Does anyone have experience with this app in the BW? I am about done with McKenzie maps for their inaccuracies. They are fine for basic, general information, but that's about it. I'm not sure if this phone app or a GPS would serve me better? I do a lot of pre-trip mapping with Google and Bing maps as well, but it would be nice to have real time mapping and location.

I'd like to have a single source for navigation and fishing (yes I will still bring a map for back-up/emergency etc).

Thanks in advance for your experiences and advice!

Saberboys

Navionics

There have been a few threads here talking about the Navionics App on a phone. I remember that people that have liked it. Just turn off almost everything on your phone that takes power, and bring a extra power source to charge it.

I have Navionics installed on a chip in my fish finder. I really like it. I have most of the lakes on the chip in the USA and Canada on it. Then I have detailed Lake info on all of the lakes in Minnesota I fish.

I also have a dedicated GPS with Topo info for the upper Midwest. This is how I navigate up there. I bring a map and compass too but never come out of the pack.

I have it installed on my smart phone and took it on my trip this past June. I found it to be super accurate once it got the GPS signal. Did a fairly decent job of following my track, could set waypoints, etc. Didn't seem to kill battery life, but definitely need to take a backup charger to keep things running.

I probably spend way too much time with my method but it works for me. I have the navionics app on my Ipad, which I do not lug into the BW. I have found that the app is pretty accurate as far as structure goes and good but not great on exact location. What I've done is printed screenshots of the lakes or portions of the lakes we plan to fish. From there I've gotten a GPS coordinate from the app that will get me close to the structure we're interested in fishing and then write it on my paper map. When in the BW I use the coordinate to get us in the area and then start scouting the structure out from there.

DeanL: "I probably spend way too much time with my method but it works for me. I have the navionics app on my Ipad, which I do not lug into the BW. I have found that the app is pretty accurate as far as structure goes and good but not great on exact location. What I've done is printed screenshots of the lakes or portions of the lakes we plan to fish. From there I've gotten a GPS coordinate from the app that will get me close to the structure we're interested in fishing and then write it on my paper map. When in the BW I use the coordinate to get us in the area and then start scouting the structure out from there. "

I like that method a lot.

I'm a Navionics user as well. I have an older Samsung tablet that I have dedicated for this purpose. I find the accuracy to be pretty close. Wing dams on the river are marked with a black line that juts out from shoreline. My depth finder corresponds almost exactly as I drift over those lines.

I also have one of the Vexilar Sonarphone t-box things so I get my sonar on the bottom portion of my tablet and the maps up top.