Best iPad chart/navigation app

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

iSailor has the best app. It does 2-way NMEA communications over Wifi, meaning that you get to control your autopilot with it as well. Very good AIS support, but no radar overlay like OpenCPN can.

This brings it to the charts: iSailor can only use their own charts but they are worldwide and come from Transas. There are (at least years ago when I studied this) only two approved electronic chart sets for commercial shipping and those are C-Map and Transas. Having C-Map in your plotter and Transas on the iPad is a winning combination.

Lots has been written about AquaMap and most of itis the use of Explorer charts for the Bahamas… but those are in C-Map as well.

There was incorrect info posted about costs for iSailor. Options like heading and wind sensors, AIS etc. are all one time charges, not yearly fees and they are rather low charges as well. For the charts you pay a yearly fee, but when you stop paying, you don’t lose the charts, you just don’t get updates anymore.

Besides some disliking Apple products there is no good reason to not put iSailor at #1 imho. I have never seen any other app doing anything better.

I wanted to like iSailor, but...

Aqua Map's survey data is useful in our case, and...

Wartsila apparently isn't doing an updated iSailor version for the latest Android operating system. I can still use it on our older tablet, but then again our newer/larger tablet is better suited to the task...

FWIW, we also both tended to prefer AquaMap anyway; the iSailor interface never did seem to me to be as easy to understand/use... That's not a plug for AquaMap, just a comment about why we've mostly gravitated away from iSailor except as our 5th layer of redundancy.

-Chris

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by ranger58sb

I wanted to like iSailor, but...

Aqua Map's survey data is useful in our case, and...

Wartsila apparently isn't doing an updated iSailor version for the latest Android operating system. I can still use it on our older tablet, but then again our newer/larger tablet is better suited to the task...

FWIW, we also both tended to prefer AquaMap anyway; the iSailor interface never did seem to me to be as easy to understand/use... That's not a plug for AquaMap, just a comment about why we've mostly gravitated away from iSailor except as our 5th layer of redundancy.

-Chris

Oh I can understand that because I wouldn’t want to use AquaMap after seeing how easy and efficient iSailor is: such a large difference means some must like the other product as well.

I think the survey data you mention is for inland waters in the US, right?

No, it isn’t suited for Android, this is for iPad as the OP indicated.

[Mike OReilly]

Thanks all. It seems like iSailor and Navionics are coming out on top, based on my needs. As I said, I was leaning toward AquaMaps until I learned about their approach to licensing, and the fact that you must maintain an active subscription to keep any previously downloaded maps. Basically, this means you're locked into perpetual rent -- I dislike this business approach, and avoid it as much as possible.

Interesting that so little has been said about iNavx. Is no one using it anymore?

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Thanks all. It seems like iSailor and Navionics are coming out on top, based on my needs. As I said, I was leaning toward AquaMaps until I learned about their approach to licensing, and the fact that you must maintain an active subscription to keep any previously downloaded maps. Basically, this means you're locked into perpetual rent -- I dislike this business approach, and avoid it as much as possible.

Interesting that so little has been said about iNavx. Is no one using it anymore?

Interesting indeed - although note that I am still using iNavX regularly. My take is that people who want ease of use will go with Navionics, those who want some more sophisticated functions will consider iSailor. iNavX is somewhere in the middle, which maybe isn't the right position for this community.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

Interesting indeed - although note that I am still using iNavX regularly. My take is that people who want ease of use will go with Navionics, those who want some more sophisticated functions will consider iSailor. iNavX is somewhere in the middle, which maybe isn't the right position for this community.

I have no direct experience but someone told me that you can’t enter coordinates to create a waypoint in… I think… Navionics? See, things like that disqualify it outright for me.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

Interesting indeed - although note that I am still using iNavX regularly. My take is that people who want ease of use will go with Navionics, those who want some more sophisticated functions will consider iSailor. iNavX is somewhere in the middle, which maybe isn't the right position for this community.

Thanks. I might end up back where I started -- going with iNavx. I've used it for years. It's generally been good, but I've had some unfortunate bumps in the road as well, when charts just disappeared without explanation. And I find the interface ... clunky. But the support has always been good though, and I love the fact that they are explicit in stating you need a subscription for downloads, but the charts never evaporate once loaded on the iPad. No constant subscription is necessary.

[Pendragon35]

I've used iSailor for about eight years, exclusively in the Chesapeake Bay. I find the Transas charts not quite as detailed as NOAA. But they are certainly good for general navigation. I like the tools that come along with them, including AIS, the ability to set low water alarms, etc. I like that the same interface/view is presented on both my iPad and iPhone. I tend to use the iPad for route planning and navigation when I'm going somewhere, iPhone for close in piloting. iSailor also has really intuitive and easy tools for route planning and tracking.

I also have iNavx on the iPhone and iPad which I use for a reference check at times. I think the interface is clunky and it doesn't always smoothly transition between charts.

I use OpenCPN on my laptop. I've never used Avionics or Aquamap, so can't speak to these. I tend to keep a paper plot going just in case.

iSailor does have a subscription model but the cost is minor.

The biggest problem I've had has nothing to do with software, it's that if the iPad is left in the sun, it overheats and shuts down. Nothing that can be done about that except to be careful to keep it in the shade. That's on me!

[s/v Jedi]

Let’s try to post screenshots of a popular place for different apps. Try to match scale and position so we get comparable images.

This is Norman’s Cay in the Bahamas as shown on iSailor:

[Dani-lu]

The answer is easy - Navionics is the best with Garmin. Can auto create routes on iPad and wireless transfer to Garmin. Also easy to view tide, current and weather for any location. Been using Navionics for many, many years.

Aquamaps has a great anchoring alarm, that works on my iphone in my stateroom while I am sleeping. It also has excellent marina information.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Oh I can understand that because I wouldn’t want to use AquaMap after seeing how easy and efficient iSailor is: such a large difference means some must like the other product as well.

I think the survey data you mention is for inland waters in the US, right?

No, it isn’t suited for Android, this is for iPad as the OP indicated.

Might be a left-brain/right-brain thing, but I just didn't find iSailor all that intuitive. And I'm not all that intuitive either (approx as intuitive as a rock)... so if I can't read the directions for something, I may or may not be able to get a clue. I even had to ask them (Transas, at the time) for help to remove a stray point I'd created on the chart. Somehow. That turned out to be a Duh! instance, but an example of how it beat me up for a while...

Yes, US inland. Pretty much where we are.

The Transas Android version seemed to work well enough -- software wise -- on our earlier Android system. (Even if I didn't learn how to work it well.)

Seems to me, the original Transas policy was to NOT charge for chart updates. And I think there was quite a stir here on CF about it when the software transitioned to Wartsila. Something like that, IIRC. I've wondered if the decision to NOT create an updated version for the newer Android system is Wartila's way around that. I still do get updates for the older Android version, and they don't cost anything AFAIK. And no annual subscription charge, AFAIK. Although I'm a little slack on checking stuff like that...

Anyway, I didn't mean to imply it's not a good system or that their charts aren't good, just that I've found others easier to deal with... and then not having a version that will run on our newest tablet sorta moved iSailor to the bottom of our redundancy list.

-Chris

[areddon]

I have been using Weather 4D for about 5 years. Fantastic. Great for integrating chartplotting, weather gribs, AIS, and route planning. Easy to use. Seems bullet proof in terms of never freezing up or glitching. See Andy Schell's article about it on Attainable Adventure Cruising website if you are a member there.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Let’s try to post screenshots of a popular place for different apps. Try to match scale and position so we get comparable images.

This is Norman’s Cay in the Bahamas as shown on iSailor:

Don't have Bahamas charts, so can't to a direct comparison.

Here's an iSailor snap of Chesapeake Bay Bridge area. Haven't ever figured out a way to reduce clutter when ranges are extended like that. iSailor "Tips" says there ought to be a swipe down for "Monitoring Panels" and a swipe up for a "Planning Tools Panel" -- but neither of those swipe options actually appear on our screen.

-Chris

[ilenart]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Interesting that so little has been said about iNavx. Is no one using it anymore?

After using Navionics for a couple of months I cancelled my iNavX subscription and deleted it off my ipad.

Ilenart

[Oeanda]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I have no direct experience but someone told me that you can’t enter coordinates to create a waypoint in… I think… Navionics? See, things like that disqualify it outright for me.

Yes you can definitely do that. Though I normally wouldn’t plot an entire route that way -it’s certainly possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0NAVJndyto

I used Navionics for the last 12 years or so. More recently iSailor. I’m going to use them both for a while and see. There are some things about Navionics I don’t like. The annoying little pink bird icons on the chart which overlay most of my area, and can look too much like rocks at a glance.

The chart download option for offline use, has been unreliable for me over the years. Sometimes information seems to go poof and I end up with areas of the chart that revert to the ‘bare bones’ view. Since we are usually sailing out of internet range, it really sucks to lose any info while on a trip.

The search function is basically useless, at least in my area. It brings up hordes of names of businesses and marinas down south, useless to me, but never the geographical features I am searching for. As a random example- entering ‘Douglas Channel’ in a search yields zero results. This is one of the principal inlets on the BC north coast. Other searches get similar results. These names are listed on the chart if I can locate them manually. Am I missing something?

There is usually trouble around the annual subscription time. I’ve had a lot of headaches and glitches with the process, but maybe that’s just me. The idea of paying $40 or whatever for annual rent of the chart is mildly annoying to begin with, for some reason, so any extra aggravation around the process compounds it.

There are other issues, but I won’t rattle on about them all. Generally it’s been a very useful app and worked well for us.

One thing I like more about iSailor so far is that it’s more on top of listing the place names. Navionics completely fails to name many features in my area, so I often have to dig up a paper chart or some other source if I want to know the name of an unknown point, small bay, whatever.

[dlj]

Personally I'd like to hear from folk that are doing extensive world sailing rather than only regional sailing. What is being used for circumnavigations for example? Or what is being used crossing oceans, and which oceans? What are folks using in remote areas? Which remote areas did you go to?

dj