Confused. Should I buy a Raymarine E7 chart plotter? or just stick with a IPAD??

[salticrak]

I do not have a chartplotter yet.But some experience with tablets and salt air. I do a bit of kayak fishing along a surf beach where one can camp right on the beach. I used to take a tablet with me to edit footage of thee days fishing.
It was not long before the usb plugs corroded and the machine eventually died. I did not have any water proof case, but I am pretty sure when the time comes I will buy a dedicated plotter.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by salticrak

I do not have a chartplotter yet.But some experience with tablets and salt air. I do a bit of kayak fishing along a surf beach where one can camp right on the beach. I used to take a tablet with me to edit footage of thee days fishing.
It was not long before the usb plugs corroded and the machine eventually died. I did not have any water proof case, but I am pretty sure when the time comes I will buy a dedicated plotter.

So.... no waterproof case on the ipad and your connections corroded, what a surprise.

Did you miss my picture of the backside of our high end Furuno Chartplotter? Look closely..... Only three years accumulated time located in a protected spot unter the dodger.

[tkeithlu]

Wow! Lots of different experiences in lots of different boats resulting in strong opinions one way or the other. In our case, with an enclosed wheel house, a cheap laptop running OCPN (with a separate monitor in front of the wheel), and several other laptops/tablets on board, usually used for other purposes but ready to substitute for the nav computer, readily does the job. You can buy a bunch of back-up laptops or tablets for the cost of one marine chartplotter, and keeping various functions (nav, depth, radar, AIS) separate has redundancy advantages. But, we don't have the problem of salt spray -the windshield wiper takes care of it, and brightness is only an issue at night when we have to use tinted window vinyl to keep from being blinded, and we've got lots of panel space.

Could we separate the answers according to the conditions? The limited space for any display, plus the weather, in a stern cockpit sloop demands an integrated display (radar, chart, depth, AIS) and weatherproofing. A tablet will be toast, and brightness will be a serious issue. In a wheelhouse, or down at the nav table, another solution may be quite reliable and much cheaper.

[salticrak]

[QUOTE=Kenomac;2143477]So.... no waterproof case on the ipad and your connections corroded, what a surprise.

You really are a piece of work mate.Good onya champ.

[Doug4bass]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Go ahead, live in the past. I prefer the future, which is mobile devices. Traditional chartplotters will go the way of the buggy whip within 2-3 years.

Not correct. And you spent 10 large on a Furuno chartplotter??


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Kenomac]

[QUOTE=salticrak;2143574]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

So.... no waterproof case on the ipad and your connections corroded, what a surprise.

You really are a piece of work mate.Good onya champ.

I really wasn't trying to be rude towards your post, maybe I used the wrong "" whistling guy thing. Oops. I was trying to show that I had an even bigger corrosion issue with the Furuno chartplotter which cost 10 times the price of your tablet.

Sorry.

Ken

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Doug4bass

Not correct. And you spent 10 large on a Furuno chartplotter??

Yeah.... Those folks who wasted money on those large navigation systems for their cars a couple of years ago probably thought the same thing.

Now everyone uses their smart phones, the same will happen with marine chartplotting electronics.

Point of info: The 10 large chartplotter came with the boat, the prior owner wasted his money on it.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

I really wasn't trying to be rude towards your post, maybe I used the wrong "" whistling guy thing. Oops. I was trying to show that I had an even bigger corrosion issue with the Furuno chartplotter which cost 10 times the price of your tablet.

Sorry.

Ken

I'm on my 2nd iPhone since I bought my first e7. I bought a 2nd e7 for the nav table because I decided it was better money spent than buying a new iPad for use there (my iPad 1 no longer could run Navionics and was too slow to act as a repeater for my e7)

My 2nd e7 cost a lot less than my last iPhone or the iPad to the spec I would only buy.

[barnakiel]

Not to add anything to the opposing views, only to mention Panbo has an entry on equipment used on SAR boats. There are at least two stationary plotters on board (they look Ray) and there is also an Ipad for SAR area search and other nav tasks.

Apparently SAR top guns consider both options valid and useful.

PS That Panbo entry is well worth looking up as they show a number of other super nice electronics, like say that VHF radio direction finder!

Cheers,
b.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I'm on my 2nd iPhone since I bought my first e7. I bought a 2nd e7 for the nav table because I decided it was better money spent than buying a new iPad for use there (my iPad 1 no longer could run Navionics and was too slow to act as a repeater for my e7)

My 2nd e7 cost a lot less than my last iPhone or the iPad to the spec I would only buy.

Hoppy,

One of our ipads is the ipad air 2 with 128gb cellular. I picked it up for $450 with a one year apple care plan. If anything happens to it, as long as i bring them the corpse, I get a new one. We'll probably get six to eight years or more out of the thing. Remember, that the ipad is used for many other things besides chartplotter.

Ken

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

So.... no waterproof case on the ipad and your connections corroded, what a surprise.

Did you miss my picture of the backside of our high end Furuno Chartplotter? Look closely..... Only three years accumulated time located in a protected spot unter the dodger.

That the chartplotter in your example failed in 3 years indicates an installation problem or operator error.

Under the same conditions (lack of correct waterproof wiring connections).

Many chartplotters installed according to manufacturer instructions and good
practice operate flawlessly for many, many years.

Leaving chartplotter wiring connections open to salt spray, is akin to dunking an iPad with no case in a bathtub.

Don't blame the chartplotter for failure due to user error.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by ramblinrod

That the chartplotter in your example failed in 3 years indicates an installation problem or operator error.

Under the same conditions (lack of correct waterproof wiring connections).

Many chartplotters installed according to manufacturer instructions and good
practice operate flawlessly for many, many years.

Leaving chartplotter wiring connections open to salt spray, is akin to dunking an iPad with no case in a bathtub.

Don't blame the chartplotter for failure due to user error.

So I guess it was also operator error that the two Furuno monitors developed a severe case of screen acne blisters, even the indoor nav station one? The connections were the ones supplied by the manufacturer and were supposedly marine grade.

The Furuno stuff is crap, now outlived by Ipads in continuous daily use.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

So I guess it was also operator error that the two Furuno monitors developed a severe case of screen acne blisters, even the indoor nav station one? The connections were the ones supplied by the manufacturer and were supposedly marine grade.

The Furuno stuff is crap, now outlived by Ipads in continuous daily use.

Don't know the facts so can't say.

For example, marine grade connectors should be waterproof when connected properly.

Did an operator leave a connector unconnected in a salt spray environment?

If so, this is definitely a case of operator error, and an iPad certainly wouldn't have lasted 3 years under those conditions. (3 hours if you're lucky.)

If not, did the manufacturer recommend the chartplotter back be installed in a water tight enclosure? If so, and it wasn't, this is also installer/operator error.

The OP query is regarding today's technology.

Lets not cloud the answer with examples of 10 year old technology, of unknown fault cause.

Lets compare current chartplotter to current iPad. (I believe someone suggested there have been great strides in electronic technology. ;-)

Based on todays' technology, a chartplotter is superior to an iPad IMHO, for all reasons I have previously stated.

If you feel any of those points are untrue, please advise how so?

Otherwise, they stand on their own merit.

Anyone can be convinced to do anything, even something totally unreasonable, based on emotion (the alternative to logical reasoning).

[leftbrainstuff]

The ipad is a very poor chart plotter. It's a power hog, uses assisted gps, unreadable outside and will pop up notifications at the most inconvenient times.

We used ours as we were prepping for a full instrumentaion upgrade. Which we are now half way through.

I'll be glad to see the back of the ipad as our primary chart tool. It works great downstairs as a means to check wind, weather, radar and ais through interfacing with our Zeus2.

All are just aids to navigation.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[ramblinrod]

This just in from the folks at Navionics, in response to my query if a Wifi only iPad connected to an iPhone as hotspot would work.

Short answer is no, when out of Wifi range, but they also offered a link to this paper on their website...

Also, please keep in mind that the Navionics mobile app is for recreational and reference use only. The internal GPS receivers on mobile devices are not as reliable as what you would find on a GPS chart plotter. The Navionics mobile apps are a useful tool for reference, planning and can be an adequate backup GPS to a chart plotter. However, for serious navigational purposes, we recommend using our plotter cards for use with GPS chart plotters.


So even the manufacturer of the electronic charts designed for iPads, don't believe an iPad is a viable direct substitute for a proper chartplotter.