Navigation: Go on a cruise with the app

Andreas Fritsch

· 14.04.2014

Photo: YACHT/ N. Günter

Trip planning in the evening in the cockpit

Navigation apps for iPad and tablets are booming, three new apps, many new features. We tested seven apps. Results

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The programmes for normal consumer devices can do more and more: while they were initially very slimmed-down versions of electronic plotters and charts, the boundaries to "real" yacht electronics are becoming increasingly blurred. Even the MOB function and harbour plans, which were left out for a long time, can now be found more frequently.

Apps and tablets during the test outside Mallorca. We also tested various Android devices, for which three apps are now available

Photo: YACHT/ N. Günter Apps and tablets during the test outside Mallorca. We also tested various Android devices, for which three apps are now available

We travelled with the apps from Navionics, C-Map (Plan2Nav), iSailor, Garmin (Blu Chart Mobile), MaxSea (Zime Zero), NV Verlag and Imray. All of them are now almost fully-fledged plotter backups, but there are still big differences in terms of features and details. Tip: Download the coat app that looks interesting to you from the Apple or Android Store; almost every provider has trial cards that you can use to check out the functions free of charge. If you like the app, you can then buy the card set, if not, simply delete it.

Readability in sunlight: difficult to recognise in the photo, but in practice the modern displays are sufficient if they are set to maximum brightness

Photo: YACHT/ N. Günter Readability in sunlight: difficult to recognise in the photo, but in practice the modern displays are sufficient if they are set to maximum brightness

Some of the screenshots that did not make it into the YACHT test report in issue 9/2014 are shown here to make it easier to pre-select the apps.

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Comparison of the main bay of Cabrera in the presentation at iSailor. The essentials are there, there is no detailed information

The same bay at Time Zero: The info of the paper map, the raster map does not give more information

The same bay in Navionics: it is already clear that there are a lot of buoys here. Further information is available via user comments in the Navionics community and via the harbour symbol. The information is very good

The bay in the NV-Verlag map. Typical raster map: As this is a detailed map, the blurred parts of the excessively zoomed-in nautical chart can be seen at the edges. There is no further information in the provider's Mediterranean charts, the Northern Europe charts contain good additional information on many harbours and bays

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Photo: Yacht

Andreas Fritsch

Editor Travel

Andreas Fritsch was born in Buxtehude in 1968 and has been sailing since childhood, first in a dinghy and later on his own keelboats on the Elbe and later the Baltic Sea. After studying political science, German and history in Münster, he began working as a journalist and joined the YACHT editorial team in 1997. Since 2001, he has focussed on travel and charter and has travelled to almost all areas of the world and regularly charters in the Mediterranean, with Greece being his favourite area. He has written two cruising guides for the Mediterranean (Charter Guide Ionian Sea and Turkish Coast). In addition to travelling, he is a fan of the Open 60 and Maxi-Tri scene and regularly writes about these topics in YACHT. He has been sailing a classic GRP Grinde on the Baltic Sea for several years.

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Navigation: Go on a cruise with the app

Andreas Fritsch

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