Farr50PH]

This is my first post, so I hope I am in the right place. I am looking at iPad as backup for offshore nav. A friend recommended the version without 3G with an external BU353 Global Stat GPS antenna/receiver connected by mini USB and Navionics nav app and data base. Has anyone tried this configuration and have any advice or comments?

[ActiveCaptain]

Originally Posted by Farr50PH

This is my first post, so I hope I am in the right place. I am looking at iPad as backup for offshore nav. A friend recommended the version without 3G with an external BU353 Global Stat GPS antenna/receiver connected by mini USB and Navionics nav app and data base. Has anyone tried this configuration and have any advice or comments?

Oh my. You got bad advice. There's no USB port on an iPad to accept a USB GPS like the GlobalSat ones. There are a couple of very special GPS addons for the iPad like the Bad Elf. But for the added price, you should just get the 3G version and never enable it. That way you'll get a built-in GPS.

After that, there are a variety of navigation products. For backup, Navionics, Navimatics, and eSeaChart should all be considered. For the low prices of those apps, you'd probably want a few of them.

[tartansail]

Originally Posted by Farr50PH

This is my first post, so I hope I am in the right place. I am looking at iPad as backup for offshore nav. A friend recommended the version without 3G with an external BU353 Global Stat GPS antenna/receiver connected by mini USB and Navionics nav app and data base. Has anyone tried this configuration and have any advice or comments?

Agree with AC that there is no point in getting a non-3G iPad if you're looking to use it for navigation. I've been using iNavX with Navionics charts. It is replacing my chartplotter for routing it is so much easier to use. The downside is that it is a more expensive solution than some of the others and doesn't include Active Captain. I've been using Charts and Tides for off line Active Captain access.

[Farr50PH]

Thank you both for your replies. I have traded the non 3G back into the store for the 3G version. Have a friend who is using the 3G version now heading to Alaska from SEA on a Nauticat 42. He tells me it is working better than his onboard system. He is using Navionics. I appreciate your quick replies. Cheers, Ben

[sokkum]

We just sailed from Holland to the Lofoten (North Norway) using the usual navigation stuff like Adm. charts, detailed coastal charts Norway, Furuno displays with Cmap and a this tiny little wonder, the Ipad with 3G. The Ipad turned out to be the smartest for quick and detailed information on tricky passages along the Norwegian coast and entering harbours - very fast gps and local details. including tide.
What we didn't like: hard to read in the sun and planning longer trips, but so much and detailed information for about € 110, I think it's a steal.
Btw: Ipad with 3G and Navionics charts working for bigger parts of the North Sea and other parts of Europe.
If you don't have an Ipad it's maybe better to wait a couple of month for tablets coming on the market soon working on Android 3.0 (and higher) with a gps function in it and they might be cheaper than the Ipad (Samsung, Blackberry, Asus, Acer etc..)

[Farr50PH]

Hello Sokkum,
thansk for your reply. I have already purchased the iPad 3G and having good initial experience in the San Juan Islands and north to the Channel Islands in the Pacific Northwest.
Best regards,
Ben

[mpc7002]

The GPS chips in all of the iDevices are not that accurate, as anyone who has both an iPhone/iPad and a dedicated GPS device will tell you. Compare two tracks and you will see. That said there are a couple external GPS devices to use with you iDevices. They are either bluetooth or the type you plug in. I personally use the bad-elf gps on my iPad. It was designed for small plane pilot use on the iPad, although it will work on the iPhone and iTouch. It is as close to the Garmin as I have seen, almost identical tracks, and a good 20 to 50 feet more accurate than just the iPhone.

Using an iDevice for you navigation depends on where you are, and how accurate you need to be, for years I used just my iPhone and never hit anything or ran aground. I feel better using a Garmin or my bad-elf gps, and have used both to navigate a mile down a 20' wide channel on moonless nights, at low tide (both ways up hill in snow...

[ActiveCaptain]

Originally Posted by mpc7002

The GPS chips in all of the iDevices are not that accurate, as anyone who has both an iPhone/iPad and a dedicated GPS device will tell you.

Ummm....that's not my finding at all. I fully admit that the iPhone 3GS didn't have as good accuracy or ability to get a good fix with even the slightest of obstructions. The iPhone 4 and iPad are totally different animals.

With a typical clear view of the sky, my iPhone and iPad have as good if not better accuracy than any other GPS onboard. I'd bet I have 10+ GPS's in different devices onboard.

There's just no reason to get an add-on GPS for an iOS device today unless you made a mistake and got a non-cellular model to begin with. I'd much rather have the GPS built in and not have a dongle hanging off waiting to be knocked out and damaged. The extra price of a Bad Elf is the same as the difference in getting the cellular iPad. You never have to enable the cellular plan and can use it solely by WiFi - which is what I do.

[GPSNavX]

I second what ActiveCaptain says on the iPhone 4 and iPad 1/2 3G models. Unfortunately Apple reps spread misinformation about the availability and functionality of the GPS receivers in these models. Don't be penny wise pound foolish and get a non 3G model as the GPS functionality opens up an entire realm of navigation software.

[FunCo]

I plug my iPad into a 30"Apple monitor. Inav X beats all the nav. That I have on my 46 Bene.

[Farr50PH]

Thanks to all for your replies. I tried my iPad 2 with 3G (no cell service activate, using only wifi to load Navionics map data for East and West Coast US and the Med). Tested the unit on 80' whale watching boat weekend before last and it worked better than the onboard system. I was very pleased using only the internal GPS and antenna. Now I am working to plan and save routes as I have heard one can download such information to Raymarine Chart Plotters. I have two Raymarine autopilots on board, an ST6000 and ST7000. I would like to know if anyone has downloaded from iPad to these systems or perhaps the vintage is too old?
Cheers Mates...