Friday, November 27, 2020

Hilton Head Island: iNavX and iSailor revisited; college students

 iNavX made the mistake of sending me a Black Friday chart sale email.  I was using my iPad and clicked and went to their chart store and was shocked to see the cost of Navionics charts for the United States  listed as $79.99.  On the iPhone the same charts are only $29.99.  But with iNavX charts cannot be shared between iPhone and iPad.  If you want charts on an iPhone and an iPad you have to buy them twice.  With iSailor you buy charts only once.  Thinking of possibly sailing to Bermuda I bought the iSalior chart folio of Atlantic Islands on my iPad and then also easily downloaded it onto my iPhone.

I wrote some time ago that the charts needed for GANNET’s circumnavigation cost much less in iNavX than iSailor.  This would still be true if only an iPhone is used, but I want the backup of being able to navigate with both iPhone and iPad and for that iNavX is much more expensive.

Trying to compare the costs between iNavX and iSailor is like trying to figure out a cable TV bill. With iNavX you get greater coverage in a purchase.  They sell coverage for all the US and Canada in one package.  In iSailor you would have to buy more than a half dozen different regions to cover all US waters, but few need to do that.  If you only sail one region, iSailor is again less expensive.  iSailor sells the Atlantic Coast from Northern Florida to Virginia for $2.99.  That is more than enough for all but a few local sailors.

I have used iNavX longer than I have iSailor and find some of the actions I want to take less intuitive in iSailor, but I am going to start using it more.  I think for me iSailor is the future.

A warning.  Both iNavX and iSailor have made it easy on Apple devices to buy charts, and both are doing so as subscriptions which automatically renew after one year.  If you don’t cancel the renewal you will be paying for the charts again year after year.  You will be getting updates, but I don’t think they are worth it and so as soon as I purchase charts go to my App Store account and turn off the automatic renewal.  



They eat off plastic plates using plastic knives and forks.  Their table is a Crate and Barrel box turned on end.  They sleep on a mattress on the floor and sit on folding camp chairs.  Their primary means of transportation are bicycles.  Not college students.  Us.

The condo is coming together.  We have ordered a bed and some other furniture, but delivery is slow.  In the meantime we are doing quite well in our second college days, thank you.


9 comments:

Conchscooter said...

I like living unfurnished. It is simplicity in the extreme with the promise of change.

Solosailor said...

Indeed, you can pick up and move on anytime. It's a big world to see with not enough time for non essentials.

Anonymous said...

If you go to iNavX faq, they state that it is a universal app made available to all devises with same account.

Webb said...

The app is; The purchased charts are not. The last I bought for iPhone stated not only are they not for iPad, but they can only be downloaded twice, even to iPhones.

Anonymous said...

Just purchased USA/Canada for iPhone downloaded charts to iPhone, signed in to iNavX on iPad with same account ( iNavX ) and download charts to iPad, both devises have charts one subscription.

Webb said...

That was not my understanding. I will check it out when I have time.

Webb said...

I went to the iNaxX site and submitted:

If I buy a Navionics chart region for iPhone can I also download it to my iPad?

Overnight I received the following response:

Hi Webb,

Navionics subscription charts are formatted by Navionics for iNavX to allow two activations per subscription and are device specific. What this means is that you can install charts for iNavX on two iPads, two iPhones, two Android tablets or two Android phones. They cannot be interchanged between devices.

iNavX Support
Jim

To which I replied:

Thank you, Jim, for the prompt response. That is what I thought.

If, Anonymous, you somehow managed to do so you beat the system, but that is not how iiNavX intends it to function.

Webb said...

I apologize for the ‘if’ in my last comment. I did not mean it to imply you did not do what you said you did. It should have read “If the charts were Navionics, you somehow managed to beat the system

Anonymous said...

Webb, no harm, no foul, this is from iNavX faq’s, been vicariously following your journey for a while, thanks for the ride,

I have more than one device, can iNavX be installed on all devices?
Yes. iNavX is a universal app and will be made available to all devices with the same iTunes Account of Google Play Account. Alternatively, when you sync any device with your PC or Mac, all apps purchased from the iTunes app store will be installed. This means you purchase an app once and install on all your devices across the same iOS or Android platform.

Best Regards,

Rod