For ipad users (navionics) some important information .(also some pcs)

[Hooky]

I'm afraid I have given out some duff information to a few members regarding this brilliant tool, sorry about that chaps ..

 

 

If you have a ipad with a SIM card ( gen 3) you should be fine, however if you have a iPod , 2nd generation ipad this post should be of help.

 

As I understand it when you are receiving a location , this is generated from triangulated signals from shore based towers, if you loose these only a small part of the signal comes from a satellite , this is usually fine but is not always accurate .

 

Your vehicle uses a different system, it uses satellites only, we all know how these can drop out at the most annoying moment.

 

The issue we have here is accuracy , we need a very accurate system to find those important marks and combine this with you depth sounder .

 

Take for example the Valantine tank wrecks, no matter how many times I've looked,I couldn't find them.

 

These small marks are at best a pig to find, no matter what I tried it seemed impossible .

 

I was using my second generation ipad tethered to my iPhone via Bluetooth , it does NOT work. ( that's the duff information I've been giving out).

 

What you need to make this app work is a separate , fully accurate dongle , this locks on to dedicated satellites , without this you can miss these small marks and gullys by a very large margin , hence why I couldn't find what I wanted .

 

I have bought myself a little thing called a Bad Elf, it simply plugs directly into your ipad ( including all generations and iPod) .

 

I bought mine off eBay, it cost £94.00, I have done extensive research on this product, the write ups say this is the only one that is truly worth having, plug it in , download the app (. It's free, you don't have to do this as it will work fine as it is)

 

It will take around a few minutes to lock on to multiple satellites , not just one,this should mean it will be very accurate, within 6 ft or so .

 

This also works with many ipad , iPhone mapping systems , see the website for how it works.

 

You could in fact use this in your car with a free car navigation app, no more lost satellite problems.

 

I have also learned many small aircraft users use a Bad Elf gps , it works upto 1000mph and upto 6,000 ft.

 

It also works worldwide, best of all it cost nothing to use ( In fact the standard system also costs nothing as it is not a part of your data package )

 

Please use google to look in to this , it's a complicated thing how this all works, it will tell you all the technical stuff..

 

I will let you know how I get on, I have a feeling this could be the end of my frustrations regarding using iPads etc and navionics ( I will bring it to the next meeting for full updates)

[biggcol]

Been using one for months they also do a wireless blue tooth version. 100% accurate

[Peter]

Ditto brilliant piece of kit ..... Navionics are now also doing a wifi fishfinder which integrates into the app. It is on my must have list ..... You can also use it through multiple devices on board so strap a smartphone to,your wrist and see the wreck as you fish over .... Where will it all end?

Peter

[Rob]

I think any of the iPads with sim/3G/4G capability have the gps receiver chip. You don't need to put a sim in it for it to work, but with a sim it can fix your location quicker of startup as it uses phone masts to estimate you location.

 

Hence a sim enabled iPad is worth the extra £100 if you are using it for nav!

[Wedger]

So which is the best chart plotting app. for iphone then?

 

While I was looking through them last week I seem to remember there was one optimized for iphone 5 series which is what I've just got.

[codpiece]

Trev, Will it still be working tomorrow,   derek             

[Hooky]

So which is the best chart plotting app. for iphone then?

 

While I was looking through them last week I seem to remember there was one optimized for iphone 5 series which is what I've just got.

The other slight problem is clarity of the screen in bright sunlight , use the white on black setting.

 

I have found the Navionics is superb as a plotter, it's very simple to use , it's not the software , it's the device you put it on.

 

iPhone screens seem too small, it all just gets a bit fiddly .

 

 

I believe I had a absolute bargain for my brand new wifi ipad from PC world , £150.00 ( my old one completely died).

 

So to that I already had the Navionics saved on my iTunes (for the iPhone)

 

I then purchased the Lifeproof case, then a mounting kit, this will then have the Bad Elf gps.

 

So that should do it, spend total £ 320 , for a touch screen plotter.

 

I have no idea of the price of a Lowrance touch screen plotter ??? Or similar ,

 

I do now how much the separate gold card is if you have to purchase it for your dedicated plotter.

 

You could always borrow mine for the day to see what you think, opinions differ, best to try it out before,you spend those penny's

 

[niggle]

You can also get a transducer for the iPad so you can have a fish finder as well , apparently about £90 but you would need a uprated power supply not a standard one

[Hooky]

Incredible , all this technology , all this latest gear, shame I'm so useless at fishing !

[sparky]

I've got a 10.1 inch tablet with built in gps, amazing  screen and detail .....even in bright sunlight !

 

Loaded Navionics Gold app and it pinpoints wrecks etc. exactly the same as my chart plotter, been told I should be able to load marks onto it...........but need my daughters other half to do that !!!!

 

Great piece of kit, especially when you look how much a 10 inch plotter would cost.

 

Mick

[djredrupp]

If you download the Ipad version of navionics (rather than the iphone version) you will get a much better resolution on the Ipad....

[niggle]

HD version for iPad

[codpiece]

I dont have the faintest idea what anyone is talking about!!!  i have tried routing my fufu valve through my chuff box while sitting in my koi pond but all i got was a rush of air and my phone has stopped working.   derek        

[Rob]

I dont have the faintest idea what anyone is talking about!!! i have tried routing my fufu valve through my chuff box while sitting in my koi pond but all i got was a rush of air and my phone has stopped working. derek

It's ok Derek, you can get cream for that!

[ChrisE]

A word of caution on the Navioniocs app.  It is really great for all of the plotting capabilities that are mentioned above but steer clear of their Sonarcharts addition for showing depth contours in more detail.  

 

On the face of it a great idea but in reality the contours which, I believe, are computer generated are just plain wrong.  For instance, if you try to find the peaks and troughs off the S off the IoW you'll be sadly disappointed, the contours are just not there.  

 

I spent a couple of hours a month ago trying to find ridges and troughs that just don't exist, grr

[Hooky]

Update ; so today my Bad Elf arrived, it's plugs in directly to your I device , don't forget , my ipad is a wifi only, you don't generally need a separate gps dongle for the 3G ipad, my idea is to find out how accurate they can be against each other.

 

Will a dedicated gps separate system be more accurate ??

 

I'm just playing about @ home today , I'm going to try to grab a few screen shots to see what it can do under poor conditions.

 

 

 

Not too bad, 6 out of 13 satellites with accuracy of 7m, I have now switched over to the iPhone which has 3G . On wifi

 

Result is different, I'm only getting best of 10m under perfect conditions .

 

Lots more testing to do, early days yet.

 

Codpiece ;I know this all seems double Dutch , it is actually very simple.

 

I'm am NOT a geek , techie sort of person ! The whole aim of this is to attempt to pick up very small marks and gullies that hold some very nice fish, fish love structure, that's one thing I AM certain about !

 

I'm sure many of us have found our fishing rather difficult this year, I think the inshore trawling has decimated our local areas, their is nothing we can do about it ? ( they know where all the local wrecks and snags are and avoid them, to me that's a small opportunity and try harder to get a few fish )

[Rob]

Can you show a pic of how it plugs in?

I assume you then need a specific case to keep the iPad watertight.

[Hooky]

Can you show a pic of how it plugs in?

I assume you then need a specific case to keep the iPad watertight.

It plugs into the charging socket , it's about the size of a square off a Yorkie bar.

 

I have a Lifeproof case, here it where it got a bit of a faff .

 

You would have to leave the little door open , this would mean your fully waterproof case is now. Errrrr ,, not.

 

 

I also had to trim some of the plastic case away to make sure it fitted.

 

I would never want to use my ipad underwater so doing this is not a issue for me.

 

IMHO it won't make a scrap of difference to any water that hits it.,

 

There is a full list of comparable cases on the Bad Elf website

[great white]

Chris you may have been looking for ridges where they were when the area was surveyed

 

But after last winters storms they have moved

[Steve S]

Ridges....

sonarcharts makes the bottom look more interesting than it actually is, there are some pretty deep holes and ridges shown which as Chris says are just not there, particularly south of the IoW, thats even before the storms. And also some of my old marks just don't look the same anymore and that is after the storms.

 

However some of the extra detail seems not to be made up, IMO sonarcharts are something of the work in progress, after loading the sonarcharts I marked up quite a number of points for investigation, if I am in the area of one I check it out, some are total fiction so I'm not going to waste fuel with major detours, however, not all are total fiction.

 

Steve

[Steve S]

Example sonarcharts fiction:  50, 38.08 - 1, 27.53 (brook ledges area) - shows a 177ft hole with surrounding area 32ft. Wow, there got to something fishy going on there. Yep but not the right sort of fishy.

 

Standard chart just shows a 32ft shelving to 26ft area.

[Hooky]

Yet more time consuming time and effort spent last night !

 

I'm sure the members browsing this post are are aware of the 'Doris' overlay on google earth, it's been posted many times.

 

Now compare that to the same area ( try the area off Old Harry) .

 

I'm going to attempt to screen shot different maps, the differences are huge, but they are there, it does show how the sea floor changes every season, that has been documented.

 

Have a look at how Christchurch entrance changes , it can change with one storm,

Wrecks are of particular interest to us, what is on your chart one day can vanish a short time later, the sandy bottom shifts every day ( hence my quest for the Valantine wrecks)

 

To sum up my experience spending hours messing around is that it doesn't matter which system you use, it's down to budget, it makes very little difference to which mapping system, the reason is a large part of our area moves every few months.

 

All this stuff no matter how much you spend will always be a guide, some of these guides will be more accurate

 

Some parts of the seabed change very little over time , a very short time ago this tech was only available to the military, it's now available to,the masses for a few Quid ..

 

On Fisheagle I have been attempting to get to grips with this side -scan imaging , it is truly amazing.

 

So you combine that to the satellite location plus the oomajidlip dongle powered 3G wifi enabled gizmo to find that perfect spot.

 

Terrific , all in the hope there 'might' be a nice fish that 'might' take the correct bait as long as it's presented on the correct rig.

 

Good Grief , we are more daft than golfers and those metal detector types !

[Hooky]

My last update, different features of the same areas taken in different years ? (Edited coz I'm getting confused ,!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian]

The top one is Handfast Point and Ballard, the lower one looks like Pevrill Point and Durlston Bay.

[gaffa]

 

The top one is Handfast Point and Ballard, the lower one looks like Pevrill Point and Durlston Bay.

 yes I agree