Navionics Marine & Lakes US HD for Android

[TheBronze]

I've been waiting many months for this software to be certified for my Android tablet (Nexus 7) and it looks like they have finally released this for all Android devices. This software is highly regarded among users who have installed it on both iPad and Android tablets and phones.

I primarily want to use it for fishing as it provides all the goodness of the Navionics charts with depth and lay lines provided. It also has waypoints and route tracing so I can circle around those hot spots!

My tablet has the excellent Broadcom GPS chip in it and plenty of processing power. I'll just need to wire up a 12 volt power source for it and get a dash mount to hold it in place.

Once in use, I'll post back here with a mini review.

[GregJ]

John, I have been using Navionics on my Iphone for years. I just connected a 12 volt cigerett type socket directly into my fuse bank and mounted the socket on the bottom of the helm. It works great, my phone is always charged and I don't really even need my Garmin except for mayby marking fish and depth.

[GregJ]

John, Another app you might want to concider is Weatherbug. I especially like the radar and lightning alert features. Of coures your smart phone won't work everywhere like Stehekin on Chelan or upper Priest Lake but service is available most everywhere.

[TheBronze]

Greg,

Thanks for the tip. I'll grab that for my phone. I use a handheld VHS most of the time, but it doesn't do real time.

I poked around the app a little bit today and I have to say I'm impressed. Easy to use, not too many features, but enough of the day to day ones you might want. I'll give it a whirl on the ferry commute this afternoon...

[Helmar]

Greg.
Which Navionics app are you using on your iPhone..? Seems as there are several available.

Helmar

[GregJ]

Helmar, Marine & Lakes USA.

[Helmar]

Wow, hard to beat for 9 bucks isn't it

I think my old Garmin GPSMAP 76? does that too. For the extra 200 bucks you could click on the Tide Markers and it would adjust itself to the tide levels.
That was a pretty slick device when I was trying to do the short cut back into Mystery Bay harbor back to the shop at Martys.


.

[TheBronze]

It's all set up now. I bought a nice adjustable moount and a USB adapter.

The USB adapter is wired directly into the bus. What a pain! The circuitry on those units is hard to work with. I had to take apart the housing and then solder some light wire to the board and then use larger gauge to attach to the bus. Took way too long to get right, but it seems like a good, solid connection. It is strip tied to a set of cables under the deck and I have a USB cable running from the plug up through the existing power cord for the depth sounder. Nice and tidy!

I didn't trust the suction powers (good as they are) on the mount, so I fabbed up a nice piece of wood to place on the dash. This did require me to drill 4 new holes in my boat (which I hate to do), but it allowed me to mount both the sonar and the tablet with better orientation toward the helm. It is painted up white and looks good on the boat.

I attempted to use it this Saturday on a family cruise and was very disappointed that I couldn't see the screen at all when I had my sunglasses on! It was completely black. Not even a trace of the display visible. With the glasses off, it was great, even in the sun. What gives?

Then my friend informed me about the mechanics of polarization. Ah! Turn it 90 degrees and the whole thing is visible. The tablet will fit either direction on the mount and still clear the windshield, so I'll give it a go next time around and see if the usability is good. I had wanted to use it in landscape mode, but portrain may be just as good.

So, for those of you who might use this setup, landscape mode will render the display black on a Nexus 7 with polarized glasses. Keep that in mind when you perform your mounting. It would be good for anyone who is setting up a permanent mount with any tablet to take it outside and do the polarization check prior to performing the work.

[TheBronze]

Just wanted to post a follow up to my post above. I took the boat out on Saturday for some early season fishing. While I didn't catch anything, the software performed flawlessly. Tracking my progress was easy with the track option and I was able to circle schools of fish with ease. The waypoint mark is also helpful for finding those crab pots you dropped hours ago.

All and all a good experience.

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

I love using the Navionics chart software on my iPad Mini, plugged into the boat's cigarette lighter adapter so the iPad's battery stays at 100%.

We anchored for a few nights inside Mats Mats Bay, and when leaving through the narrow, rocky entrance one morning, there was pea-soup fog everywhere. Navionics got us out through the passage and all the way back to Mystery Bay (dodging a lot of rocks and sandbars along the route) when we couldn't see land anywhere. Then, on a later camp-cruise in the Quadra Island area of B.C., we were able to explore some of the narrowest and most beautiful rocky passages--sometimes through pretty shallow backwaters--when the cruising couple we were with had to stick to the main (boring) channel...because they had only a paper chart and no depth sounder.

I still carry paper charts, just in case, but am totally sold on digital navigation.

- Marty

[Kelly]

Has anyone tried using Navionics for a kindle? Does it even exist? I should look first...

[TheBronze]

Kelley,

I doubt that it will work. It requires a GPS chip to track. Not sure if the Kindle has one? If you don't already have a tablet, look at units with built in GPS and you should be good to go.

[Kelly]

While out on the sound yesterday I used the app, it worked flawlessly and I didn't pay for anything.

[Helmar]

While out on the sound yesterday I used the app, it worked flawlessly and I didn't pay for anything.

I think Greg James uses that app too. I use it on my iphone too.
Pretty impressive.