This upgraded app will provide some new features for sailors and marine enthusiasts including streaming real-time weather alerts and access to Garmins ActiveCaptain community.
![]()
Garmin Bluechart Mobile App Free Weather ServicesFree weather services include: dew points, wind direction and speed, radar and cloud cover, buoy reports, marine zone forecasts (for USCanadaUK), land zone forecasts (USCanada), surface wind forecast grids, sea surface temperatures, surface pressure forecast and sea state forecast. In-app paid upgrades include infrared clouds imagery, radar imagery, lighting and StormWatch watches, and weather warnings and advisories. Charts and region maps will cost an additional fee, but prices have not been announced yet. Im not going to try to fiddle with the wifes iPhone while underway. The phone is already onboard double dry bagged so having the data streamed to my chartplotter will be great. Then if the IPad apps start acting up they still can safely navigate and use radar. I have used quite a few iPad apps over the years. NavX, Nobeltec, Garmin BlueCharts, and Sea IQ. I have come to rely on Navionics and now have the iPad mounted at the helm in conjunction with a chart plotter and a PC running coastal explorer. Of all the navigation systems on Chartplotters, PCs and iPads, the navionics updating is the easiest and the fastest I have found. Just after Garmin acquired Active Captain they also acquired Navionics. The day after they acquired Navionics, they shut down Garmin BlueCharts. I also like the Active Captain overlay and Im not sure that option is available with Navionics charts. Garmin BlueCharts still works on any device it was on previously. And on that device you can continue to update the AC content. The Garmin charts were lacking in detail and always out of date. Right now you cannot get the AC content on Navionics, but I will bet you that that will change very soon. It only make sense that Garmin would make that connection since they now own both. We have the AC content on our Coastal Explorer PC navigation and also on Sea IQ iPad app. Sea IQ uses NOAA charts and is much more up todate and is much more accurate than Garmin proprietary charts ever were. That being said, the way the Garmin BC displays the AC content is excellent. Leave it to Garmin to buy up and screw up the marine electronics we all use. Garmin Bluechart Mobile App Full Function InstrumentThey discontinued Garmin Helm too, which bums me out because we use an IPad at the lower station as a full function instrument connected via WiFi to the main Garmin on the bridge. I cant blame them. Why wouldnt they discontinue it It forces people like me to buy another Garmin display rather than use my IPad. Maybe when Garmin acquires Apple theyll reintroduce the app. Technology marches on and everybody expects new devices to supplant older models. But lack of long-term support and backward compatibility are deal-breakers for me. When Garmin announced they no longer supported an MFD that Id bought about a year earlier, I couldnt get it out of my boat fast enough. Most of my gear is now Furuno but, for me, any company with gear that works and a commitment to customer support would be preferable to companies like Garmin. It will not change. Since their bottom line on the marine side is selling new hardware, backward compatibility whether with older gear, AC, Apple or Navionics add ons is of secondary importance to them. ![]() ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |