Replace GPS with Tablet + software

[cebeuq]

Have been using this setup for several years. For great value, nothing can beat i.

[PirateBarnabus]

I thoroughly recommend Navionics.
We sailed from Portugal to Gibraltar, then to the Canaries, Cabo Verde and over to the Caribbean.
Just using a Samsung galaxy tab 3.

We always have 2 devices running, ie mobile phone ad well, with a waterproof phone on hand as a standby. We also have an ipad mini running the radar app as we have a furuno WiFi radar and that had Navionics on it as well.
So, lots of redundancy there!

We write down our position on paper regularly though, just in case all that lot let's us down.
Somewhere in a cupboard, we have a garmin mini chart plotter, but really I just like Navionics and it's peanuts to buy the app.

[Sailstrong]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

When I read comments like “make sure the tablet has GPS”, it’s clear that some don’t get the full impact of using tablets aboard yet.

No, you do NOT need a GPS chip in the tablet, just wifi will do. The trick is to bridge your NMEA data over to wifi in 2-way, full duplex mode. There are several ways to do this:

- a Vesper AIS can do it as a side job.
- a Yacht Devices wifi bridge does this.
- OpenCPN can do this.
- even my old Furuno Navnet 3D could be tricked to do it so probably many can

Now you get -all- NMEA data on your iPad over wifi, consuming much less power than when using internal GPS. With a good app like iSailor you can see everything incl AIS and even control your autopilot from your Apple Watch !

s/v Jedi.. If you have the time, I would be very interested on how to "trick" a Furuno NavNet 3D into providing a wifi bridge for NEMA 0183 data to an Ipad Pro with GPS. Conserving battery in the Ipad sounds Great!

[moseriw]

NavNet - I am sure there is a Navnet to NMEA 0183 or 2000 converter.
Vesper AIS uses NMEA2000 input and 0183 WiFi output.

If not it is Navnet's fault and you should improve it by the roots.

[GrowleyMonster]

If you have the juice to spare, a laptop below running Linux and OpenCPN, with one of those neat little Globalsat BU-353 USB GPS pucks for position information is about as good as it gets. Then use TeamViewer between the laptop and a tab or phone in the cockpit if you need navigation information while steering. Easier to simply calculate course to steer below and then go up and steer that course to the waypoint, but it is easy enough to simply have a display, and control of, the laptop via Android device. As a backup, in the event that the laptop goes kaput, install OCPN on the android, as well. A tablet, phone, or phablet running OCPN works really well as long as it doesn't get dunked or badly splashed. Case notwithstanding. I have four Samsung Note3s and obviously I think highly of this vintage phone, and navigation is one of the main tasks I use them for. NO WAY would I ever waste my money on a standalone GPS or chart plotter when a $200 used or refurb phablet works just fine. Plus, the Android is not a one trick pony. If you want to see what your brokerage account is doing or check your email or facebook or make a phone call or a text on your chart plotter, you are out of luck. So one thing costs $200 and does everything. The other costs $500 and does ONE THING. Clear choice, there.


Be sure you not only have a backup navigation device, but also redundant charging systems. A 5w battery maintainer type solar panel and a car charger work nicely for backup. Or a separate emergency bank for bilge pumps and radio.

[windlass79]

I've made several trips up and down the California coast using Navionics. Santa Barbara to Ventura, Ventura to Catalina, Catalina to San Diego. There have been many hours where we couldn't see anything but water, and it was so comforting to be able to look at Navionics and know that we were headed for our destination. It has been extremely reliable and accurate for us. I have it loaded on an old iPad 2.0 (which is large and has built-in GPS). Bolted an iPad mount onto the helm. Never had a problem seeing it during the day (under the shade of the bimini). My problem is it's too bright at night - even with the brightness turned all the way down. I had Staples print out a couple of transparencies that are shaded so as to give it the equivalent of a pair of sunglasses. I purchased a 12v inverter and connected it to the house battery, then ran a USB ext cord to the helm. So we just leave the iPad plugged in and charging whenever we are using the chart. I have it on my iPhone and my crew usually loads it onto their phones as well. So we typically have triple redundancy. I'm a fair weather sailor. If water is coming into the cockpit, then somebody made a big mistake...
I love Navionics because it's intuitive and easy to use. It's also portable. Moved it from the last boat to the new boat, no problem.... If I ever cross an ocean or something like that, then I'll get serious about a chart plotter. Until then Navionics has been doing a great job!

[j.g.evans]

I used a tablet under a bimini for several years with Navionics and MXMariner. I like to use course up displays and found Navionics jumps around too much. MXMariner was good; but, used raster charts at the time( 6 years ago). The raster charts are large. They provided these charts free and gave me a program to convert other BBA raster charts to their format. Thus you can have the latest NOAA charts. They may support S57 charts by now.

[CarinaPDX]

As I wrote back in post #35, Costco has a really nice Samsung tablet for $300. Only now it is on sale for a week or so through Costco Online at $250 + $8 S&H. $258 for a new tablet, with the current Android Pie OS, 1200 line display, 3GB DRAM, 128GB (!) storage - it is a real bargain for anyone interested. It is root-able and AOSP ROMs can be installed (for the geeks among us).



Greg

[Exile]

No geek here, but more than capable of geekiness at times. So a dumb question: can OpenCPN run on an Android operating system? Didn't see it on the website, and most tablets these days are Android or iOS. Only a few run on Windows 10 it seems.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

Ours is a Furuno NavNET 3D 12" MFD. It's long in the tooth by now, but at the time it seemed to be best in class if the wallet could stand the $$$. I treated myself.

Dunno what might be best in class, today, haven't kept up... and haven't really found anything our old (by now) MFD won't do, that I would actually want to do... maybe aside from WiFi sharing that seems to be available on the newer versions.

-Chris

I still have my old Furuno analog radar with a repeater at the helm, and it's given me no good reason to replace it except it won't display on my plotters or other devices. Not a big deal. If durability & robustness is the priority, I've always thought of Furuno as "best in class," and maybe more importantly commercial as opposed to consumer grade equipment. The reality is that, while you paid a lot more for your NavNet up front, it may wind up costing you a lot less because you may never have to replace it. It's also been my understanding that Furuno supports their old products indefinitely, so while items get discontinued they are always supported. Retiring one may then become more about repair costs than mfg-created obsolescence.

As for their mapping, I recently looked on their website and it looked like they only offer C-Maps which may be vector only. It sounds like yours is open to loading a variety of different charts, incl. rasters. Having wifi capability btwn devices & plotter would be nice, but so long as there's a way to transfer route, track, waypt. data then that works for me. Unfortunately, my Garmin's don't allow that. But manually creating a new route on the Garmin's which I've already planned out on my PC isn't a big deal, and has the benefit of another careful look.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Exile

No geek here, but more than capable of geekiness at times. So a dumb question: can OpenCPN run on an Android operating system? Didn't see it on the website, and most tablets these days are Android or iOS. Only a few run on Windows 10 it seems.

Yes, it does.


As smooth as it does on Windows and Linux.


b.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Yes, it does.


As smooth as it does on Windows and Linux.


b.

Cool! Thanks Barnakiel. This opens up a lot more inexpensive options for my desire to basically repeat OpenCPN in the cockpit. Now if only I could do the same with Coastal Explorer which is limited (afaik) to Windows-based operating systems (not geeky enough for Linux apparently ). Haven't yet decided which PC-based charting system I prefer.

[CarinaPDX]

OCPN for Android is in the Play store. It has a small price on it, and well worth it.

Furuno NN3D plotters use MapMedia 3D charts. MapMedia converts raster and vector charts from the standard 2D formats into the proprietary 3D format used by NN3D and TimeZero products from Furuno and MaxSea. They offer the entire US NOAA charts, in both vector and raster formats, for free and updated every year. In the past they offered C-map and Navionics charts as well, at a price. Since Furuno bought Jeppeson (C-map) it will be interesting to see if they still offer Navionics - I'll bet they do. In any event their current TZ chartplotters use the same MapMedia NN3D format so current charts are available ten years after the intro of the 3D chart format. Not all manufacturers offer such support...

Greg

[ancor]

I'm old school, I use Navionics on a tablet. Have a phone I can get GPS location from, without being within phone service and plot onto my paper charts if Navionics fails, or tablet breaks etc. My VHF has DSC, so can get location from that as well. So, 3 GPS's, paper charts and a compass should do. I did have a sextant as well, but never learned how to use it properly. I do think paper charts and compass are an important carry. No batteries required!

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Exile

Cool! Thanks Barnakiel. This opens up a lot more inexpensive options for my desire to basically repeat OpenCPN in the cockpit. Now if only I could do the same with Coastal Explorer which is limited (afaik) to Windows-based operating systems (not geeky enough for Linux apparently ). Haven't yet decided which PC-based charting system I prefer.

???


Why not a Windows tablet then.


If you like Coastal Explorer and if it only runs on Windows, get yourself a Windows tablet. It does not need to be a Microsoft Surface, you can get a plain Windows tablet for a fraction of the price asked for Surface tablet.


I have just looked up at local store here online and a Win 10 device is EUR 200 vs an Android one at EUR 150. 10 inch models, both from top brands.


So not much of a saving plan if you opt for Android to save some $.


Just get what works for you, 50 bucks is nothing while you already own a boat ... ;-)



barnakiel