Which iPad Navigation App is the Best?

[K_V_B]

I used to use MaxSea Timezero for the iPad. Then an iOS update broke it, and it took half a year for MaxSea to bring out a fix. A plotter from one of the major vendors, where the OS and the software comes from the same source, only running software from that source will be more reliable. I doubt General purpose computing devices will ever be as reliable as a dedicated plotter.



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Vlad70

Very suitable for cockpit :big grin:
20 000+ miles without chart-plotter





it perfectly charged from 12v, just need little bit more power 1A+, You can change car charger or install something more waterproof like blue sea charger or any other sealed charger.


add to the list of program - SEAiq Open - good alternative to OpenCPN on iPad, may be on of the most advanced program.

SEAiq: Screen Shots

Is that SEAiq running in the photo?

I have Navionics and have been happy with it for coastal cruising.

[Therapy]

I am going to try out SEAiq USA.

I have read for hours yesterday and today and will give it a go. (things change so fast these days by the time I download the chart for my area the whole shebang could be out of date!!)

I don't get out much these days but when I do I will try it out. Also, I am strictly local to Central West Coast Florida right now.

We shall see.

[Fr Mo]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

I used to use MaxSea Timezero for the iPad. Then an iOS update broke it, and it took half a year for MaxSea to bring out a fix

While these sort of experiences are, without question, unacceptable, I must report we have been cruising full time for 4.5 years now and no nav app that we use has ever broken down due to an iOS update. Perhaps such breakdowns used to happen, as reflected by your comment on experiences before 2014, and certainly could happen again, but I can confidently say have not happened since early 2014.

We currently have installed:

(1) Garmin BlueChart (discontinued but works perfectly!)
(2) Garmin Active Captain (the replacement for BlueChart)
(3) MaxSea TimeZero (amazing "raster", i.e., "real" charts)
(4) Jeppesen Plan2Nav (official C-MAP, discontinued but works perfectly!)
(5) Imray Navigator (sort of the "new kid on the block" from 2017)
(6) Navionics

We have several apps because we run at least a couple per region that we navigate, to cross-reference (we've found chart errors in them all except MaxSea TimeZero), and as we have gone into new regions I sometimes wanted to "test" an app. The keepers are, from best to worst:

(1) MaxSea TimeZero - just excellent highly readable strictly official government "raster" charts that are like having paper onboard. If you connect to instruments, you get full chart plotter functionality with wind, depth, and AIS. It's like looking at a Furuno TZ chart plotter.

(2) Navionics - most up to date charts with lots of detail, though on occasion the detail fails to deliver.

(3) Garmin BlueChart - to this day you can download the app to new iPads if you ever downloaded the app years ago and if you purchased maps you can download them. Our purchases cover huge swaths of the planet for which we paid very little money, less than $100, I believe.

(4) Garmin Active Captain - easy to use inheritor of BlueChart but its charts are very expensive. Still, we were given over $1,000 in free charts as compensation for the discontinuation of BlueChart. While the free charts don't cover as much as BlueChart, the app is very good.

The ones we bought, downloaded a region for, say, $30 or $50, and will never bother with again are:

Imray Navigator. While the app is slick, modern, and the charts are highly, highly readable, possibly the best out there (only beat perhaps by NV Charts), the charts lack detail except for the most popular harbors and marinas, and so are nearly useless for people who mostly anchor out, like we do. But people who go from marina to marina would probably benefit greatly from this app given how clear its charts are.

C-MAP (Jeppensen Plan-2-Nav). Official C-Map product. Awful charts. Basically a vector digitalization of the official charts, so little if any value added. The slowest of them all, possibly due to constant internal security verifications. The worst part is that if you zoom out, the charts don't hint that if you were to zoom in, all kinds of obstacles and dangers lurk at larger scale and these dangers are only shown in C-MAP if you zoom in, sometimes having to zoom almost to the max. By way of contrast, Navionics is very good at hinting dangers even if you are zoomed out.

Cheers,

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Fr Mo

(1) MaxSea TimeZero - just excellent highly readable strictly official government "raster" charts that are like having paper onboard. If you connect to instruments, you get full chart plotter functionality with wind, depth, and AIS. It's like looking at a Furuno TZ chart plotter.

Does the iPad version not let you choose between NOAA raster and NOAA vector charts (assuming U.S navigation), without cost? Or choose C-Map or Navionics vector charts at additional cost? As do the Windows and Furuno plotter versions?

-Chris

[Fr Mo]

We left the U.S. years ago, so we never used MaxSea there.

For years, MaxSea for iPad offered no vector options; only raster. A couple of weeks ago they came out with a new version, called "TZ iBoat". On this new version, which is otherwise identical, you can no longer "buy" your maps, you can only "subscribe", which I don't like. Fortunately they grandfathered our forever purchases, so I personally am OK.

On the other hand, for the first time TZ TimeZero now lets you choose and switch on the fly between raster and vector charts... but you have to buy them separately. For the European market, the prices are competitive. For example, British Isles raster is $49 1st year, $24 renewal; vector, $69 1st year, $34 renewal.

For the domestic U.S. market, the prices are not competitive. Raster $39 1st/$19 renew all U.S.A., vector, you buy in three separate areas at $39/$19 each. Ouch!. Of course MaxSea has the superb seamless tiling (may have invented it for all I know!) so you don't have to deal with literally hundreds of separate charts, but I don't think many people appreciate what a wonder of wonders it is to have only one perfectly smooth, infinitely scrolling "paper" chart that always shows maximum available detail; besides, I believe others have since emulated tiling, so where is MaxSea's advantage anymore for the mass U.S. market? People will see free charts from NOAA, so why would they pay $40 bucks for the privilege of having them tiled?

Bottom line: no, you don't get free U.S. charting like you do on Furuno chart plotters. You have to pay to play, or pony up for a real Furuno TZ.

To your comment regarding size: I agree. Since we got an iPad Pro 12.9", I no longer like using the old iPads for chart plotting.