"Best" chart/navigation software

[nohal]

Yes, there might be some discount, but for example the French coast is 4*$205, that is $820. Exactly the same from o-charts is 18.90 + 16.50 EUR, $38, more than 20 times less...

[JPK]

What's becoming increasingly clear to me, through this discussion, in talking with others, and in getting a better understanding of what's out on the market and what is no longer on the market, is that the future of chart plotting apps is tablet-based and not laptop-based. I always viewed tablets as a convenience for simple tasks and "real" work was done on a laptop, but that's not the case anymore and tablets have several advantages over laptops in terms of size, portability, ability to waterproof, built-in GPS, etc. Personally, as I move forward I'll be looking at iPad-based solutions, as they stand the best chance of still being around 5 years from now.

[nohal]

That is a sane conclusion and nothing beats iSailor on an iPad. Depending on your area of interest it's only disadvantage is that the cartography is also strictly based on the official vector cells.

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

Had a look at MacENC: $331 AUD plus charts
Would have to be very good to beat OpenCPN’s $0 plus charts.
Or Navionics $90 per year including charts

We love OpenCPN and use it extensively now that all our computers are running Linux. Prior to that, we used Timezero ($500). Until you've used one of those navigation packages, it's very hard to know what you're missing. I can say with certainty that a package like TZ is leaps and bounds ahead of OpenCPN in ease of use and chart quality. As it should be for $500!

As for charts, we would gladly pay double or more for opencpn charts that has copy protection that worked with our Linux PC.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

One super advantage of going open source is that you are less likely to find that your chosen commercial software suddenly becomes no longer available, or the company changes chart formats, or they discontinue your favorite area, or they double your subscription fee, etc. etc. This is a huge reason why dedicated chart plotters can be problematic after just a few years.

Yes, and another advantage of open-source code is it suddenly goes off the reservation as OpenCPN has done for me. Was working fine a week ago. Today- here's what I get. None of the charts on chart-bar open.

This type of stuff NEVER happens with Coastal Explorer or similar. Why you OpenCPN folks put up with this type of stuff is beyond me.

[nohal]

Click on either the green or blue bar.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by nohal

Click on either the green or blue bar.

Did that. Nothing. Rebooted. Nothing.

As you can see, there are a LOT of routes and waypoints - these were done in the last few months when OCPN was behaving. I've used this before.

I'll get it figured out, but in my opinion, it's not a stable platform. It's free and it provides charts to some difficult to serve locations. Both interesting advantages. But to the OPs premise. It is temperamental and difficult.

[nohal]

My guess would be you removed or moved your charts from their location on the disk. But it is hard to guess from a single picture.

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Did that. Nothing. Rebooted. Nothing.

As you can see, there are a LOT of routes and waypoints - these were done in the last few months when OCPN was behaving. I've used this before.

I'll get it figured out, but in my opinion, it's not a stable platform. It's free and it provides charts to some difficult to serve locations. Both interesting advantages. But to the OPs premise. It is temperamental and difficult.

Perfect example. One click to download the Timezero charts for a location. $30.99 for the entire FP location and the chart is beautiful.
Chartworld.com has better compatibility with OpenCPN though.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by nohal

My guess would be you removed or moved your charts from their location on the disk. But it is hard to guess from a single picture.

That's my guess too. I'll figure it out. Guessing it's not a fatal error. But it's the type of user admin that just doesn't happen with CE or TZ that are developed with a bit more rigor. I've used CE for almost 25 years and while not perfect, have never opened a chart and has it be a worthless blob.

I know OCPN have their faithful. But if you expect OCPN to be more than a niche product for nerds who happen to sail, spend more time making it easier to use and less time adding esoteric features.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

That's my guess too. I'll figure it out. Guessing it's not a fatal error. But it's the type of user admin that just doesn't happen with CE or TZ that are developed with a bit more rigor. I've used CE for almost 25 years and while not perfect, have never opened a chart and has it be a worthless blob.

I know OCPN have their faithful. But if you expect OCPN to be more than a niche product for nerds who happen to sail, spend more time making it easier to use and less time adding esoteric features.

I am probably missing something here, you say CE and TZ both show the charts even when you delete them from the disk? That must be magic...

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by nohal

I am probably missing something here, you say CE and TZ both show the charts even when you delete them from the disk? That must be magic...

They simply don't allow you to accidentally delete them from the disk. It's much more integrated.

And even if you do delete them, it prompts you to download them if you zoom in to the area.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by Sabado

They simply don't allow you to accidentally delete them from the disk. It's much more integrated.

And even if you do delete them, it prompts you to download them if you zoom in to the area.

So it is magic. How does an application exactly prevent you from deleting files from the disk of your computer?

[Sabado]

Originally Posted by nohal

So it is magic. How does an application exactly prevent you from deleting files from the disk of your computer?

Maybe you should try out your competition to see how high the bar is my friend. Unfortunately, your MO is to blame blame blame.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by Sabado

Maybe you should try out your competition to see how high the bar is my friend.

I know how high the bar is, what I did not know until now is that there is even magic included in these packages and that they are modifying the systems they run on to an extent that their owner can't do even basic operations on them anymore.