Rugged phone as backup plotter?

[Scubaseas]

how much does the navionics app drain the battery?

Cheap phone = small battery capacity. About 3 hours tops.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Scubaseas

Cheap phone = small battery capacity. About 3 hours tops.

Wow. I am eyeing the bv9500 plus model with 10'000mAh battery, this one should last longer I guess.

[stimpsonjcat]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Excellent idea! If you search around, there are plenty of old Samsung Active models from S6 to S8 still available in new to manufacturer refurbished condition. These are fantastic. I've purchased about 7 of these. I had an S7 Active as my primary phone for a while that is now sitting at the bottom of the ocean somewhere and currently have an S6 active that is used in the cockpit as the chartplotter and gauges when I'm not sitting at the helm mounted plotter. It's also used as a mini tablet, the controller for the drone and the camera to use in hostile environments. It also acts as my backup phone if my primary phone breaks. The other phones went to a bunch of Nuns for use as mini tablets and ip phones in their aged care facility to replace the standard phones that had short life spans because staff kept dropping them. So far, not one has bit the dust.

And best of all, you can pick them up cheap as chips.

This...so this. I love my actives.

[Username25]

Originally Posted by Scubaseas

Cheap phone = small battery capacity. About 3 hours tops.

This is a total BS. I have AGM A9 with 5400 mAh battery and charge it every 3 days with moderate everyday use. Constant GPS connection drains battery and it has nothing to do with phone price.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Username25

This is a total BS. I have AGM A9 with 5400 mAh battery and charge it every 3 days with moderate everyday use. Constant GPS connection drains battery and it has nothing to do with phone price.

also depends how GPS/Glonass/etc is managed by the app I guess.

[Reefmagnet]

Maybe they've improved. I'd be wary of cheap Chinese rugged phones. I tried one once. Performance was pathetic. Taking a picture was near impossible due to the lag. And then it died an early death for no apparent reason. One plus for it though; it took 8 attempts at throwing it as high in the air as I could over my concrete driveway before the screen eventually shattered.

[Username25]

Originally Posted by GTom

also depends how GPS/Glonass/etc is managed by the app I guess.

Could be so, but at the end of a day behemoth battery drainage will be on constant ON display and brightness level.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by Username25

Could be so, but at the end of a day behemoth battery drainage will be on constant ON display and brightness level.

Depending what the pilotage needs I learnt to not keep the screen on all the time on the backup device. App is running, logging is running but screen only when needed.

[jmh2002]

Not in the super budget category but here is another recent option:

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3124348

Kickstarter campaign just launched:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-rugged-tablet