Ruggedized tablet to navigate (by the sea)
This time we are going to talk about using a tablet as an economical plotter on our boats.
We have prepared a video for you in which: we bought and tested the cheapest rugged, waterproof (aquatic) tablet on the market: The OUKITEL RT1. We compare it with other tablet options that we can also use on our boats as a plotter, we put it to the test in compromised situations for its integrity, we show you some tricks that can greatly improve your experience when you use a tablet abroad, in light of the sun, and finally we see the most useful applications that we use to navigate our boat. A great compendium on using a tablet as a navigation plotter, but not forgetting how to use it in conjunction with our famous raspberry pi and all those cameras and gadgets we’ve installed in previous chapters.
You see that it is not necessary to buy a new tablet, but with an old recycled tablet and the right material, such as a waterproof case like this one https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AXV22t or this other one https://amzn .to/33Mr3d0 you can manage too, although always more cumbersome and working worse.
But if what you are looking for is an economical rugged tablet to be able to use in all kinds of situations, currently, I believe that the Oukitel RT1 may be the solution for you:
✅ The Oukitel RT1 rugged tablet:
🔵 On AliExpress (€265): https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A04YY5
🔵 On Amazon, a little more expensive (€289), but immediate delivery: https://amzn.to/34Zq8Xv
🔵 Matte Screensaver: https://amzn.to/3vjYLSy
I bought it on AliExpress, and we must bear in mind that it is easy to stop it at customs, and if we let it do the customs paperwork for us, it will cost us about 20 euros more than the AliExpress price. I did it like this and in the end I spent about 260 euros in total (it was cheaper than now) and it took me about a month.
Another option, if a tablet seems too big to you, is a rugged mobile:
✅ My BV9900 Pro ruggedized phone with thermal camera:
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9fhRdx
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3sgjFA4
✅ A cheaper version with thermal camera BV6600 Pro:
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AmOkm1
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HnoHPr
And as we told you in the video, there are some accessories for the tablet that we show that can be very useful:
✅ External USB socket:
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9HI5SH
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hfCxZG
✅ The mini WiFi camera:
🔵 On AliExpress: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9vzval
🔵 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3pdqaSg
✅ Velcro:
🔵 Double-sided strips: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_ASWeDR
🔵 Industrial Velcro: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9IqSVJ
But in any case, whether it is an old tablet, a rugged tablet or a mobile phone, what is going to allow them to become an advanced plotter for our boats is going to be the software that we run on it. And there my recommendations would be the following applications:
✅ Las aplicaciones:
🔵 OpenCPN: The most flexible plotter for Android and that I personally like the most.
🔵 Navionics_ The commercial plotter with the best and most up-to-date charts, and it’s not very expensive.
🔵 Anchor Lite: A good mobile anchor alarm to sleep a little more peacefully.
🔵 TuMarea : It seems that the application has disappeared from google play.
🔵 Skymap : A very good application to easily identify the stars.
🔵 Alarma de lluvia: A great app as a rain radar, to anticipate its arrival.
🔵 Navily: A great guide to ports and anchorages, with contributions from users.
🔵 Windy: Weather forecasts in a very graphic and easy to understand way.
🔵 Marine Radar: Access to the AIS network through the internet to locate nearby and distant ships.
🔵 IpCam Viewer: Viewer for Wi-Fi cameras that we have installed on the boat without the need for internet.
🔵 VNC Viewer: Turn your tablet into a remote touch screen for your raspberry.
🔵 SignalK Monitor:Converts the information from our raspberry into colorful indicators.