IPhone screen with navigation

[dsimond]

Hi all. I am a protected water sailer and use Navionics on my iPhone and find it excellent for my needs. However the screen is unusable in bright sun! I have brightness up. And keep the iPhone in shade till I need to look at it but before long the sun causes the screen to be unusable. Do I need to buy a chart plotter for use with navionics? What one would suit my simple needs.
Thanks

[idclic]

Unfortunately I can't help you with the plotter but I used my phone last summer (Samsung S9), kept it plugged in and it was ok. Upgraded to an iPad as I wanted the larger screen. While not perfect, it seems to work for my needs at this time. It's mounted on a swivel mount so I can rotate the screen to cut glare. It it used under a bimini. I wonder if your problems are caused by the heat. Screens will turn black when they are too hot. If money was no issue, I would get a plotter.

[Pizzazz]

Which iPhone model do you have? The iPhone 13 max brightness is 800 nits which is plenty. I am using a Samsung A41 with 625 nits. The newer budget model A52 also has 800 nits in direct sunlight. As long as you get an OLED display you are good to go. In my view, recent phones/tablets are very useable in direct sunlight, some a water resistant. The only remaining issue is heat build up which you can compensate for if you keep it in the shade (or make shade for it).

I still recommend having at least one good plotter on the boat for its reliability and especially the ability to display radar. However, if you consider the price vs. usability, the new devices win by a wide margin. For $250 you get very fast response, cheap and constantly updated charts, weather routing, real time weather, etc. With the typical chartplotter, you need to spend thousands to get a barely useable device with outdated charts.

[dsimond]

I use an iPhone 12 mini

[ChrisJHC]

Phones don’t like to be left in full sunlight for too long.
I keep mine in my pocket and only pull it out to use it then put it away again.

I’ve had no problems with the brightness in the sun.

[sengland]

I use an iPad with iSailor and had similar issues. Used it under a bimini and was on a swivel mount, but I came up with a way to blinker the screen. Using four pieces of black plastic sheet about 2mm thick, hotmelt glued the corners and hotmelt glued to the iPad case. I get a bright resolution 95% of the time and only have to move it slightly if the sun is on my stern.

[Patty K Too]

We keep an iPad on board with Auqa Map loaded with our most used charts. It's almost as accurate as our chart plotter.

[nortonscove]

Originally Posted by Patty K Too

We keep an iPad on board with Auqa Map loaded with our most used charts. It's almost as accurate as our chart plotter.

I love the use of the word almost here. Get the tool made for the job. Any thing multipurpose carries a degree of useless for specific purpose. As someone who has taken part in damage inspections for insurers I think looking back on the use of almost. Wow you actually "almost " missed that reef.