Navionics IPad

Has anyone used a USB GPS connected to an IPad with Navionics?

Bad Elf GPS has a few models.

https://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/bad-elf-gps-for-apple-lightning-connector.html

Larry M said:

Bad Elf GPS has a few models.

https://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/bad-elf-gps-for-apple-lightning-connector.html

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Do you know if it syncs to Navionics?

It should. There’re members here who use Navionics on their iPads with a Bad Elf gps. Try the Forum’s search function and plug in Bad Elf. You should get some hits.

Hi,


I have a few Aple devices, I would never trust it in navigation, I really don't want to use them for anything. Preferably a Windows or android based device for navigation. Prefer a real chart plotter and paper maps


NBs

I have an external GPS that feeds two iPads, one running Aqua Maps and one running Navionics via Bluetooth with no issues at all. IIRC it is a Dual Electronics XGPS160 and can feed 5 devices at once. It also has a built-in 10 hour battery. $123 from Amazon for GPS and Glonass with 5 devices and $65 for the XGPS150 with GPS only and 1 device. This lets me avoid buying the iPad model with its own GPS saving some money.

I have enough cables at my helms without adding a couple more for USB so I went with a Bluetooth device. Granted I have only used this system since mid-summer and about 1200mi, but it has been flawless to date.

North Baltic sea said:

Hi,


I have a few Aple devices, I would never trust it in navigation, I really don't want to use them for anything. Preferably a Windows or android based device for navigation. Prefer a real chart plotter and paper maps


NBs

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In what way does this help the OP with his question? The fact that you prefer an astrolabe and sunstone is simply irrelevant to this discussion.

Hi Dale,
From what others have said, I guess you can use a USB GPS with an IPad. I have not tried this, as my IPad has the built in GPS. I use Navionics on the IPad as one of my navigation devices and have been very happy with it for years!
I also do use a USB GPS connected to my Windows laptop running Coastal Explorer. That works great as well and was very easy to setup!
I am not sure of the logistics of setting up an IPad for inputting data via a direct connection??? I do connect AIS to my IPad via WiFi, so I would assume GPS could be done using either Bluetooth or WiFi?
Good luck,
Tom

Woodland Hills said:

In what way does this help the OP with his question? The fact that you prefer an astrolabe and sunstone is simply irrelevant to this discussion.

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Hi Mr,

Thank you for the information! This help the OP

NBs

Bought a bad elf years ago....didn’t work for what I needed it for. Threw it in a drawer and forgot about it. Recently I bought an iPad mini. Mostly use it for GA flying. I decided to also use it for boat navigation. I remembered my bad elf. Pulled it out of the drawer and charged it. Did an update and it was up and running. Connects to the iPad effortlessly and I can also connect my iPhone. It was rock solid for our last trip. Three, 3 hour legs. I never charged it and it still shows at least 3/4 charge. I use Aqua Map. Also have I-Boating. Both worked great. I think bad elf also works for Navionics. Check their web site or shoot them an email. Aqua maps wasn’t listed but it does in fact work.

Woodland Hills said:

In what way does this help the OP with his question? The fact that you prefer an astrolabe and sunstone is simply irrelevant to this discussion.

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OK your response made me laugh out loud. Funny ****

Ipad and and Time Zero here. Works great. (Navionics on my iPhone as a backup) I did have an iPad with a bad elf. Worked fine but didn’t like the added wire to connect the bad elf. Went with iPad with cellular/ internal GPS. Don’t need to purchase the cellular plan. The additional cost for the iPad (with cellular) was about the same as the bad elf as I Remember.

Ipad

I use the ipad with navionics and bluetooth Dual XGPS150A

Works great

Ron

I want to add that my bad elf connects via Bluetooth and can connect to multiple devices. I connect my iPhone as a back up.

North Baltic sea said:

I have a few Aple devices, I would never trust it in navigation, I really don't want to use them for anything. Preferably a Windows or android based device for navigation.

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Why would a Windows or Android platform with the same app be any better -- or worse -- than that same app running on an iThing?

-Chris

North Baltic sea said:

Hi,


I have a few Aple devices, I would never trust it in navigation, I really don't want to use them for anything. Preferably a Windows or android based device for navigation. Prefer a real chart plotter and paper maps


NBs

Click to expand...

Most airlines have ditched the flight bag full of 35lbs if charts and manuals for iPads. Been nothing but reliable for 6 years now.

Any ipad with wifi and cellular should get 5-6 meter accuracy at a minimum.
BadElf should bring it down to 2-3 meter accuracy. This is equivalent to any recent MFD with a good antenna. IPad with Navionics is more than adequate for most coastal navigation scenarios.

You don't have to activate the cellular but if you do almanac data will download quickly and triangulation might improve accuracy if you are within range of cell towers.

I have used my iPad with Navionics and a Vexilar wireless transducer for years. Not sure why I would want anything else. I use my iPhone as a backup. I think I would still want a fixed mount system from Raytheon or Garmin or whoever, but I would not use them-just have them in reserve/backup. The Navionics on my iPad is so easy to use and accurate enough for anything I have needed. The Vexilar transducer has worked extremely well also. I am actually a little surprised that it would have been so easy to install, use, and have reliability. My iPhone with Navionics was used quite successfully in a nighttime, fog filled passage in the North Chanel of Lake Huron (not someplace you want to be off course). We passed buoys within a few feet of where they were marked on the Navionics chart. Bill

I've used iPad/Navionics extensively running the WA coast and up the inside to The Broughtons. It works exceptionally well. It started out as a backup to RayMarine gear but soon the ease of use and features made this the primary solution.

There are some shortcomings however.
1) iPads/iPhones will overheat in direct sunlight on a hot day, so you'll need to keep it shaded,
2) the display is not as visible in the sunlight as much of the marine displays are, and
3) they are not to be used where they will get wet.

Otherwise, they are a bulletproof solution and a fine backup to other nav in your boat.
Pete

Excuse the thread drift, but this may also help the OP as an alternative. I use an ipad and a bad elf gps connected via bluetooth and is working flawlessly. I'm planning on adding a Vesper XB-8000 AIS transceiver and wondering if I can use it's gps function for my ipad. The bad elf is fine but it would slightly simplify things if there was already useable gps available.

My iPad utilizes the Zagg screen protector which can be purchased in low glare, and it also utilizes the life proof waterproof case for use with glass screen protectors. Direct sunlight can overheat the unit. I use a Ram Mount that is spring loaded and mounted to the helm console. I do not like direct sun myself and the bimini is enough to keep the unit could. I will have a duplicate mount below as well. Bill

Pdxstriper said:

I've used iPad/Navionics extensively running the WA coast and up the inside to The Broughtons. It works exceptionally well. It started out as a backup to RayMarine gear but soon the ease of use and features made this the primary solution.

There are some shortcomings however.
1) iPads/iPhones will overheat in direct sunlight on a hot day, so you'll need to keep it shaded,
2) the display is not as visible in the sunlight as much of the marine displays are, and
3) they are not to be used where they will get wet.

Otherwise, they are a bulletproof solution and a fine backup to other nav in your boat.
Pete

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I want to caution against counting on cell tower triangulation improving accuracy. Some time ago I looked into the accuracy of cell phone and tablet positioning accuracy vs dedicated devices. I read the results of tests done by a land surveyor comparing Apple devices to dedicated survey gear. The salient points were that Apple devices given enough time and a lack of cell signal were nearly as accurate as dedicated survey gear. The main problem with Apple device accuracy, and I extend that to all phones and tablets, is they are designed to prioritize speed to fix over accuracy. Start mapping as you're driving in an unfamiliar area, you want it to come up quickly. To achieve that speed they will use cell tower triangulation which according to the author is less accurate than GPS. Dedicated survey gear is designed to prioritize accuracy over speed. I make the leap that dedicated marine navigation GPS also prioritizes accuracy over speed.

That said, I haven't experienced any distressing lack of accuracy when using Navionics or OpenCPN on Android devices. I would expect the same performance on Apple devices. I do use my phone or tablet as backup only. Preferring a marine GPS feeding a PC with a proven chart plotter.

When on rare occasion the PC based system has gone down and I'm near cell towers if the device allows I will put it in airplane mode to disable cell reception. Not all devices will receive GPS when in airplane mode.

A greater concern is the charting errors that can be found in Navionics charts. Rare as they are it only takes one shoal to ruin your day.

SoWhat said:

Any ipad with wifi and cellular should get 5-6 meter accuracy at a minimum.
BadElf should bring it down to 2-3 meter accuracy. This is equivalent to any recent MFD with a good antenna. IPad with Navionics is more than adequate for most coastal navigation scenarios.

You don't have to activate the cellular but if you do almanac data will download quickly and triangulation might improve accuracy if you are within range of cell towers.

Click to expand...

One of the great features of the Navionics system is its use of their native charts. The native charts take the data from the wireless transducer and send it to Navionics. Most users select the option to share their transducer data. This does not eliminate error, but does very much enhance accuracy.

Pdxstriper said:

There are some shortcomings however.
1) iPads/iPhones will overheat in direct sunlight on a hot day, so you'll need to keep it shaded,
2) the display is not as visible in the sunlight as much of the marine displays are, and
3) they are not to be used where they will get wet.

Click to expand...

and when they overheat they just shutdown without warning.
Lifeproof makes a solid waterproof case that works well with a ram mount.

Navionics on ipad is so easy to use I now consider it my primary although it's next to touchscreen mfd.

AquaMaps has the latest Army Corps of Engineers survey data available for use if you choose to do so....... We found this to be very useful running south this year, however Navionics has far superior routing software. It is for this reason that we run both simultaneously with the Furuno running as a reference and back up. We have a pair of tilt/swivel mounts at both helm stations and large sunshades built for drone operators on each iPad.

The one quirk I have noticed is that Navionics is much brighter than AquaMaps in sunlight and that our newest iPad is not as bright as the older one. I’m going to take them into the Genius Bar next time we are near one to see what they have to say. These are both 12” iPad Pros.

mahal said:

Excuse the thread drift, but this may also help the OP as an alternative. I use an ipad and a bad elf gps connected via bluetooth and is working flawlessly. I'm planning on adding a Vesper XB-8000 AIS transceiver and wondering if I can use it's gps function for my ipad. The bad elf is fine but it would slightly simplify things if there was already useable gps available.

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Mahal,
I installed the Vesper XB-8000 AIS last year (used a dedicated AIS tuned antenna). For navigation we use: 2 IPads (both Cellular capable but not connected to cell so they have internal GPS) both running Navionics, a Windows 10 laptop running Coastal Explorer (connected to a GPS puck, the Raymarine GPS antenna, and the Vesper GPS antenna, and AIS signal, all by wire) and an older Raymarine GPS and separate older Raymarine MFD using Nobeltec software and charts. I have set it up so that AIS targets show on one of the IPads (using the WiFi from the Vesper) and on the laptop computer CE program by hardwire. This allows great redundancy, and coupled with personal observations, allows for good navigation.

I am not sure if a non Cellular (so no internal GPS) IPad with Navionics will accept the Vesper WiFi GPS signal, but I don't think it will be a problem, based on the fact that the Vesper WiFI sends the AIS signal to my IPad. However, best to check with Navionics to be sure. If I remember correctly, my small IPad mini (that is not cellular enabled) did actually track our course when connected to the Vesper WiFi. I noticed this in passing as we don't use that small IPad for navigation, but do use it for tracking AIS target lists, Vesper alarms, changing Vesper settings, and such.
To the OP, I agree that the extra cost to buy an IPad that is "cellular" capable is probably not much (if at all) more than buying an external GPS puck, and you don't have to activate the cellular to use the internal GPS!

Hope that helps,
Tom

Thanks Tom. It' promising that your ipad mini did have gps action from the Vesper unit. But I'll call them just to be sure. Not that it's a deal breaker, but it would be nice not to have to pull out the bad elf from the drawer every outing.

We have a Bad Elf GPS that plugs into the lightning port on our non-GPS I-pad. It has a mini USB port on the side for charging the a IPad while the bad elf is plugged in. We have Garmin Blue Carts on ours, but I guess we are going to have to replace it soon. We love our bad elf and navigating with the IPad, and just using the chart plotter for back up.

Has anyone used the TimeZero TZ iBoat? How does it compare to Navionics?

IronZebra said:

Has anyone used the TimeZero TZ iBoat? How does it compare to Navionics?

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I use Time Zero on the IPad. Time Zero uses raster charts as opposed to vector charts. Great app. And I like looking at the NOAA charts. Some info below.

“Traditional paper chart users tend to like Raster Charts, since visually these are an exact reproduction of the paper chart. Vector Charts are stored as a database and drawn on the computer or plotter screen by the software, thus the display of a Vector Chart does not resemble a paper chart.”