Products that will hook up to my tablet, iPad, iPhone or android smartphone

[MTLandlocked]

First of all, if my pist says something about free, its because Im using the CF app and when I try to make a new thread it asks me if I want to choose wanted, for sale, free, trade, etc.

Anybody know of any products for use aboard that connect to your smart device and expand its functionality? Like maybe an AIS reciever, depth sounder with a bluetooth or wifi connection, etc? Pilots these days ( airplane pilots) have all sorts of cool handy elecrtronics that plug into an iPad iPhone or Android device such as weather receivers, traffic awareness and charts with GPS nav software

[barnakiel]

Anything plugs in as long as it is NMEA/wifi. BT works too but I found it less straightforward to get the connection to work. AND if there is an APP that decodes the stream for you (you can write one too).

You can use a wifi enabled device or use an adapter or else you can ask your PC to become a data multiplexer.

Many devices today have GPS/GLONASS, compass buil-it, some have baro and other sensors.

b.

[rebel heart]

I hope this doesn't come across as prick-ish because that's not where I'm going with it. I remember a thread from you recently where (I think) you're basically trying to get up to speed with the boat and the whole sailing thing and I think that's awesome. I was in the Navy and my dad was a Marine aviator in Vietnam so if that's you in your picture I imagine you've been getting abused with all the Afghanistan/Iraq operations.

Commercial pilots receive official training, licensing, and constant re-examination. The aircraft themselves are inspected, professionally maintained, and certified. This is more than one licensed operator at any point in time (in most countries), frequently two of which are at the controls at the same time during difficult maneuvers.

So saying "x works in aircraft so x works in sailing" glosses over a lot that simply isn't true in the maritime world. The Navy, as an example, is not allowed to steer warships around without paper charts and without the professional trained navigators who know how to and actually do use them.

You didn't come here for a lecture so again sorry if it's coming across that way. But before I'd get into expensive navigation I'd be asking questions on deduced reckoning, chart scales, and where to get paper charts cheap.

Again, sorry if that's preachy. Good luck either way. And to be honest integrated electronics like you're talking about are pretty expensive.

The cheapest route is opencpn with a usb gps. That's at least a chart plotter on a laptop.

[MTLandlocked]

Rebel heart, youre fine. It didnt come across negative or anything. I was just reading an article in Flying magazine and made me think of asking about similar technologies for sailing. Im just curious by nature. Even if something doesnt necessarily apply to me today ill still ask just because its in my nature.
Smooth Sailing

[barnakiel]

Only a short side re prices: OpenCPN may be free but it requires a machine and the machine costs.

I think today the economy method is an Android mobile device with a nav App.

The game changed when the netbook died. An economy Android device with gps&glonass built-in costs around USD 150. A cheapest machine costs here (EU) 400.

Android Apps come free too.

Hence, price-wise, a mobile device + App wins hands down.

b.

[pbiJim]

If you do decide to go the Luddite route & work from paper charts, You can now download most NOAA charts as booklets in PDF format. I still prefer full size charts by a long margin, but these are a good cheap place to start.

NOAA BookletCharts(TM)

NOAA has said that they are evaluating the effectiveness of this free PDF program, so it may not be around forever. My advice is to get the ones you think you may need while the getting is good.