Which Tablet.

[sharpey]

Have always been more of an android person... But am typing this from my ipad.

I bought it since there are decent waterproof cases for iPads. I have a lifeproof case for mine which leaves the glass screen uncovered. I don't have to worry about it getting wet. I just use a ram mount to attach it to the helm. It's great.

Android just can't compete in this regard at the moment. Also battery life on the ipad is exceptional.

[michaelmrc]

as someone thats worked with computers for the last 20 years i throw my vote in for samsung galaxy tab. its androids icecream sandwich OS which is far more battery friendly than other versions as well the androids are not restricted by apples notorious controls over applications.

[B25Matt]

Navionics is more full featured on the iPad. I say this as an Android tablet user!

[sabray]

One issue I don't see discussed is commitment.
Navionics and garmin do not integrate wifi data. Inavx does at a cost. Inavx allow much more input from existing wifi gear. Not sure inavx can use secondary gps data for a chart fix. Looks like it should but I am uncertain.
This would mean that a non 3G iPad could use the wifi GPS data to fix a location on Inavx apps.
Navionics can not display ais data or gps info from my current network 0183 of 2000 data stream.
I use navionics and the garmin app. I love the weather overlay in garmin app. I did not buy their charts. I bought navionics and like the cost and function. Neither wlli accept outside data.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by TOM

Is there an 8 inch tablet available that has a stand alone GPS? As I rather like the idea of an 8 inch tablet.
Also, is anyone using the Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 as I have heard good reports about both of these tablets? Any help would be appreciated.

We have a basic Nexus 7 (32 Gb), without the add-on SIM (cellular) capability. The GPS works without needing an Internet connection.

The tablet works well enough for navigation, although I find the screen to be slightly too small... and would prefer a 10" display. The display is not always easily visible in bright sunlight.

We use the tablet only as back-up to our fixed GPSs and plotter.

I have no experience with Navionics, but have used Plan2Nav... and the tablet seems to do its part well enough... so I'd expect that to be the case no matter which app you choose.

I do have experience with MaxSea on both plotter and laptop... and I would guess their new iPad app to be a more full-featured nav system than many of the others. OTOH, the reason we use MaxSea on a laptop is because it's compatible with our plotter. Otherwise, it's pretty expensive... and so far, that would also mean having to pay Apple prices to use it on a tablet. (When we were shopping for a tablet, the Apple products were about $100 more for each roughly identical set of capabilities, across the board.)

A digression, but I see the new Nexus 7 (and maybe other models) are being advertised as "SlimPort enabled" -- and that may mean you could easily use it to route video/audio (movies, etc.) from tablet to a decent size TV screen... if that floats your boat. (Essentially a SlimPort-to-HDMI cable is all that'd be required.)

-Chris

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by banjoship

An issue for me is battery life. The inbuilt GPS in my android tablet pulls the battery down quickly, meaning I have to have it connected to power most of the time.

I have recently installed a Garmin Glo Bluetooth mouse as GPS, leaving the inbuilt GPS turned off. The Glo is powered. I can now move the tablet around at will without a power cord. Without power cord it is much easier to keep the tablet in a waterproof bag.

My tablet is a cheapo Lenovo K1, but I think the inbuilt GPS in most tablets is power hungry??

Lee

Both Bluetooth and GPS consume power. If there is a power savings, it's probably minimal.

[StuM]

Just ran a little test on my 10in Motorola Xoom. Configured it to leave the screen on all the time and Navionics with GPS active. Battery was down to 50% after about 6 hours. Took about a bit over an hour on charge to bring it back up to 100%. What was interesting was that the battery meter said that 90% of the usage was the screen.

[donradcliffe]

I've been very happy with a Samsung galaxy tab 2 running navionics--good daylight visibility, built in GPS, battery life over 10 hours with GPS on, and less than $300.

[Blue Crab]

Outstanding thread. I mistakenly got the Wi Fi only ipad mini (without a GPS). Now it appears the plug in GPS (s) are better anyway. Heading to Best Buy...

This is way better than anchors or gun stuff.

Sent from my Sony laptop in Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot. ipad and straight talk android backups at the ready.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by StuM

What was interesting was that the battery meter said that 90% of the usage was the screen.

Probably the backlight.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Probably the backlight.

Yes, display backlight usage makes a huge diff in battery usage. Just let it time out and go dark or some apps have a dim on timeout setting so it reduces battery usage. Memory Map has this option.

Battery life on my Samsung Tab 2 10" is great.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by StuM

Just ran a little test on my 10in Motorola Xoom. Configured it to leave the screen on all the time and Navionics with GPS active. Battery was down to 50% after about 6 hours. Took about a bit over an hour on charge to bring it back up to 100%. What was interesting was that the battery meter said that 90% of the usage was the screen.

What I find excruciatingly painful is the total lack of meaningful data on power consumption. Comparison time of self-contained batteries is a good measure of who has the biggest battery. It only defines the walk-around time. Almost none of the makers will tell you how many watts it consumes. That is the only real straight up comparison and takes into consideration the power management capability as well as the hardware efficiency. Anybody remember the Gremlin? Tiny car with a 26 gallon tank. Detroit to DC on less than a tank.

We have concentrated on ala carte autonomous instruments. Each is selected on power consumption as a major consideration. My Watchmate 850 is totally alone, 3 watts max. Our chart plotter was (at the time) the only one using LED backlighting - 20 watts instead of the usual 40 to 50. Radar is broadband. We can operate any or none of these. All lights on the boat are PWM LED. Consider that the power you use may be replaced by burning expensive fuel in a generator with a total over-all thermal/mechanical system efficiency of 10 to 15%.

We also look for devices that can be powered directly from the batteries rather than having to power a wall-wort by inverter etc.

Do the IPADs run Open CPN or SeaClear?

[TOM]

Thanks everyone for some great advice .It appears that most of you are using Ipads and are happy with them as a navagation device. I will probably go for an Android only because once you get into a 10 inch Ipad with cellular and some decent memorey it starts getting very exspensive.

[belizesailor]

Re battery life. I just made about a 5 hour run today allowing the screen to blank, just firing it up as needed, running Navionics and Jeppsen using builtin GPS and charge state still shows 71% on Samsung Tab 2 10.1".

Re GPS. Accuracy of builtin GPS is very good and it has worked fine in the deck house of several cats I've run recently.

[michaelmrc]

navionics support says that they are working on a new release for android that will make it on par feature wise to the ios iphone version. they expect it to be released before the new year