[ActiveCaptain]

The Navimatics app for Seattle has an overall two-star rating and the last review says "Waste of time even for free".

I'm not really sure what that proves. Should every app be judged by a single review? Or even a couple of reviews? I doubt that you'd like some reviews posted of your app.

I got my iPad 3G - we pulled into Charleston today and the marina is just a few blocks from the Apple store. I was lucky enough to grab one of the few available. It's very nice - GPS seems to work pretty well. It's wonderful seeing larger chart areas. I'm rather unimpressed with iPhone emulation. It works but the display leaves a lot to be desired. Chart apps really need full iPad support. It makes a big difference.

As long as it's been raised, I'll discuss some of my feelings about the different navigation products I write about on here. I could use the practice with the iPad keyboard. I'm not looking to pick a fight - I'll stick to the facts as I see them which means this is all my opinions.

I've been involved with the Mac and Apple for a long time. My wife used to work for Apple before I hired her away - I'm the one who got her interested in the company. We had our first Mac in 1985 and I did a fair amount of development on it. A product that I wrote the software for (Wacom digitizing tablet) won an Eddy award back in 1989. My first big company started out writing only Mac software and we sold a tremendous amount of it.

The bottom line - I've always loved the Mac and have always been a big supporter of using their products.

As I got involved with boating navigation products after my last company was acquired, I was shocked by the poor choices available for the Mac. There is no Coastal Explorer, MaxSea TZ, or high end product with a rich user-interface and quality design. All that has been available is inexpensive, low-end products. Instead of running native apps, most serious boaters that I see with Macs run MaxSea TZ, Coastal Explorer, or Nobeltec on their Macs. What I think is really needed is to motivate more developers to write new applications. I am so happy to see Gene working on PolarView and native Mac support. HE'S the future. He's the one with great ideas and the ability to make them happen technically. He deserves support on this board and everyone reading it should try his products.

In short, I think there is too much acceptance for the Mac products that are currently available. They aren't good enough in my opinion and I think the one site that specializes in Mac software for marine navigations (this site) needs one person, at least, who will show other developers that there are potentials here - and large ones.

This extends into the iPhone world too. I believe I've used all of the iPhone apps in real navigation situations. They all are pretty meager, again in my opinion. We should demand a lot more and not just have a love fest over a couple of products that so miss the mark. Navionics is almost there. They're missing just a few things. I think that Navimatics has a good shot at it too and I've enjoyed Bill's continuous improvement. I'm tickled to see his product work in full iPad resolution today. I loved the way he handles chart rotation - without question the best of any iPhone app including Navionics new release. And yet, Navimatics almost never gets mentioned here. It's just sad.

I stand behind my review of iNavX. And when Rich fixed something that really bothered me, I updated my review and gave it another star. But honestly, I find it the most frustrating navigation product that I've ever used. It shocks me that it is priced where it is too and I think that confuses other developers who might be looking to enter this market. It's fine if you all want to sing its praises. Let me be the one alternate view pointing out how it should be better. Much better.

I know that there will be a certain dissection of what I've written here. Go ahead - I won't respond. And I'm not looking nor expecting a lot of people nodding their heads in agreement. But if everyone agrees on everything, why have a forum? Why have multiple people giving different opinions? Disagree with me all you want and use facts to build your case. That's healthy and will uncover the new realities that no one person alone can discover. You shouldn't be shooting down my dissent. You should be embracing it. For having that honest discussion is where the truth lies.