Best Chartplotter for Android Tablet

[ArranP]

Chartplotters run into thousands upon thousands of pounds, whilst at the moment funds are limited, at some point later I intend to buy an expensive chart plotter.

However during the meantime I am having to spread available funds across many items that are required.

What is the best chart plotting app to that can be used on an Android Tablet.

Thank you for your recommendations.

Regards
Arran.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by ArranP

Chartplotters run into thousands upon thousands of pounds, whilst at the moment funds are limited, at some point later I intend to buy an expensive chart plotter.

However during the meantime I am having to spread available funds across many items that are required.

What is the best chart plotting app to that can be used on an Android Tablet.

Thank you for your recommendations.

Regards
Arran.

I'd rather call these navigation apps rather than chart plotter.
I use 2 and both require an annual subscription.

Navionics and Aqua Map.

[ArranP]

Originally Posted by SVTatia

I'd rather call these navigation apps rather than chart plotter.
I use 2 and both require an annual subscription.

Navionics and Aqua Map.

I suppose that there is no way to integrate the radar over one these apps without the use of a chartplotter ?

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by ArranP

I suppose that there is no way to integrate the radar over one these apps without the use of a chartplotter ?

I haven't seen any option to integrate a radar, I doubt it could technically be done.
You could however, use OpenCpn to do so using a laptop.

[hpeer]

OPEN CPN works on Android.

[Ferrity]

Originally Posted by ArranP

I suppose that there is no way to integrate the radar over one these apps without the use of a chartplotter ?

Doubt it as SVTatia notes.

However, if you have a NMEA 2000 network, you can add a wifi device to overlay the NMEA data, i.e speed, depth, heading... on the nav apps.

[hlev00]

For near coastal I used Navionics for electronic charts, especially their Sonar Charts. I supplement with Aquamaps on the ICW given its ability to overlay Army Corps of Engineer sonar data where available. For offshore I use SeaIQ. It is a little clunkier in some respects but I find it nearly as capable as a MFD/Chartplotter. SeaIQ route creation is a bit rougher than navionics so on my iPad I use Navionics to create the route then export it to SeaIQ.



I would start with Navionics and go from there depending on your needs, though as mentioned by others it is primarily a way to look at electronic charts with your boat location and optionally some other data overlayed.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by hpeer

OPEN CPN works on Android.

...but the radar plugin is available for Windows and Mac

[hlev00]

As a followup to my suggestion for Navionics and @hpeer suggestion of OpenCPN I will say that I want to find a replacement for my 20 year old Raymarine Pathfinder chartplotter and am looking OpenCPN.

In 2020 I tried using OpenCPN in lieu of Navionics as a test and found it is not as intuitive for accessing charts but I know others that use OpenCPN all the time so it may be that I didn't give it enough time.

I require radar and autopilot and now that OpenCPN has those capabilities I am going to revisit OpenCPN again and spend more time with it. Maybe I will still end up with a combination of OpenCPN plus a tablet based solution.

Bottom line, I agree that OpenCPN would be worth some time testing it as a solution that might put you on the path to a complete chartplotter solution.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by ArranP

What is the best chart plotting app to that can be used on an Android Tablet.

We use Aqua Map for Android and it works well for our area/purpose.

C-Map offers an app for Android, Embark, using their charts. I haven't looked at that in depth. Their predecessor Plan2Nav app was decent.

You best choice will likely depend on what charts are available, and a comparison of charts for your area offered by various apps. If you search a bit, you'll probably find threads that say Chart Brand X for Area Y suck... and at the same time threads that say Chart Brand X for Area Z are primo.

-Chris

[Pizzazz]

Current options are:

- Navionics on Android phone, with wifi for AIS - works very well, much better than any chart plotter but is not weather resistant, so you still need to keep some old marine chart plotter somewhere. Still, 95% of the time you will be on the Android phone.

- Next, you can run OpenCPN on a small PC (Nuc, Raspberry, whatever) and then use Remote Desktop on Android to display radar and radar overlay. It works surprisingly well but it takes a couple of minutes to boot the PC and setup. The benefit here is that if you are on a larger boat, you can have one server and a couple of cheap Android phones to display your radar data in the cabin, head, deck, wherever you want. Also, you can have multiple IP cameras (engine room, bow, etc.) and the integration is super easy.

- We all want to have the radar plugin for OpenCPN on Android but my understanding is that the entire graphics engine needs to be rewritten as it is not supported on Android. I hope that one day the radar team will get around to that. That would be truly helpful.

[fdr14127]

Buy a Raspberry PI and a cheap display, better solution than my el cheapo ThinkPad acquired at nominal cost from Ebay running Linux Mint. Windoz is a non starter. Lots of support online and even YouTube.
https://www.opencpn.org/