SEAiq

I have used SEAiq for over 5 years, primarily for navigating via Sat images. I love the AIS overlay as well. For charts I still rely on Navionics, but find sat images far more accurate when navigating tight coral reefs and avoiding bommies. The easy sat download relies on a subscription to VentureFarther. Unfortunately this has stopped working recently making the app unusable for my purposes. Hopefully SeaIQ can add another form of SAT downloading, maybe natively integrated.

I have logged over 10k offshore sailing miles on SEAiq and consider it an essential piece of equipment. I highly recommend it to boaters wanting a highly reliable navigation app, which boasts tons of features in a clean and sensical interface. To start, it is incomparably more versatile than Navionics for plotting routes and waypoints, estimating AIS target crossing range, as well as visualizing vessel data. For the last bit I use a YDWR02 NMEA-Wifi router, which wirelessly transmits all vessel sensor output to SEAiq on my iPads (such as GPS, speed, wind, depth, etc.). Features I especially appreciate include ‘NMEA data smoothing’ (for an easier read on COG/AWS/SOG) and the ability to switch into ‘dark mode’ (to preserve your night vision). The app allows you to modify all kinds of parameters, enable alarms (wind speed, depth, AIS, anchor, etc.) and check tides, to name a few. Similar to OpenCPN, you can also load custom satellite charts (.kap files from GoogleEarth or VentureFarther) which are invaluable when navigating in places where vector charts are inaccurate (ie. Navionics in Fiji) and/or when anchoring around rocks/coral reefs. You can also load vector charts from subscription-based services like ChartWorld or NZ ENC, although I did find it quite complicated to setup initially (‘certificates’ and ‘user permits’ are required for each device). As a result, I often use SEAiq in tandem with Navionics while navigating in coastal waters, as the latter still offers great chart detail in most places. On the other hand, if you don’t plan on leaving US territorial waters, the NOAA charts in SEAiq are free and very easy to load. Furthermore, all chart files and tracks are saved in an easily accessible folder, so you can backup, modify or share them across devices. I have never had any charts accidentally disappear, nor has the app ever crashed on me (unlike Navionics, which does so constantly). Lastly, I am thankful to the developer, who was quick to answer any questions I have had thus far. The only request I would have is to add support for .MBTiles :) Thanks and keep up the good work! Highly recommend.