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Old 18-07-2013, 15:03   #1
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Lets Talk Electronic Charts

So I'm setting around the club bar when someone pulls out his "I-pad" showing the route he did on the ditch run.... surprising the charting was really clear and spot on for detail..
In chatting with him, its a Navionics program...
so for the last few years I've been using a Ray Marine plotter with C-Map chips at a cost of about 250 each.. and I now see the same areas and avalable to purchase at 6 dollars per section..
so its simple math... C-map for 250 for Hawaii or a 6 dollar addition to a 45 dollar program thro Navionics on an Ipad......
So something else has come now..........................
In checking the different pads avalable at "Best Buy" I'm told the windows version does not support the same Navionics programing that the ipad does..
can someone shead some light on these subjects.......
Whats avalable, and do the newer windows based unit support the programs............
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Old 18-07-2013, 15:23   #2
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Using an tablet to rely on to navigate you to Hawaii is a form of lunacy.


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Old 18-07-2013, 16:05   #3
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

Re C-MAP vs Navionics. In my experience, C-MAP detail is very poor in some areas and then quite detailed in others. Very inconsistent. Navionics has been consistently good everywhere I have used it.

Also, you don't have to run the Navionics App to use Navionic charts. I run FUGAWI on my loptop (Windows XP) using Navionics Charts.

Underway I run both my Raymarine chart plotter (C-MAP) and Fugawi (Navionics). Will probably transition from laptop to tablet by next season, but still continue to run the chart plotter too (with paper charts as my plan "C").
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:07   #4
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Navionics is excellent as a backup plotter. I would want a PC or plotter as primary.
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:16   #5
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

Quote:
Originally Posted by goboatingnow View Post
Using an tablet to rely on to navigate you to Hawaii is a form of lunacy.


Dave

Aw, c'mon. Please don't derail this into another paper vs. pixels argument. The OP did not say he would be using ONLY electronics.
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:17   #6
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

We also want to buy a tablet to use as back up chartplotter.
Not technically/computer literate so exactly which program do we load onto a windows based tablet rather than ipad?
Thanks
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:29   #7
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Practical Sailor recently had an article on tablet programs.
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:30   #8
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

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Originally Posted by goboatingnow View Post
Using an tablet to rely on to navigate you to Hawaii is a form of lunacy.


Dave

after a number of crossings to the islands upon compass alone, I think I've got a handle on how to and not how to..
you can go back to your arm chair now........
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Old 18-07-2013, 16:40   #9
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The lunacy argument wasnt directs at a paper versus digital argument. Its that using a domestic consumer piece of electronics as your only digital system is lunacy as the failure rates of these devices and their overall lack of robustness is very obvious. My current Garmin. Plotter is approaching 10 years of hard labour in all sorts of seas. Its still going strong

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Old 18-07-2013, 16:40   #10
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

Randy, the short answer is that the inexpensive Navionics app/chart combos are available for iPad (hah, I accidentally typed iPhad the first time - irony?) and Android tablets. No Windows 8 version has been published, and no idea if they plan to.

So if you want to set up to use a tablet for navigation it looks like you're either buying an iPad or an Android tablet. I took along our little 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 for laughs on our trip to Catalina all of last week, and IMO a 7" device is a little small to really use well (although compared to my ancient Furuno 1650 plotter it's massive), so I would opt for a 10" tablet. The screen was very hard to see in direct sunlight. iOS versus Android is a personal choice, although you can certainly get a lot of good Android tablets way cheaper than an iPad. I use an iPhone and an Android tablet and honestly I have no real preference between the two.
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Old 18-07-2013, 17:19   #11
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

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Randy, the short answer is that the inexpensive Navionics app/chart combos are available for iPad (hah, I accidentally typed iPhad the first time - irony?) and Android tablets. No Windows 8 version has been published, and no idea if they plan to.

So if you want to set up to use a tablet for navigation it looks like you're either buying an iPad or an Android tablet. I took along our little 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 for laughs on our trip to Catalina all of last week, and IMO a 7" device is a little small to really use well (although compared to my ancient Furuno 1650 plotter it's massive), so I would opt for a 10" tablet. The screen was very hard to see in direct sunlight. iOS versus Android is a personal choice, although you can certainly get a lot of good Android tablets way cheaper than an iPad. I use an iPhone and an Android tablet and honestly I have no real preference between the two.
very well said,
that is what I was looking for........
my plotter is only a 5 inch screen, anything larger would be a real pleasure.
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Old 18-07-2013, 17:28   #12
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

I'm in the same boat (well, not literally) with an old 5 inch screen plotter. I do most of my navigation on a laptop with openCPN, but of course I don't like it to venture from the nav station.

Long term I think the trend of supporting a tablet as a remote display via WiFi, which at least Navico (Simrad, B&G, Lowrence) and Raymarine are doing, is wonderful. It just makes sense to me to have a plotter at the nav station where it's less likely to get killed or stolen plus a remote tablet in a waterproof case up in the cockpit. The tablet can be moved around easily, put away in rain, etc, and a power port for it should be easy enough to rig up. You can already use any tablet (including Windows 8 tablets) as a remote desktop for a laptop via various apps, so you could pull the same stunt with a laptop running e.g. openCPN at the nav station and a tablet in the cockpit.

None of this solves the odd fundamental discrepancy between the price of plotter charts and app charts though. At some point something will have to give there.
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Old 18-07-2013, 17:34   #13
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Re: Lets Talk Electronic Charts

Quote:
Originally Posted by goboatingnow View Post
The lunacy argument wasnt directs at a paper versus digital argument. Its that using a domestic consumer piece of electronics as your only digital system is lunacy as the failure rates of these devices and their overall lack of robustness is very obvious. My current Garmin. Plotter is approaching 10 years of hard labour in all sorts of seas. Its still going strong

Dave

OK that makes a lot of sense. thanks.
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Old 18-07-2013, 17:53   #14
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I'm building a chart plotter right now using a CF-M34 Toughbook running stripped down Windows XP Pro as a basis.
It was sitting around my house, in a fully functioning state, not being used.
The GPS is a Globalsat BU-353 USB GPS (no display or interface of its own).
The chart plotter software I'm going to use for now is OpenCPN.

http://opencpn.org/ocpn/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000PK..._M3T1_ST1_dp_1
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Old 18-07-2013, 20:07   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oblivionboyj View Post
I'm building a chart plotter right now using a CF-M34 Toughbook running stripped down Windows XP Pro as a basis.
It was sitting around my house, in a fully functioning state, not being used.
The GPS is a Globalsat BU-353 USB GPS (no display or interface of its own).
The chart plotter software I'm going to use for now is OpenCPN.

http://opencpn.org/ocpn/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000PK..._M3T1_ST1_dp_1
Windows XP Pro ?! really? And you're going to take that to sea?

I would rather have my iPad than most chart plotters in use on boats I see. Pretty reliable too, never seen a failure yet.
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