E-Chart options for various locations

[Baerkanu]

Hi all -

I'm not sure whether this is the right venue for this post, but it seemed like the closest fit -

Having moved all my aviation chart needs to my iPad not too long ago, I'm a big fan of electronic charting. I've got a Garmin 546s chartplotter as well. What I'd like to do is use both the iPad and the Garmin for charting, without having to either fire up the laptop or pull out paper charts.

I need charts for various areas, including Western lakes, Puget Sound area, Lake Huron, and FL West coast and the Keys.

For the iPad, I've downloaded both Navimatics' Charts & Tides (US & Canada West) and Navionics' Marine & Lakes (US/Canada). For the Garmin, I have the western US basemap, but haven't purchased area-specific charts yet. I'm looking for the truest representation of all the info contained in paper charts (including depth numbers on the chart itself), updated fuel, etc - plus of course tides/currents, but all 3 currently give me that info easily.

When I fly out of my area, I carry old atlas sectional/IFR charts, but now rely exclusively on the iPad for approach plates (and have both the iPad and a Garmin for backup GPS) - on the boat, I carry a backup Montana 650 GPS, the iPad and smartphone have built-in GPS, and I'd like to use the 546 as a primary.

I'm considering buying the Garmin Vision or Bluechart products for the 546 - once I figure out the cost, since their area listings are a bit confusing.

What's your favorite software? What do you all find works best? Do you carry paper charts as backup?

TIA,

- Clay

[JohnCFI]

Have a look at Garmin Bluechart Mobile (for Iphone/Ipad). pretty cheap really, but the charts will be the same as on your Garmin Chart-plotter (although you have to buy them separately) S/America inc Falklands cost me £29.00 great for a backup, but I still carry paper charts..

[Baerkanu]

Thanks, the Garmin Bluechart Mobile looks like a great deal (especially compared to the chartplotter charts) - the reviews aren't great, but it looks like they're fixing the issues that some people have had.

I'm torn about paper chart backup (no pun intended) - with 3 GPS's in coastal waters, I've got plenty of redundancy, but it certainly can't hurt having at least an older chart of the area.

- Clay

[Crikey]

I think in some places (like ours) require a paper chart to be carried, as well, in case the electronics fail, or run down. We also use 'Ports' for cruising reference on the Great Lakes, as well. It's still a form of Charting when utilizing visual representation, in addition to maps.

[JohnCFI]

I have a Chart Plotter, a backup handheld GPS (uses same chip as Chartplotter) another GPS (in the ditch bag) plus two GPS Capable iphones (mine and the admirals), but I would never go out without my paper charts, tools and two compass' (one fixed and one handheld), and I log position every hour (sometimes more often).

For a fail, the weak link is the GPS satellites themselves, subject to solar storm, terrorism and plain old kit failure. Never think it could not happen. Make sure you have a non electronic backup and know how to use it, unless you are only in very familiar waters. I would rather have it and never use it, then need it and not have it.

[Catigale]

You can use the Ipad screen capture to generate paper backups of your critical charts, print them as pdfs, then seal them in plastic for waterproofing the inkjet copy

I doubt I will be buying too many more waterproof charts with this backup. I also make multiple copies and have my students plot our position and course.

[Baerkanu]

That's an outstanding idea, thanks for the tip!

After a bunch of browsing I did find NOAA's booklet options, and the prints from those seem like they'd work well - but the scale is fixed, unlike your iPad method.

What software do you use on the iPad?

- Clay

[Catigale]

I have the Navionics app, and just the screen capture to generate pics..