Latest In Navigation

[boatman61]

I use the Nimble Navigator program on an Asus 10" notebook.. CM93 world charts and built in GPS with Tide, Grib, AIS and other plugins..
Why do I use it.. because Open CPN used to keep crashing on me at inconvenient times back then so I bought it and found a great product for my purposes.. your laptop dies just pull out the USB stick and bang it into the replacement and your good to go.. also its sales help support a fellow cruiser and fulltime live aboard who travels the N Atlantic Circle every year..
Why pay the Big Boys when one of our own gives you something just as good for pennies.

[Kalinka1]

For what it's worth. I use an old Toshiba android 10" tablet running navionics in the cockpit in a zip-lock bag under the dodger as the primary navigation device. Have Open CPN running on a laptop at the nave table sometimes. Have an apple 2 with navionics as a spare and also a second laptop as a spare. But it's the toshiba that get's most of the use and haven't had a problem in the last 8 years. We have considered a stand alone plotter but not at the helm. Don't believe anything should be there except for a magnetic compass. Have seen too many boats going by with helmsperson with their head down watching the screen

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Kalinka1

Have seen too many boats going by with helmsperson with their head down watching the screen

Perhaps that is a problem with the helmsperson and not the screen.

More than a few times in the past I have really wanted to have a plotter in front of me. For example in a complex channel like when the ICW crosses an inlet with a couple of side channels with a couple of dogleg turns thrown in for good measure.

When the wind it blowing hard or it's raining it's not too practical to keep a paper chart on deck and running back and forth between the helm and the nav table isn't the ideal option in that situation. If you have a good crew member they can sit below and call up instructions but still having a visual reference in front of me is my preference.

[Flyingriki]

Always wondered if anyone redid their compass deviation card after adding all sorts of electronics near it.....
Am trying Open CPN and Navionics now. Left my old laptop, that would have been perfect, in the hangar at home 3000 miles away.

[puffcard]

To me a laptop on a chart table is not a good solution for coastal work. Tried it, just not a fan, you have the issues with securing it, the interfaces with the power, the antenna and NEMA. Then the wave and rain down the hatch. What do you run down below to check out the channel your in. I do use the tablet and phone with MX Mariner alot. Out of the 13 GPSs on the boat, we only use 4 for navigation and planning. Everyone has a program or navigation tool they prefer and most are perfectly good. Years ago I raced on a boat that used a laptop interface with the instruments, we killed two laptops. That's a different situation than a motor vessel with a inside steering station.

[Benz]

I have done that trip--all it took was a spiral-bound chartkit worth $125 that I bought used for $25. Perfect daylight visibility, unlimited battery, there's even a waterproof sleeve it can be slid into! It works with wet fingers, won't shatter when dropped on the sole, and can be annotated with a pencil.
Amazing piece of kit. Can't fathom why anyone would look for anything else.

[puffcard]

Originally Posted by Flyingriki

Do you happen to know if the charts are updatable on this discontinued unit? I know I could update my aviation Garmin long after they stopped making them....
To find out here One must download a Garmin product just to find out.

Garmin are money people and charge for updates, the charts will be perfectly fine and if refurbished will be close to the latest. Most all of the data on charts is at less 15 years old. If you want the cheap and easy use a tablet or phone with MX Mariner free, with NOAA charts free.

[SailorDoc]

Cruisers in Mexico will find Navionics doesn't always update it charts long after the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) has produced a new detailed chart. For example: look at Altata, or at Loreto.

C-Map updated these a couple years ago whereas Navionics still has no detail

see for example:
Sailing Pelagia: Mexico charts: C-MAP versus NAVONICS

[Pegasos]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I have completed two fairly long coastal cruises over the same ground since 2012, the first using OpenCPN and CM93 charts, from just north of Brisbane on the east coast of Australia to Exmouth on the west and back, and the second from Fremantle on the west coast to Brisbane on the east using an Raymarine "a" series MFD with Navionics charts.

To give an idea of the distances involved the track mileage for the recent trip (still underway) is nearly 4,000 nm and these voyages take in both the Kimberley and Great Barrier Reef coasts and consequently might be described as "complex" navigation wise.

What did I like about OpenCPN?

The cost. I ran it on a $300 10" Asus netbook with a SSD which sent nav data to the Raymarine 4000 autopilot via a $90 Digitech USB to RS422/485 converter.

Man did I love that little setup. I could do my course planning at evening on my big screen laptop over a glass of red and transfer the .gpx file to the little Asus to run the courses the next day.

The extant voyage has been done using the "a" series and although the cost is way more at about $1,600 (these are Australian dollars), other than not being able to connect it to the autopilot because it only has nmea 2000, I am fairly impressed with it and the Navionics charts.

In the hope that I could do my course planning and transfer the .gpx files to the MFD via wifi I purchased a software program marketed by Raymarine but sourced from Fugawi but have never been able to get it to work and without the nmea connection to the autopilot and tend to just use the MFD as a sort of marine road map.

Since I mainly day sailed this has proven to work out OK but I don't get the short naps I was willing to risk with the OpenCPN/autopilot combination.

I am going to stick with OpenCPN/nav computer setup because I like it's practicality and minimal cost but continue with wrestling with the Fugawi/nmea 2000/MFD problem because I love a challenge.

Did you find the pricey Navionics charts any better than the "free" CM93 charts?

[bensolomon]

Get isailor by Transaction on your Droid tablet. It will be perfect. I use it on my Droid phone and iPad. I have the iPad mounted on the binnacle with a RAM mount. I have no MFD at all.

This has been flawless for 6 years. Been to the caribbean and the med with it. Mostly sail Chesapeake and Coastal Atlantic.