Recommendations for Electronic Navigation

[hamburking]

This won't help you aboard, but I find it great for planning (and armchair exploring):

Navionics Webapp

[Olddave]

Everyone loves their Nav gear!
If you stick with the laptop, you can put it somewhere safe and dry and run it closed with an HDMI cable to a cheap flat screen TV. Use a wifi mouse and keyboard to operate it. You can get waterproof ones if the budget permits.
I love Maxsea Time Zero with Navioncs charts because it works very well and is easy and logical, but it's expensive. I plug a Vesper 850 WatchMate AIS into the laptop along with the USB GPS.
I recently replaced my sounder with a Lowrance Hook 5 and that sits with the flat screen and AIS to keep all the important info clustered together. If you get AIS make sure you can reach it easily, to silence all the alarms.
Lot of options out there, do your research well because you will use the chosen system for a long time.
Dave

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I was a navigator in the US Navy. I learned Celestial Navigation and even own my own Sextant.

I just bought a 27-foot Cal MkIII and started thinking about sailing on big waters again for the first time in 30 years.

I was wondering what electronic means do people recommend these days? I own a USB GPS receiver for my laptop. I used to use Street Atlas and even scanned my own charts into my laptop back in the 90s. I did an Internet search and was overwhelmed by the various options.

My preference is for something that would work with my laptop (Mac) and would include support for my USB GPS antenna. Can I download charts for various destinations and plan course plans and such? Obviously, it has to be independent from live Internet support since I will be far from cell towers and wired connections for most of the time. I'd also rather buy the software and hardware outright, than have to pay for a subscriptions or service fee.

I recommend a dedicated marine chartplotter. Even as simple as the Raymarine Dragonfly will give you electronic charting for all North America and most of Bahamas, with speed over ground, and depth, as well as high res sonar with a waterproof sunlight viewable screen for very little money. Worth every penny.0

[billdre]

I agree with Ramblinrod. Trying to patch together software, charts and hardware is fine if you want a project. But using laptop and phone software as a primary tool for navigation to me is dangerous. Buy a brand name chart plotter it will come with detailed charts, gps, tides, and all the information you need for coastal sailing. I use Garmin along with its Homeport feature and it links to Active Captain as well. More than worth the investment. It's reliable, detailed and could save your life. Leave the "apps" for backup.

[Bigjim]

I downloaded OpenCPN and downloaded charts for the entire great lakes. I will also buy paper charts when the time gets closer. I like the advantage of having all the charts available, especially for planning purposes.

I'm having a problem though. I bought a GPS receiver (BU-353S4). I installed the GPS Utility on my Mac and the Driver for OS10.8+. But I can't get it to work on my older MacBook Pro 17 inch. I installed all the stuff on my newer MBP 15 inch and it works fine.

However, I have not been able to get it to interface with OpenCPN. Does anyone have any tips to get it working? The instructions are very poorly written. I think they were written for an older version of the program, because they describe options that I do not see or cannot find in the program.

The GPS Utility functions fine and produces a Lat and Long. I just can't get it to operate in OpenCPN.

Thanks

Jim

[bobmcd625]

Hi BigJim.
For years Apple users have sworn by iNavX and related apps like MacENC. I have not used any of them in earnest so would love to hear other Cruisers' opinions. I am like you, now searching for the best chart for my B&G Zeus2 7 which will be most compatible with an iPad and/or Android phone. At the moment Navionics seems to be best, but the jury is still deliberating. We are spoiled for choice these days!!!

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I downloaded OpenCPN and downloaded charts for the entire great lakes. I will also buy paper charts when the time gets closer. I like the advantage of having all the charts available, especially for planning purposes.

I'm having a problem though. I bought a GPS receiver (BU-353S4). I installed the GPS Utility on my Mac and the Driver for OS10.8+. But I can't get it to work on my older MacBook Pro 17 inch. I installed all the stuff on my newer MBP 15 inch and it works fine.

However, I have not been able to get it to interface with OpenCPN. Does anyone have any tips to get it working? The instructions are very poorly written. I think they were written for an older version of the program, because they describe options that I do not see or cannot find in the program.

The GPS Utility functions fine and produces a Lat and Long. I just can't get it to operate in OpenCPN.

Thanks

Jim

Jim, you should ask in the OpenCPN forum here at CF.

[daletournier]

It also depends where you intend to sail. I use both open cpn and navionics. My experience is cmaps (open cpn) is less accurate than navionics once you start getting of the grid abit, well where I've been anyway. Open cpn is awesome for passage planning, recording tracks and importing others tracks. The other great thing about open Cpn is you can load charts other than cmaps on to the platform. In the Philippines a boat called bewitched converted paper raster charts to electronic that could be used on open cpn, great accuracy. Oh and its FREE :-)

Ive heavily used navionics on my old c80 raymarine, and it was good but I'm going away from the dedicated chart plotter as the expense for raymarine charts (chip) compared to downloading the same charts on a tablet is just ridiculous. Last night I downloaded the Australian east coast and Indian ocean all the way to south Africa for $60, tonight im downloading the same charts on two other devices for no extra cost.

Also I've used/use SAS planet which gives you off line satellite imagery which is awesome for those places where the charts just arent that accurate, you can run it and open cpn side by side.

Check out below, this is Palau Wayag West Papua. The first image is navionics, the second is open cpn cmaps and the third is google earth using sas planet. In this case cmaps seems better than navionioics, but they are horribly inaccurate here.



Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[kittiping]

I would also recommend Opencpn. Have you looked at AIS at all? We have a number of economical options on Tindie.
https://www.tindie.com/products/mystore/

[conachair]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Also I've used/use SAS planet which gives you off line satellite imagery which is awesome for those places where the charts just arent that accurate, you can run it and open cpn side by side.

Tried this site yet?
https://www.venturefarther.com/

Converts google satillite images into Kap chart files which opencpn recognizes so they can be used in opencpn. Very useful.


GE2KAP does the same, more powerful but not so simple.

[Suijin]

1) Use OpenCPN on your Mac. Vector and bitmap charts are free.

2) Use Navionics or similar on your phone when coastal or pulling into port/harbor. It's with you wherever you are on the boat.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by daletournier

..... My experience is cmaps (open cpn) is less accurate than navionics once you start getting of the grid abit, well where I've been anyway....

Are you comparing upto date paid CMap (Jepperson) to Navionics? Or are you using the free bootleg world CMap charts that most have on OpenCPN?

[Bigjim]

To let everyone know I just tested and confirmed that the GPS antennae I purchased to use with my laptop worked perfectly with OpenCPN once i shut down the GPS Utility that came with the device. Someone noted that the COM port could only service one app at a time. So, by shutting down the Utility it allowed OpenCPN to receive the satellite signals. It grabbed a fix within a few moments in my living room and then displayed it in the app.

It looks like a good option for one method of navigation. As was also mentioned, you should maintain several methods. A good DR track would be always recommended.

[Lepke]

Another option with an Intel cpu mac is to run Windows and the windows version of OpenCPN. I run windows on my mac 17" powerbook and have no problems with OpenCPN or TZ Navigator.

[Neptune's Gear]

Firstly, let me say to compare opencpn with Cmap (cm93 ver 2) with navionics is a bit unfair. Cm93 is a pirated copy from 1993 - yes, approaching 25 years old. Cmap now do great charts, often better than navionics, and are currently cheaper than navionics for a plotter.
Opencpn is a plotter/mfd application for pc, mac or android. It is not a charting system.
To the poster above re the Zeus 2. Your iPad has nothing to do with the charts - it mirrors the Zeus 2 screen, it does not run the charts itself unless using iNavX or another app. The B&G app does screen mirroring.
What navigation system is best depends on the task and the person. If your cruising area is limited to one area, or even one continent, and you are not comfortable with IT , then a stand alone plotter/mfd might be best. They are easy to use, and have great features. IMO the B&G Zeus 3 is the best there is.
If you are comfortable with IT, and don't mind (or like) doing stuff like connections, configuration, understand nmea and serial Comms, (or at least willing to put in some time and effort to learn), then the PC/mac route can provide a great solution, flexibility, and even more function. There is no reason you can't have multiple screens with this type of system - I use it myself, and have a 19' monitor at the Nav station, and a 15' one at the helm station, both waterproof sunlight viewable, same as the plotters.
I sell, install, configure both of these types of systems, and recommend either type, depending on the customer or the circumstances/requirements.