Android tablet as second back up

I am getting ready to take a multi day trip and the boat I just purchased has only one chartplotter. I'd love to have a second mainly as back up and use one as a larger display and one closer. I have an Acer A500 Android tablet and thought I would get the most updated feedback as far as aps are concerned. I also have several laptops that I can use but non have pucks yet. I could of course pick up a puck but will be taking delivery of the new boat this Friday. (Weather permitting)

Thoughts on aps and ease of use? Thanks.

MX Mariner. I ran a whole day one time from the lower helm, and was too lazy to bring down the MFD/chartplotter from the flybridge so I just used the phone. I also use it a lot on other people's boats.

I agree about picking up a puck or two for the laptops. Then you can run OpenCPN or (my favorite) PolarView. I'm assuming your laptops run Windows, since nobody with a MacBook would buy an Android tablet!

nobody with a MacBook would buy an Android tablet!

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I use a MacBook and am very happy with my LG G3 Android phone; my wife's iPhone drives me nuts.

I use the Navionics App on my Android tablet. The ten dollar app is good enough. The chart was free. But...it seems that somewhere I read that they may now charge for charts. Anyway, I am very happy with the resolution and accuracy.

It is a great backup for my built-in Raymarine plotter.

Navionics and MyNOAACharts (Beta) on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and OpenCPN on the Acer netbook.

FlyWright said:

Navionics and MyNOAACharts (Beta) on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and OpenCPN on the Acer netbook.

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I second the my NOAA charts app ..of course it doesn't do anything if you're going north of the border and need Canadian Charts. you can download the charts for your area to use offline without wifi.
Hollywood

MxMariner is a very solid navigation app for Android. It uses free NOAA raster charts. It now has offline ActiveCaptain data which makes it even better.

David

djmarchand said:

MxMariner is a very solid navigation app for Android. It uses free NOAA raster charts. It now has offline ActiveCaptain data which makes it even better.

David

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Thanks for the suggestion, David. I'm downloading it now for $7 and will play with it. Always nice to have alternatives.

I will down load one of them, MX or Navionics tomorrow and start working with it. I just want it as back up. It already has a C-120 on it, nice large screen!

After I downloaded MX Mariner and the area charts, I found it lacked adequate chart coverage inland of the SF Bay for my needs, so I got a refund/uninstall. I liked what I saw, just needed better coverage.

My wife , about 5 mo. ago, purchased a Nexus 7 and was able to purchase for about $55 the Navionics Boating app + the charts for the B.C. coast.

It has a built in GPS and tracked us at least as well as the other setup, a Garmin GPS only feeding a laptop. We often used them side by side.

The app was somewhat cut down, when we got it, so it was usefull only as a chart readout, poor routes. However there are already updates which are improving the routing functions.

I expect I too will have one by next season.

We use MXMariner (NOAA raster charts) and Jeppeson's Plan2Nav (C-Map vector charts) on tablets as backup to the main plotter. Both have ActiveCaptain data integrated.

FWIW, we also use MaxSea TimeZero on a laptop for planning, since the software engine is the same as our plotter's. Ditto AC data. We could provide a GPS input and use it for navigation, but haven't felt the need for that.

-Chris

FlyWright said:

After I downloaded MX Mariner and the area charts, I found it lacked adequate chart coverage inland of the SF Bay for my needs, so I got a refund/uninstall. I liked what I saw, just needed better coverage.

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The developer has been very responsive to my questions; I would expect he'd react to suggestions for increased chart coverage when it's easily within the NOAA catalog.

FWIW, I wonder how that happens. On our side of the continent, all the NOAA charts are automatically included. Or at least I've not ever come across an area out here where the appropriate chart -- and scale -- wasn't there.

-Chris

I use a dell laptop with Polar Navy as a second screen/backup. It's great to use at home for planning future trip etc.

I use Jeppsen Plan2Nav. I think the US base map was $30 for the tablet and phone. I have it installed on both so its kinda like having yet another device. I like messing around with the app on my phone it has helped me beat my candy crush addiction.

Another nice feature and why i picked this over some of the others is its ability to overlay Activecaptain info.

I use the green avionics on my iPhone. Works fine. I have it loaded on my android tablet but haven't used that yet

I have an older Samsung Galaxy 10.1. I run Navionics and Jeppeson Plan2nav. I use a Garmin Glo connected by Bluetooth. I prefer the Navionics. It works great.

I use Navionics HD on an iPad. Around $50 with all USA and Canada charts. My boat's built-in Garmin chartplotter is now my backup.

FlyWright said:

After I downloaded MX Mariner and the area charts, I found it lacked adequate chart coverage inland of the SF Bay for my needs, so I got a refund/uninstall. I liked what I saw, just needed better coverage.

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Odd, the region I downloaded came with all the NOAA charts. I'll download the SF Bay area and see what I get.

You can also load custom chart areas into MX Mariner. I regularly download all the charts I want onto my laptop for use with a number of different software products there. I could probably export the whole thing to MX and only have to get the updates once for both platforms.

I just looked at their site and Region 12 has all the inland charts for SF and the Delta all the way to Colusa and Stockton.

caltexflanc said:

I just looked at their site and Region 12 has all the inland charts for SF and the Delta all the way to Colusa and Stockton.

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If you just look at the large boxes, it looks that way, but when you look at the individual charts, you'll see that they go to Suisun Bay at about the furthest point east.

Download the app and see if your results differ.

I have emailed MX Mariner and will post up their reply here.

Mx5 Mariner
NutiCharts Lite
ActiveCaptain
Marine Traffic
SmartChart AIS

First two are straight up charting programs. The others since they include your position on charts and or satellite imagery can serve as backups in a pinch.

I have been using my Samsung Tab2 10.1 tablet for the past two summers to assist in navigating the Bahamas. I have both the Navionics HD and the Jeppsen Plan2Nav. I like them both and the Active Captain feature with the Plan2Nav is handy. Navionics in the last couple of upgrades has added both Govt charts and Sonar charts in addition to the Navionics.

I down loaded the Navionics, it appears that it will do the trick. Nothing fancy, just a basic chart plotter. Thanks for the help.

FlyWright said:

If you just look at the large boxes, it looks that way, but when you look at the individual charts, you'll see that they go to Suisun Bay at about the furthest point east.

Download the app and see if your results differ.

I have emailed MX Mariner and will post up their reply here.

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I wasn't looking at the map boxes, I was looking at the list of individual chart numbers included in each region and region 12 included the charts all the way to Stockton and Colusa and every thing in between there and SF.

I will try downloading the app sometime this week.

caltexflanc said:

I wasn't looking at the map boxes, I was looking at the list of individual chart numbers included in each region and region 12 included the charts all the way to Stockton and Colusa and every thing in between there and SF.

I will try downloading the app sometime this week.

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I got a reply from MX Mariner today:

Al,

Thank you for emailing me. I currently do not have the rights to distribute charts in MX Mariner for that area. However, I am working on expanding chart coverage.

Thanks,

Will

FlyWright said:

I got a reply from MX Mariner today:

Al,

Thank you for emailing me. I currently do not have the rights to distribute charts in MX Mariner for that area. However, I am working on expanding chart coverage.

Thanks,

Will

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That's interesting... As far as I know, Will uses only NOAA charts for here in the U.S.; didn't realize there might be a "rights" issue... or that if there is, that it could be area-specific.

-Chris

Interesting, but that makes zero sense. First, because the charts in question are in the public domain. I didn't think NOAA's Certified Distributor program limited the number of charts. Second, because the are NOAA charts that are extensions of other NOAA charts. Third, because he lists them as part of one of his regions (is he going to take them out of his lists?), that would be blatantly false advertising . I'll see what I can find out as a potential customer, which I am.

Regardless, there is no mention in the RNC Distributor agreement about fees or geographical restrictions:

http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/staff/docs/RNCAgentAgreement.pdf

Can you quote where he lists them? I sure don't see them on my list. Maybe I'm missing something.

Something isn't running well when using Navionics on the Android it wouldn't keep the boat and map just wouldn't align no matter what. I had good GPS signal. I think what it might be would be the speed I was moving at 6 knots. The map kept changing orientation. I was so glad that I didn't really need it. I am going to contact Navionics to see what the issue was/is