iSailor or Navionics? or

[daveNZ]

In NZ I have found iSailor and Navionics charts to have identical info.

iSailor a ‘little’ fiddly to create a route / Navionics very easy
ISailor looks more professional! / Navionics clear but cartoonish.
..can display previous tracks / can’t!!!!!!
..more info while track recording (off track dist. etc) / less
..AIS, AUTOPILOT etc add ons / none
..no sonar option that I’m aware of / sonar can be shown on split screen
..can display ‘course up’ and ‘north up’ / rotates the whole chart, including text!!
..tidal info and current display complicated / very easy and useful!!
..both have safe depth contours etc
..iSailor has many alarm options
..can’t pause and resume a track / can pause and resume a track
..can integrate NMEA input (e.g. for autopilot). /. none

I use both. Navionics for tidal info (for anchoring) and quick route planning. iSailor for nicer tracking, displaying previous tracks, course-up display.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by daveNZ

In NZ I have found iSailor and Navionics charts to have identical info.

iSailor a ‘little’ fiddly to create a route / Navionics very easy
ISailor looks more professional! / Navionics clear but cartoonish.
..can display previous tracks / can’t!!!!!!
..more info while track recording (off track dist. etc) / less
..AIS, AUTOPILOT etc add ons / none
..no sonar option that I’m aware of / sonar can be shown on split screen
..can display ‘course up’ and ‘north up’ / rotates the whole chart, including text!!
..tidal info and current display complicated / very easy and useful!!
..both have safe depth contours etc
..iSailor has many alarm options
..can’t pause and resume a track / can pause and resume a track
..can integrate NMEA input (e.g. for autopilot). /. none

I use both. Navionics for tidal info (for anchoring) and quick route planning. iSailor for nicer tracking, displaying previous tracks, course-up display.

Great comparison. I can’t be bothered with running two applications with separate chart purchases so am sticking with iSailor. We have Navionics charts in our plotters so prefer to use different charts on the phone/tablet. iSailor is available on Android, but you can’t share charts across platforms.

We also run OpenCPN on the laptop with yet another set of charts.

AFAIK, much of the underlying chart data is the same across different chart vendors as they work off the same base data set. Differences are in the different additional data sets a vendor chooses.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by overboard

I want to better understand what you mean by this statement as I am heading to Fiji soon and am seriously considering iSailor after years of iNavx use. What exactly do you mean? Is iSailor worse than Navionics in W. Fiji?



Fiji sits on the dateline and iNavx is a nightmare to use when close to it. It doesn't show anything within 1 mile on either side of this 180* meridian. That's unacceptable in reef strewn Fiji.

For the SW corner of Fiji - I compared only Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands and the adjacent mainland coastline - the iSailor South Pacific chart is more accurate at showing the various interior reefs and the smaller islands.

It shows right up to 180 degrees, but not continuously, so you have to go all the way around the world to go from W to E and vice versa. I wonder if this is a generic limitation of phone/tablet charts? I’m not near my MFD but I certainly hope it doesn’t do the same thing!