iPhone Apps

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

The charts in the Navionics app are every bit as good as those you would have in any marine chartplotter. They are 'real' Navionics Gold charts that have been used in marine chartplotters for decades.

I do not have a iPhone so I cannot speak to it's GPS reception capabilities, but in general you should find that you will get better reception with any GPS out on the open water than you will in a denser urban environment. GPS coverage is not an issue in any of the typically cruised Alaskan waters. The satellites are always up there transmitting, they are completely separate from any land based cell service. You will still have GPS service even if you are out of cell range. As you go way north, like up into the north Bering Sea you may find the number of visible satellites decreases a bit but you will mostly still have the required 4 needed for a fix. The satellite orbits do not go all the way up to the north pole, they are in a lower earth orbit where they make 2 complete obits in one day. On their ground tracks they appear to zig zag up and down from 55 degrees north to 55 degrees south.

I would always buy the latest model, the 3Gs version with whatever memory size you want. I personally think the 16Mb is enough.

I have really liked the Otter Boxes I had for my previous pocket PC's, but I I find just a waterproof pouch also works fine for my iPod Touch.

I have this one
http://www.extremepda.com/DRY-PAK-DP46-IPHONE3GS.html
Here's another
http://www.waterproof-paper.com/cases/w ... case.shtml

[daydreamerbob]

I used this app on an iphone 3g on the GA/SC ICW last week and with one exception (incorrect bridge height) it was awesome. I was using the iphone for navigation and the lowrance gps/chartplotter for depth. it was very windy while we were out and water was splashing from all sides as we do not have a dodger you definitely need to have a water proof device. also - the app and gps run down the battery very rapidly - so we had to stay plugged into the cockpit 12vdc outlet continuously -so your water proof choice should consider a charger running through it...

[Moe]

All I can say is that a 64GB WiFi + 3G iPad rocked on our highway trip to Louisville this weekend!

I see the future of personal computing and it isn't like my IBM PC Portable.

[Hamin' X]

Hey Moe, long time no type. Good to see you're still kicking.

~Rich

[Shane]

Thanks for the heads up & URL Duane. I started looking for a waterproof case for my Touch this weekend. I ordered it tonight, so should have it in a couple of weeks. I got a Dual XGPS300 a couple of weeks ago, and the Navionics prog. works just fine with it. It's stand alond road atlas isn't too intuitive (or maybe it's just me that isn't ), but it works great as a b/u on the boat & and for preplanning. I measured to make sure, but it should fit inside the drypak bag just fine.

Regards,
Shane

......I have really liked the Otter Boxes I had for my previous pocket PC's, but I I find just a waterproof pouch also works fine for my iPod Touch.

I have this one
http://www.extremepda.com/DRY-PAK-DP46-IPHONE3GS.html