Seapilot Navigation App

TAP INTO NAVIGATION, WEATHER, AND AIS DATA IN THIS SEAMLESS ALL-IN-ONE APP FOR MOBILE DEVICES.

- Jason Y. Wood

I recently tested the premium subscription service for the Seapilot Navigation app, available for mobile devices using Apple iOS and Android operating systems. The app seeks to combine nautical charts with professional-level navigation technologies and AIS boat tracking, as well as other features, to make the app an all-in-one navigation solution.

The app was free to download to my iPad 2, a 16-gigabyte model running iOS 9.3.5, and has a premium upgrade for $40 per year—that’s less than $3.34 per month. Android’s upgrade is less, at $38 per year. The download was quick for me, but that will depend on the user’s Wi-Fi or cellular connection. When I opened the app, it was easy and quick to download U.S. charts, but again, the Wi-Fi connection you’re using will have an impact on how this works. Charts are easy to find on the initial app launch, thanks to a dialog box that opens in the middle of the screen with a list of available charts. U.S. charts were free, but as I tapped my way through the other available charts in Europe and North America, prices ranged from $9 per year for Sweden to $35 per year for Greece. The chart files live on the device, so there are no fears about going out of cell range at sea.

I selected U.S. charts, which are handily broken out in regions, such as “South Carolina – Florida” or “Great Lakes (U.S.).” Oddly enough, by the geographical distribution, New York must be hiding somewhere between “New England States” and “New Jersey – North Carolina.” I found New York and Long Island in the New England States chart, and so we can only assume the app engineers at Seapilot never met a fan of the New York Jets.