Opinions on "best" iPad navigation app?

I know that opinions are like macerater outlets, so I expect a wide range of comments.

I'm curious what iPad apps people are using for navigation? In particular, I'm looking for a good solution for the US Mississippi River system and tributaries, and the Erie Canal system. Great Loop intentions in two years. Doing a section of the Erie Canal this summer.

I'm using OpenCPN on a laptop, and am learning how to use it - finding my way through their menus and options - but also want a solution on my iPad as a fall back.

I've seen mixed feedback on the Navionics iPad products, in both costs and features, and so before looking more I wanted to ask here and get known alternatives that I might also want to look at.

Thoughts?

Scott

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.

I now use SEAiq. There are 2 recreation versions available in the sub $50 price.

I lime to cruise the Bahamas so I have Garmin Blue Chart on an Apple iPad and iPhone. Never had a problem on either side of the Stream.

Bigsfish said:

I lime to cruise the Bahamas so I have Garmin Blue Chart on an Apple iPad and iPhone. Never had a problem on either side of the Stream.

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Do you have to be connected to a cell network to use the Garmin Blue Chart, or is it 100% contained on the iPad once you have downloaded it?

I also use SEAiQ, mostly for its raster NOAA charts. It also uses USCOE charts for the inland waters.

But if you have an Android tablet, MxMariner is the best for any tablet.

David

I have tried a few but keep going back to Navionics I think on our next run we will try SeaIQ

Another vote for Navionics.



I read Erie Canal is free this year! Yet another anniversary or something.

�� Navionics, Great program, our primary navigation on the large IPAD pro.

Bought a new iPad Pro with the newest version of Navionics. Used it for a 350 mile cruise last month. I could not have been happier.

I have been using SeaIq for 4 years now and really like it. However after reading a fairly comprehensive shootout of iPad navigation apps I've been looking hard at switching to Aqua Map. I think both are quite a bit better than Navionics.

Ken

LN

Everything is contained in the memory of the iPad including Actice Captain. I also have Navionics but much prefer Blue Chart. My boat uses Garmin products so perhaps I’m use to them.

I'm using an I-pad linked to my Garmin XS-741. I see I need to upgrade so I can have some redundancy. Thanks for all the suggestions ya'll!

Kevin

BlueCharts for the iPad have been discontinued, so if you are just starting out with a new app I would use another.

I have navionics, SEAiq, and Aqua maps installed on my iPad. I have been able to down load charts from NOAA for free for both Navionics and SEAiq. Aqua maps wants to charge me $20 for charts. It could be that they just want $20 for the program but won’t show the maps until I pay. SEAiq gave me a 7 day demo and continues to let me see charts and Active Captain data. If I want to continue using it as a plotter I need to pay. Navionics I got as a present and I use it for planning all the time.

Both Navionics and SEAiq work well I suspect the Aqua Maps does as well. I’d like to read this shoot out to see how they judged things. I think picking the best one is like picking the best engine.

Rain Dog said:

BlueCharts for the iPad have been discontinued, so if you are just starting out with a new app I would use another.

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Yep, it was a great program. Right up to the point that Garmin ruined it.

So you are saying I have to keep my iPad ?

Hello...I am using Navionics HD with full suscription (autorouting dock to dock and sonar charts) I can sync to my Raymarine.

Bigsfish said:

LN

Everything is contained in the memory of the iPad including Actice Captain. I also have Navionics but much prefer Blue Chart. My boat uses Garmin products so perhaps I’m use to them.

Click to expand...

Ok, thx
I have been using Blue Charts on my iPad, but it was not smooth going.
Not sure what the problems was, perhaps the GPS is more accurate if updated with internet or a cell network or some such thing, 5-6 years ago, can’t remember what the problem was.

Greetings,
Mr. El. Welcome aboard.

LN

I never had a problem. My kid was able to download the Garmin charts on our marchine on the boat to his lap top.

I have a bunch of navigation programs on our iPad but my go to one is Nobeltec Time Zero, but thats probably cause my main navigation is a laptop running Time Zero and the function the same way.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. El. Welcome aboard.

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Thank you!

According to SEAiq’s website, they have not decided whether to upgrade the apps to continue to support Active Captain, if that feature is important to you.

rochepoint said:

I have a bunch of navigation programs on our iPad but my go to one is Nobeltec Time Zero, but thats probably cause my main navigation is a laptop running Time Zero and the function the same way.

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Ditto... almost. We have TZ on the (Furuno) MFD, so we run TZ on the ship's laptop, too. But since their tablet version is only for iThings, we run other apps on our Android tablets.

FWIW, one of those is Plan2Nav (C-Map vector charts) and another is MX Mariner (NOAA raster charts for U.S.). I also downloaded iSailor a few weeks ago, but haven't worked with it yet. P2N and iSailor both also have iThing versions. Neither supports ActiveCaptain (P2N just bowed out of that recently). MX Mariner still supports AC, as far as I know.

-Chris

drb1025 said:

According to SEAiq’s website, they have not decided whether to upgrade the apps to continue to support Active Captain, if that feature is important to you.

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That is true for all third party apps. I don't think that Garmin has released the interface to Active Captain data for third party apps. Heck they still have lots of work to do on their Active Captain website to restore it to the same functionality of Jeff Siegel's website.

If Garmin is true to their word that they will support third party apps then sooner or later all should again be able to interface to Active Captain data.

David

Another vote here for SeaIQ.
We downloaded it on our Ipad which is the primary display at the lower station. The other programs we have on the ipad are Garmin Helm (which mirrors the flybridge display of radar, chart, sounder & AIS targets via WiFi), & Navionics. The main reason we got SeaIQ is that it shows AIS targets (wifi'd from the Vesper 8000 AIS)where a lot of programs, like Navionics, don't.

Opinions on "best" iPad navigation app?

djmarchand said:

That is true for all third party apps. I don't think that Garmin has released the interface to Active Captain data for third party apps. Heck they still have lots of work to do on their Active Captain website to restore it to the same functionality of Jeff Siegel's website.

If Garmin is true to their word that they will support third party apps then sooner or later all should again be able to interface to Active Captain data.

David

Click to expand...

Here is a link to Panbo’s article that shows which third party apps are supporting Active Captain. It is periodically updated.

https://www.panbo.com/active-captain-community-app-support/

drb1025 said:

Here is a link to Panbo’s article that shows which third party apps are supporting Active Captain. It is periodically updated.

https://www.panbo.com/active-captain-community-app-support/

Click to expand...

That is great news. I hadn't realized that third party apps like AquaMap could now interface with Active Captain's database. And that AquaMap got it working in 24 hours tells me it is no big deal for others to do the same.

SeaIQ, what are you waiting for?

David

Navionics HD for me.