Navionics vs iNavX vs other apps

[Paul M]

Hi all:

I recently bought a 41-foot Morgan and after an electrical refit is completed, I plan to sail from Bradenton Florida to the Dry Tortugas then up around the keys to the Titusville area.

I currently have a Navionics app on my iPad and a fairly dated GPS on the boat. I have read some about the iNavX app and wondered if anyone has opinions which of these are better. Also, I would love to hear what other apps people like when sailing concerning weather, marinas, and navigation.

When used on an iPad do most of these apps work 50 miles plus offshore or do you need a 4G signal for them to function? I have used Navionics in the northwest and on Coastal cruises through Central Florida. I have no experience using them more than 20 miles offshore.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

[hobopacket]

As long as your tablet is gps enabled it will work out of cell phone range.

[Gaelen]

We have sailed exclusively by iPad for the last 5 years. The two programs I prefer to use are Navionics and Garmin Bluechart.

Navionics: Best distance planner and open water navigator.

Garmin: Best coastal, inland water and Bahamian charts with ActiveCaptain integration.

In my opinion, having both is really all you need. You will trend from one to the other depending on your preferences over time.

[pcmm]

I used an ipad for navigation last summer and it has some drawbacks. with the screen on all the time and the brighness turned up enough to see in the sunlight, you'll go through the battery pretty fast and run into overheating issues unless its out of the sun. Navionics is notorious for being very inaccurate in the bahamas, but I don't know about other areas. I've opted to keep my ipad for route planning and backup and purchased a refurbished garmin echomap 74sv ( cost less than a wifi only ipad) as my main GPS.

Navionics has the disadvantage of not including active-captain where the garmin app does.

check out the Morgan 41 OI owners group on facebook. Its very active with lots of knowledgeable owners!

[DLincoln3]

I currently use a wifi-only iPad (in waterproof case) mounted at the pedestal, with iNavX for navigation. I chose the iNavX because it uses free downloadable NOAA charts. Because the iPad is wifi only, I bought a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver (Dual Electronics XGPS150A, $85 on Amazon) that communicates with the satellites and talks to my iPad via Bluetooth. I keep this at the chart table, and it has no problem with satellite connectivity through the cabin top. I have found the accuracy to be excellent and the connectivity to be solid. I did install a USB port in my instrument pod on the pedestal so I could keep the iPad charged via the 12v system. Works excellent. Screen brightness has been fine, but I have a bimini that helps there.

[Bill4]

I haven't used iNavX so can't comment on that.

We use Navionics on an Android tablet and Garmin Bluecharts on the chartplotters.

As Gaelen said, if you have Navionics and Bluecharts you don't really need anything else (electronically) but as backup we also have OpenCPN on the tablet and on two Android phones (with old CM93 charts on all three).

We also carry passage planning paper charts if heading offshore and pilotage guides for areas we'll be heading to but with the internet the pilotage guides aren't as important as they used to be (assuming you plan ahead and plan for alternative refuges before leaving port/internet access).

Other (Android) apps we use:

NAVTEX Marine Weather
XCWeather
Windfinder
Ocean Temperature & Tides (NOAA buoy data)
Anchor Watch Pro (Best anchor alarm app I've tried. It can also send an SMS to a 2nd mobile)
Sky Map (identify stars)
Vessel Lights (Realise how many you've forgot/don't know when you're on watch at night... )

[Spyderpig]

I have been using iNavx for a few years now including a circumnavigation. It has been ideal apart from 1 mile either side of 180 deg where I had to use the Navionics app. I found Navionics a good toy but not up to the task of serious navigation as it lacks integration with the boats systems and therefor has no AIS support. So unless you are going to Fiji I would recommend iNavx every time.

[Paul M]

Thanks for the great feedback guys, I really appreciate the responses.

I have some pretty dated (15 yr old) navigation instruments and no autopilot on the boat so AIS communication is not an issue.

My iPad has gps so I may just go with both apps on 2 different ipads so I can use active capt for marinas etc.

I read something today on a predict wind app that comes with a transmission unit and gives access to weather, email, and phone. Any experience with it?

Cheers,

Paul

[SnakeEyes]

Iridium Go, satellite based phone, sms, mail and wifi unit. Predict wind sells it in a package for 1150 USD + a monthly plan for traffic costs.

Its a great unit if you are on the open seas.

[Mike OReilly]

I’ve used iNavx for many years on an iPad (GPS built in). Works pretty darn good. I find the mechanics of some of the controls a bit clunky and not always intuitive, but once you get the swing of it, it works fine.

I did use an earlier version of Navionics on my iPhone. It worked fine too, but I like iNavx better. The current versions of Navionics is different though, so what do I know .

Other than iNavx I also use a few weather apps, as well as use it as an interface for our inReach, and our new Victron MPPT controller. I can also mirror my new Garmin chartplotter display via wifi so I can have the Garmin at the chart table and the iPad in the cockpit (in a waterproof case).