Anonymous wrote:
I have just ordered a new iPad (£211 for eBay).
Now I need to equip it for the boat. Hopefully the old Navionics app will still load up. It will be interesting to compare with the yearly subscription version now on my Android phone.
I will need a waterproof case and an External GPS. Any recommendations appreciated.
There seem to be a large variety of waterproof cases available these days. I had a Lifeproof case on an iPhone, these cases are supposed to have a lifetime warranty. After about a year parts of the case began to fail, and I did not treat it hard. I had always imagined a 'Lifetime Warranty' would be for my lifetime, but it must obviously be for the lifetime of the product, which may not necessarily be that long!
The problem with the famous brand cases such as 'Lifeproof' is that they can be very expensive. A couple of years ago I bought a rugged case for my wife's iPad Mini through our local version of eBay. It is a 'Gumdrop Droptech' series case, which I had never heard of before I bought it, and it cost only a third the price of the Lifeproof case. That iPad and case has been everywhere - sailing, horseriding, horse shows, tramping, and after two years the case is still holding together extremely well and keeps on protecting the iPad. So you do not necessarily need to spend a lot of money to get a good case. I am also very impressed so far with the Griffin Survivor case on my Samsung phone. It is not a waterproof case because the phone itself is waterproof, but is a drop protection case. It seems well built and is showing no signs of deterioration after almost a year.
Does the iPad not have a builtin GPS? In NZ one can get a GPS receiver for very little money but they all seem to have USB connectors so you would need to ensure you get something compatible with the iPad lightning connector.