Opinions on "best" iPad navigation app?

[cruiserChick]

I have great confidence and success with Navionics HD. I used it to transit from Marco Island to Pensacola. It performed flawlessly and the Raymarine Dragonfly WiFi sonar overlayed so they were displayed.

Yes, the Navionics HD is a great option for the Great Loop because you get all of the US and Canada so all of the Great Loop will be covered in high definition. There are also very useful features such as weather, wind, tides, routing, autorouting, and lots more in the app. You can access 3 different chart layers (one of which, the SonarChart laye, has extremely detailed contours... like every 1 foot in many places), and lots more. This link has a great overview of the features: https://www.navionics.com/usa/apps/navionics-boating

I've used it tons so send me a PM if you have any questions. (I also happen to be doing a free webinar with CruisingGuide in Sept on the Great Loop so if you are interested PM me and I'll send you the link to sign up).

 

[rclarke246]

I was really loving Garmin Bluechart Mobile. I certainly hope that there is a comparable replacement soon.

I wonder if Garmin pulled it because it was so cheap, and was competing (effectively) with their much more expensive chart plotters?

 

[dhays]

I too used Blue Charts until my iPad performed an OIS upgrade and I lost Blue Charts. I have Raymarine C80 on my Mainship and am not ready to upgrade the whole package yet.

What does the group recommend as a stand alone iPad based navigation app?

And does anyone know of a stand alone app that can be used on i land lake like Lake Champlain?

Thanks,

Jim

On the recommendation from TF members, I have started using Aqua Map on the iPad. It has proven to work really well. Most of the time I use my RayMarine MFP, but the Aqua Map is handy to use when I'm not at the helm or as a back-up. I have a non-cellular iPad so use a Smart Elf dongle GPS.

 

[meridian]

AQUAMAP just added an anchor watch and Waterway Guide on top of ActiveCaptain

 

[stubones99]

Is there an option in aqua map to enlarge the font for depth soundings? It always makes them too small for me to read easily.

 

[meridian]

I don’t see any adjustments available

 

[Rain Dog]

I was really loving Garmin Bluechart Mobile. I certainly hope that there is a comparable replacement soon.

I wonder if Garmin pulled it because it was so cheap, and was competing (effectively) with their much more expensive chart plotters?

Garmin bought Navionics. I wonder if they killed Bluechart to focus their resources on Navionics. Seems like they will add AC data to Navionics since they own both.

Or maybe they bought Navionics to kill it off

 

[tiltrider1]

Garmin bought Navionics. I wonder if they killed Bluechart to focus their resources on Navionics. Seems like they will add AC data to Navionics since they own both.

Or maybe they bought Navionics to kill it off

Garmin bought navionics to obtain their layering technology to enhance garmin’s Aviation offerings. Profit from marine business is like 1% of the profit garmin sees from aviation. Garmin told share holders that they need navionics to continue as a viable entity.

 

[Humancell]

I ended up buying Navionics on the iPad, and it worked just fine.

I have to admit that I’m shocked it’s not more advanced from where it was a decade ago on the PC! There are lots of little issues that I would think they would fix ... do they listen and accept feedback at all?

1. For the Erie Canal, I liked having the satellite view up. But the marker for my position was a dark red color ... which doesn’t stand out at all on a dark green background ... particularly for red/green colorblind people! Can you change the color?

2. My position would always remain in the center of the screen, instead of shifting to the lower 1/3 to provide more visibility of where we are going. I’ve had that issue since the old days ... they are wasting screen real estate showing half of the screen with where we have been?

3. Quite jerky, and compass orientation was always off with no way to tweak the value. The updates would “jerk” the orientation while in head up, and it seemed the compass was always having us cruise the Canal about 5-10 degrees to the left ... no matter how I tried to reset the iPad compass or move the iPad to different locations onboard. Allowing me to correct this manually would have been nice.

Just a few thoughts and I look forward to more cruising and exploring these applications!

 

[Moonfish]

Just now chiming in, and haven't read any of the thread (you know how dangerous that can be! ), but...

We're just finishing the full installation and video of the Furuno First Watch Wireless Radar and the TimeZero TZ iBoat chart app. So far, it's really cool! The radar will overlay on the charts in realtime - even in 3D mode - and the TZ app also displays AIS data. And the radar will work on two iOS devices simultaneously, so we can monitor the situation from anywhere in the boat.

As we replaced a 31-year old Furuno radar and were Navionics users, we are pretty impressed with the DRS4W and TZ apps.