iNavX Marine Navigation Application

iNavX

Application: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Function: Charting and GPS navigation

Cost: $49.99

Rating *****

Whether your a weekend boater or a coastal cruiser you will appreciate this application on your i-thing.  The iPhone and now the iPad have put computing, GPS, charting and navigation in the palm of our hands. The use of these devices and apps as the primary source of navigation on boats is still up for debate.  This app has gone a long way in reaching that goal.

iNavX is in my opinion the most full featured application for charting and tracking your position while underway on the water today. The author has done a nice job displaying the charts and integrating soft keys to access the main menus. iNavX updates the product regularly and they continue to add functionality and new features.

The charting display shows a navionics chart with access to charts, waypoints, tracks, instruments and forecast data through the use of softkeys at the bottom of the screen.

Features:

• It allows addition of waypoints, routes, tracks and has a full compliment of displayable instruments.
• iNavX can communicate with your favorite marine navigation software.  Through your WiFi connection, NMEA data can be transmitted over TCP/IP to the iNavX app. Support is included for GPS, AIS and numerous instrument types. 
• The application works with the third party Dual GPS cradle.
• I have used GPSGate and Polar Com to transfer GPS and other NMEA data to the application via TCP/IP.
• The application uses the built in locations services feature of the iPhone, iPad and iTouch.
• It uses charts that you purchase through X-Traverse. Available charts types are CHS Canada, Navionics Gold, Fish'N'Chip, HotMaps, NV. Verlag, Hilton's Fishing, TRAK Canada lakes fishing charts and Solteknik European waters charts.
• NOAA charts, similar to your paper charts are free to download with the X-Traverse account.
• GRIB weather data files can be downloaded through your X-Traverse account.
• Download it from iTunes and give it a try!

One thing that sets iNavX apart from the other charting apps is that you can connect your ships instruments to the app through TCP/IP.  This feature give you access to all the NMEA data on your boats network.  I have found no other charting app that offers this feature.

Simply add your host IP address and port number and select TCP or UDP. Once the Link button is selected the NMEA data starts scrolling shown in green.

Several different setups can be saved and bookmarked for later use.

Pros: I found it to be full featured and very easy to setup and use. The iNavX website offers help and answers to many FAQ.

Cons: It is a little pricey compared to some other charting apps. Charts need to be purchased separately in addition to the app.

iNavX upgrades to 3.2.5

Rich Ray at iNaX continues to take request for additions to his popular app. He has recently added notification when a waypoint is activated either manually or automatically.  The alert will will display the waypoint name.

One request that I made and I assume others did also was to have the instruments displays in digital format instead of the original speedometer looking gauges. Rich did a good job in this application. Simply go to Preferences and select Instruments. There is now a selection for digital only.

A "More Detail" selection is now provided for the Navionics charts. This will show a list of objects near the location where you tap on the chart.

UDP support has been added in the TCP/IP NMEA Client Setup. Go to preferences and TCP/IP NMEA Client. There is now a setting to toggle between TCP and UDP.

Navionics Region 1XG, 35G 2011 editions.
Great job Rich, keep up the good work. We are all loving iNavX!