iNavX: Marine Navigation App Reviews

Hmm seems like a good program until you try to load charts! Yu have to buy NOAA charts through x-transverse, charts that are fee to the public, and fee to download using other chart plotter apps. Stay away. Scam software!

I have a number of electronic navigation programs running on both Mac and PC and I must say this single app makes them all look like toys by comparison! I love the instrumentation package that displays all my boat data both in digital and analog formats. The inexpensive Navionics charts are far cheaper than the hideously expensive CHS charts and teamed with this program makes an excellent navigate on package. The interface is intuitive, the documentation is superb. First Class guys, keep up the great work!

Being a live-aboard sailor, I use this app on a daily to weekly basis. It is the best app I have on my iPad!

We have been using this app and the Navionics charts for the last 3 years while sailing in the Caribbean. It is an invaluable tool.

No Canadian charts. Not intuitive at all. Nobeltec TimeZero much better.

Its relatively cheap, decent features access to NOAA maps including Canadas west coast. CHS doesnt give away maps for free but iNavx imports them cheaply enough.

This is a great little app with very detailed maps including the West Coast of Canada.

I love iNavX and the support through X-Traverse has been phenomenal.

My Georgian bay maps are all gone. 80 bucks down the drain. Hope this can be resolved.

I used iNavx for a great lakes coastal race and it was a great tool. The ease of tracking your course, generating a log, measuring distances, creating routes made this a great tool. Some things Id love to see: Ability to arrange the displays on the instrumentation page (not just pick what shows), a "jot" layer over the chart where you can scribble while you plan & measure, ability to show some instrumentation on the chart page, tools to help with "what if" course planning (i.e. alternative routes and possible ETA to waypoint using GRIB or provided data). This is a great app -- the overall rating is driven down by unfair complaints about the cost of additional maps; something they cant control. For coastal sailing in the Great Lakes the free NOAA maps work fine as long as youre not heading into a Canadian harbour. No one expects their Garmin GPS to come with free maps for the world. REVISED REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 2016-- The functionality hasnt changed. Thats good and bad. Good, because it works, bad because there has been no progression (i.e. no Apple Watch support to show COG, BTW, VMG). The *biggest issue* is the maps. You pay top dollar for maps, but they are for only one year. So your up front costs are iNavX PLUS $70 or $140 or more annually for you charts. While they still work after a year, if you get a new device or (like me) had them just disappear after an OS upgrade, youre out of luck. Pay again. They blame the map publishers, but I think that the source of the issue is X-Traverse, their exclusive map partner. I also believer that they intentionally purge maps after OS upgrades or when restoring from a backup to ensure that you need to keep your subscription running. Look to other navigation apps where you get highly detailed charts for a small annual fee as opposed to iNavXs giant annual fee.

This is a fantastic app. Has everything you need to cross oceans. The UI could definitely use a simple overall to be propelled in a class of its own. Its hard to navigate the menus and options and key features require getting use too and lots of taps. Chart selection and management is not obvious, cant change alarm settings or night mode with going trough long list and many taps. Improve the UI!

My chart plotter quit on the eve of my single-handed 100-mile race; I thought I was done. A quick check on the Apple store revealed iNavX, I thought Id give it a try. It was great! I plugged in my Waypoints and, unbelievably, I was off finding my way around Lake Ontario even in the dark. Now I will always have a backup.

This app uses raster charts. There are several other apps that use the vastly superior vector charts for similar or slightly higher price.

Great software. Anyone spending serious time at sea should acquire this software. I use expensive chart systems on my yacht and Navx is just as good if not better. Highly recommended if you use Ipad.

I regret to buy this app for Mediterranean and Aegean Sea. Many yachting magazines advise this app but what I understand its only good for United States. Its better to download navionics if you are sailing around Aegean territory.

....but italian translation very poor

On a recent sailboat race to Block Island we ended up using iNavX on my iPad instead of the Garmin GPS unit whenever we had an important decision to make. The size of the iPad display and the chart detail gave a much better overall picture than the Garmin data, so we could make decisions about which way to go in real time.It was easy to plot new waypoints using the touch screen, and look at different route options as wind and tide conditions changed during the race. Unlike marine GPS units, which have "infinite" chart data, iNavX works with the actual NOAA chart images. That means that when you reach the end of one chart, you need to select another. This is easy to do with the Zoom feature; you just tap + or - on the screen. However, its an extra step compared to Garmin and similar GPS units, and has been a point raised in several negative reviews. But once you get used to it, its no problem, and the color and detail of the charts more than make up for it, especially given that the charts are free and update automatically. The instrument display is great. It contains all the instrument readings you could want, such as distance to waypoint, bearing to waypoint, COG, VMG and many others. The iPad display uses large font so the instrument numbers are easy to read, instead of peering at a tiny GPS display. Some people have complained about the user interface. It takes a little practice, and it is not all intuitive, but if you refer to the manual occasionally you will pick it up quickly. This app is totally worth the money, and is fun to use.

We have used various versions of iNavX since it was launched many years ago. We used an early version while sailing in our home waters of Alaska. We used it down through Canada and into Mexico. We used across the Pacific to Fiji and back to French Polynesia. We think that its easy to use and stitches charts seamlessly. No nav program is any better than the charts for your area. Mexico has terrible charts, US and Canada have great charts, and many South Pacific countries have so-so charts. If your cruising area is well charted then iNavX will provide excellent navigation. Many of its features are better than our dedicated plotters so its worth owning and using.

I downloaded this app immediately after my Coast Guard Captain friend and fellow Yacht Club member, mentioned it to me. A few nights later, I was anchored out and a huge NE storm came up with 6 waves cresting on the beach, tipping my old Mako up so high that water was congrats in over the transom. My pumps were working which gave me a little time to put my engine down and start away from the breaking waves. I was lucky to get away, but it was 4AM and I had to find a sheltered harbor. I fired up my app and motored around the exposed point and wondered how to get into the SANDPIT, on Long Islands north shore. I asked a fisherman for advice, he told me to stay to the left going in and my inavx guided me right into safety. This app alone, at $49.99, saved my $20,000 plus boat with out a hitch. I use it for anchor alarms as well, easy to check at night to see if we are dragging or not. Much more sleep gained as a result!

As a long time user of iNavX, I am now finding the that the app has become totally useless, for the same reasons stated in the post by David Jade above. The developers are seemingly bent on destroying this previously excellent app... There is no longer a way to easily update the charts; the "Adhoc" WiFi connection to Coastal Explorer on a PC is broken etc. etc.