iPad in a boat
 

Any of you guys ever use your ipad in the boat? I was wondering how it would work while running the boat and looking at google earth on the ipad.

It will not like the heat.

I use my phone and the different hunting map apps all the time. Just get a life proof in case it gets wet.

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I've used Google maps on my phone countless times duck hunting, flashlights and fog don't mix very well. Saved the day a couple times. I don't see why an iPad wouldn't work

My college fishing team kept one as a backup on the boat. Had it on a ram mount above the helm. I would use it when I was looking for structure on the sonar and wanted to keep an eye on my position. We used the Navionics app for iPad when navigating. Mainly just used it to bluetooth music and movies over the stereo. I didn't trust it at first so I compared it to the chartplotter and it was basically identical. Worked 100 miles offshore as well as it did when it had cell reception. But unless somethings changed, only cellular capable iPads are outfitted with a GPS receiver. The one I have is wifi only so its useless for mobile navigation. I do use the Navionics app on my iPhone quite a bit. I don't know about using google earth for navigation on the water. It's a great reference tool but I would be hesitant to use it for real time navigation. If I were running someplace unfamiliar or at night last thing I would want to rely on is a satellite image thats 4 or 5 years old. There are numerous apps out there designed specifically for marine navigation and are updated regularly. Also, I would think it would be a pain to operate if it wasn't securely mounted in a convent location and wouldn't last too long in a boat if it wasn't in pretty heavy duty case.

I was thinking about getting one and mounting it up front as a second display to my garmin. Garmin has a app where you can connect via wifi and you can display and control your unit remotely. I would get a ram mount and everything to mount it. I'd have to figure out a way to keep power to it though. Would work out nicely since I could use it for our bay boat and my hopefully near future bass boat. Plus its an ipad... I could use a computer at home since I don't have one

You would also have to add a transceiver in order to transmit a Wi-Fi signal from the chart plotter. Unless your unit has the ability to broadcast the Wi-Fi. Are you familiar with the quatix watch they have? I've had a depth finder on the bow before and found got in the way. Having the depth on my watch to me would be the way to go.


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Mine has the wifi capability. I connect my phone to it as of now. I'd be mainly wanting it for my bass boat, I like to look at all that's on the bottom, how tall the grass is, is there wood and stuff like that.

Does the watch display the sonar too? I'm going to go check it out.


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just looked up that watch. It is nice and definitely would be fun to have but for over $500, I think i'll get the ipad or even a second unit for display only.

I don't think the watch has a sonar display so you may want to go the iPad route. I do zero bass fishing and rarely am looking for whats on the bottom. Hell I rarely fish in more than 4' of water unless I'm offshore. I do like to know the depth though.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-t...rod120680.html

Don't forget the extra 30$ a month for the data plan on that iPad.

The watch is 250$

I don't think I'd need it. Just need the wifi from it, it'll display what's at the helm. I use it with my phone now. The app is called garmin helm


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That's true. I was thinking about the GPS capability. You only need the cellular capable iPad if you want to run GPS driven apps


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You can use your phone as a hotspot to provide wifi for the iPad.

If you're in cell phone range. But even then navigation Apps like navionics only use gps to determine location and are not compatible with a non cellular iPad. I also have unlimited data and can't hotspot.


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I run the Navionics Boating App on my Ipad and use it in addition to my Raymarine unit all the time. It's a great tool on and off the boat. As it has been said before, you need the ipad with cellular so that you have the GPS receiver. The app has the Navionics+ charts, satellite overlay, sonar charts, and I use the Auto Route feature all the time. It's a legitimate setup.