What type of iPad is required

[Doug Rutherford]

I am getting an iPad to back up my Garmin navigation system. What size (memory) is best?

[MV Wanderlust]

Size is going to be determined by the amount of tiles you select.

Our Garmin ActiveCaptain app syncs with our 7612xsv and pulls the maps through from it. Within the app, you tap on which tiles will cover the area you want downloaded to your iPhone or iPad. The more tiles you tap, the more data is transferred. In our case, we live on the west coast of Florida so we selected tiles covering the Alabama coast, Florida all the way around to Jacksonville, the Keys out to Dry Tortuga, and most of the Bahamas all the way down to Exumas. That took up about 1.73 gigabytes. Factor in your data storage with the other apps you will have loaded and whatever data storage they will need. We went with a 64 gigabyte version and we have plenty to spare.

[CassidyNZ]

Make sure you get an iPad that has got SIM card capability. Any iPad that can’t receive a SIM has no onboard GPS. Unless of course that has changed since I bought mine (not that long ago).

Oh, maybe onboard GPS is not required for your purposes?

[sailormed]

Maybe my remark is unnecessary, but you need the model with a 3G/4G data connection. The WiFi only model does not have the GPS chip. I bought the iPad 1 WiFi only for use on the boat many years ago

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Make sure you get an iPad that has got SIM card capability. Any iPad that can’t receive a SIM has no onboard GPS. Unless of course that has changed since I bought mine (not that long ago).

Oh, maybe onboard GPS is not required for your purposes?

It is much cheaper to buy a Bluetooth GPS unit and connect to that than to buy a top of the line iPad.

Dual Electronics XGPS150A Multipurpose Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver with Wide Area Augmentation System and Portable Attachment https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006M49G80..._AmYmEb49F5G4A

Or

Dual Electronics XGPS160... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E65TNYE...p_mob_ap_share

These units also let you buy an older and cheaper used iPad if that is your thing. All iPads have enough memory to store maps routes and tracks so do most phones as long as you don’t fill them up with movies and tv.

[Macblaze]

Heck I still run Navionics on my original iPad to store tracks. Works a charm. So my suggestion is buy something used and affordable (with cell capabilities although you don't need a plan).

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

Make sure you get an iPad that has got SIM card capability. Any iPad that can’t receive a SIM has no onboard GPS. Unless of course that has changed since I bought mine (not that long ago).

Oh, maybe onboard GPS is not required for your purposes?

If you already have gps information transmitted over your boat wifi, from your ais or other device then you don't need to worry about this.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

It is much cheaper to buy a Bluetooth GPS unit and connect to that than to buy a top of the line iPad.

Dual Electronics XGPS150A Multipurpose Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver with Wide Area Augmentation System and Portable Attachment https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006M49G80..._AmYmEb49F5G4A

Or

Dual Electronics XGPS160... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E65TNYE...p_mob_ap_share

These units also let you buy an older and cheaper used iPad if that is your thing. All iPads have enough memory to store maps routes and tracks so do most phones as long as you don’t fill them up with movies and tv.

For aircraft use the external GPS’s are much more desirable, they are way more accurate, and don’t draw power from the IPad.
I kept my Dual and used to use it, but now I connect to my Vesper AIS via WiFi and use its GPS data.

I have never understood why people buy an IPad and then pay for a data plan for the IPad instead of using the phone as a hotspot, but then I don’t understand why people buy cars and do that for their cars either.

[Mediator]

We use an 11' iPad with cellular connectivity. The two options for storage are 32gb and 128gb. 32gb is more than sufficient for charts alone but we went for the 128gb because we also use the iPad to store photos, videos, and documents on a Google Drive account. We use iNavX by the way.

It's true that with wifi GPS (like the Vesper XB8000 we have installed) the cellular connectivity is not a necessity. However, we have found cellular to be very useful for other things when coastal sailing - looking at weather radar or booking moorings, for example.

We are getting a second tablet (for redundancy, since we use tablets for our primary navigation) and are exploring the various water resistant Android tablets on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active. The ability to run openCPN on an Android tablet is a very appealing feature for us. Just something else to consider.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

For aircraft use the external GPS’s are much more desirable, they are way more accurate, and don’t draw power from the IPad.
I kept my Dual and used to use it, but now I connect to my Vesper AIS via WiFi and use its GPS data.

I have never understood why people buy an IPad and then pay for a data plan for the IPad instead of using the phone as a hotspot, but then I don’t understand why people buy cars and do that for their cars either.

Does the Vesper automatically use the data or do you have to manually set it up in your nav app? I ask because I connect to the Bluetooth gps and also to Vesper WiFi for AIS data. This is in Navionics, I also run AquaMaps on a second device using the Bluetooth gps. I’ve never tried to Use the Vesper gps data and would like to try.
I had been considering getting a second Bluetooth gps since it was a single point of failure that could crash the whole system. Having Vesper as the primary would mean I could use the Bluetooth gps as a backup. Of course I’ll still have the Furuno as the true primary system.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Does the Vesper automatically use the data or do you have to manually set it up in your nav app? I ask because I connect to the Bluetooth gps and also to Vesper WiFi for AIS data. This is in Navionics, I also run AquaMaps on a second device using the Bluetooth gps. I’ve never tried to Use the Vesper gps data and would like to try.
I had been considering getting a second Bluetooth gps since it was a single point of failure that could crash the whole system. Having Vesper as the primary would mean I could use the Bluetooth gps as a backup. Of course I’ll still have the Furuno as the true primary system.

The trick is to merge the Vesper into your NMEA 0183/2000/SeaTalkNG network. It will then put all that data on the Wi-Fi that the iPad or other tablet or smart phone or laptop can receive and display in a program.

If you have a Vesper and a chart plotter then they back each other up- assuming you merge them onto the same network.

[Woodland Hills]

I turned off Bluetooth and connected the iPad to the Vesper and it indicated that gps and AIS data is being received. The odd thing is that Navionics shows my position accurately down to the correct slip in the marina, but AquaMaps does not. It has me out in the harbor and my speed and direction fluctuating from 22 to 300 kts. Time to email AquaMaps!
I use Navionics as my primary nav app because of the automatic routing but I like AquaMaps since it had the ACOE survey data for the ICW and has the Explorer charts for Bahamas. Fortunately Furuno also has Explorer and an accurate gps too.

[Tillsbury]

The Vesper xb8000 is an AIS transceiver so it has to have its own independent gps. So of course you have gps data coming over wifi to your iPad whatever happens. Just forget about the Bluetooth device, it's a backup at best. Of course you can also tether to an iPhone as gps backup assuming the xb8000 and all other gps sources have gone down when your electrical or nmea system goes down totally.

[Tillsbury]

I use SeaIQ as I only like raster charts, and that has a specific setting you can turn on if you have the xb8000, getting all its data from there

[s/v Jedi]

I recommend to use a standard iPad 7th generation with 32 GByte memory. No cellular.

Then you need a wifi gateway to your nmea data. Hopefully you have nmea2000 or SeatalkNG so you can use a simple one like this: https://yachtdevicesus.com/collectio...ateway-ydwg-02

For app I recommend iSailor because it’s the only one I know that can replace the chartplotter without loosing functionality. I get my AIS, control my autopilot and can enter waypoint coordinates for full accuracy etc.