Marine Chart App for Motorola Droid X

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Gene&Mary

New member
We took the plunge yesterday and got the Motorola Droid X on Verizon.

We are now looking for a Marine Chart App. The one I have found so far is Navionics. The region we would purchase first is from the Columbia River up to Skagway. The cost is ~$10. Seems inexpensive for what you get. The drawbacks I've read about so far is that it is a battery hog (~2 hours when being used) and it seems to be hard to turn off. As we are new to this I'm not sure what being hard to turn off means.

Has anyone had any experience with this app or any other one?

Since we are still within the 30 day return window we will be checking the reception throughout the San Juans also. I believe that someone said the reception in the middle of Rosario Strait was bad.

Thanks for any information.

Gene
 
We use the Navionics app on our iPhone. We have used it for interior lakes and rivers as well as the Pacific coast. The charts are loaded in the iPhone so it doesn't require a 'land link' to access them. I don't know what link the GPS in DroidX uses, so that might be the weak link depending on your area of use.
 
If you also use the Google Earth app you can even plot your position in and around marinas that are not marked on Navionics charts. Scary :shock: I have found it to be accurate to +/- one slip in some cases.

And, if you look up weather underground (or other) with the browser you can get local weather radar.

A bit of extra knowledge sometimes helps...

Merv
 
Gene, I've used those Navionics charts on my Droid X. It's a small screen but a good back up for the Raymarine E-80, the Garmin 545S and the hand held Garmin CX.

You can tell I believe in redundancy. Besides, the ability to function as a WiFi hotspot will give me internet access out on the water if I have a 3G signal. I've had mine for about 3 months and have not begun to figure out all it can do. I'm very pleased.
 
Hi Gene,

We have the predecessor, the original Droid. The Navionics app on that runs regardless of the cell/data signal, since the phone has a built-in GPS chip (doesn't require cell towers to determine position). We haven't felt the need for it, but you could always plug your phone into the 12v or a small inverter if you need to charge it up while underway.

The only drawback of the phone as chartplotter is the small screen. If you're used to a hand-held GPS, it's a big step UP; not so if you've been using a full-size chartplotter.

The limited comparisons I've done with the phone/iPad/Raymarine/other GPS have shown the phone and iPad to be comparable. Amazing, considering the difference in cost of the app vs the chartplotter card. :disgust In visiting with a Navionics rep, I was told "economy of scale." Meaning: they think they'll sell a LOT more apps at that price, whereas if you already have a fixed chartplotter, you are a VERY captive audience.

If I were buying another phone today, it would be the Droid X. I don't use the physical keyboard on my Droid; the X is a lot more sleek.

If you find any app hard to turn off, get Task Killer: one press of the button turns off any of the apps. Since your phone has multi-tasking, the more apps you are running (unnecessarily) the less available memory you have. Every once in a while, I pull up Task Killer to see what I have running that I didn't realize. Easy. Also, I keep the GPS, bluetooth, and wifi turned off except when necessary. Another app makes all those one touch to turn on/off.

I don't think I'd use the phone as my only nav unit (not sure why), but it's a fine backup. I did have the phone in my grab bag this summer to use on the rescue boat (no fixed GPS). Also, RadarNow is a good weather radar app that I used regularly while on the water.

The more you use the phone, the ways you find to use the phone... if that makes sense. For the compass thread here, there is a free compass app that also works well.
:wink:

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
I've used Navionics on my HTC Incredible Droid when cruising the Mississippi. One advantage, it shows depths (but only in fathom increments), which aren't shown on the ACOE charts, since they only guarantee 9 feet inside the channel, and nothing else matters to them. I don't like the small display, but someone in another thread on C-Brats said that the Android OS (A flavor of Linux),might soon be available on a notebook with a larger display. That would be great, and $30 for all the NOAA charts for the USA is a great price! The outlandish prices charged by e.g. Garmin for NOAA charts we've paid for with out taxes has always irritated me.
 
Thanks for the information so far.......

Another newby question.....

Jim, you mentioned that the Droid X has a built in GPS chip. Does that mean that even if I have no (or poor) Verizon signal, the Navionics program will work?

I guess that brings up another question. Based on what El and Bill said about the charts residing on the IPhone and not the big server in the sky, if the Navionics charts do not reside on the Droid X phone, having a built in GPS chip won't help if I'm outside of a Verizon signal, right or wrong?

Now I'm confusing myself. Anyone know the straight scoop? Maybe I just have to try it and see.

Gene
 
Gene&Mary":38y5hgq9 said:
Thanks for the information so far.......

Another newby question.....

Jim, you mentioned that the Droid X has a built in GPS chip. Does that mean that even if I have no (or poor) Verizon signal, the Navionics program will work?

I guess that brings up another question. Based on what El and Bill said about the charts residing on the IPhone and not the big server in the sky, if the Navionics charts do not reside on the Droid X phone, having a built in GPS chip won't help if I'm outside of a Verizon signal, right or wrong?

Now I'm confusing myself. Anyone know the straight scoop? Maybe I just have to try it and see.

Gene
Click to expand...

Hi Gene,

I am no expert on every model of Droid, but I'm pretty familiar with the original Droid. Yes, it has a built in GPS chip. Yes, the charts do reside on the phone (as part of the app). Yes, it will work without any cell signal. You may have to ask another Droid X owner if all that is the case on that phone. My guess is that is the case, but that really is just a guess, since there are many versions of the Android phones.

Drop them a note at Navionics. They were good about keeping me in the loop when the Android version of the app was in the works.

On my phone, I can turn off the phone portion and still have GPS (not sure why I'd ever want to do that).

I think you'll really enjoy that phone and the many capabilities.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
Gene/Jim, that's a fact. In fact the Navionics chart function will work without GPS too. It shows you the chart and you can move around, you just don't "see yourself" on it. I'm not sure even how to turn off the phone part of my Droid-X, I think if I turn on the WiFi and have a signal, the 3G goes away, at least it does on the display. I think If I got a call it would still "ring" (or play the Wabash Cannonball in my case :disgust ).

It's a nice phone and even a better gadget.

Charlie
 
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