June 18, 2011 00:09
I just came back from a sailing trip through the Swedish skerries south of Stockholm. That was gorgeous!
I have the Solteknik charts on the iPhone and the MacBook Air and the Navionics on the iPad.
I clearly prefer the Navionics Charts in the narrow waterways between the skerries. The vector charts really show their potential when you zoom in really much. The chart display gets really clear as all buoys etc. are rendered in the same size independently from the zoom level. When you zoom into the Solteknik charts everything is just shown bigger so it does not get any clearer but just bigger. Another advantage is thet the Navionics charts are more colourful. E.g. buoys are drawn in their actual colour so you can see at a glance if the next one should be green or red or a cardinal one. On the Solteknik charts all the buoys are black with tiny letters indicating the colour.
But there is also a drawback in the Navionics charts: I think it takes a little to get used to the varying scale and to judge distances.
Another little thing: although I purchased the 2011 release of both charts, changed buoys close to Öxelösund were only represented in the Solteknik charts and not in the Navionics charts. These showed the same as the 2010 Solteknik charts so the change seems to be quite new.
I have the Solteknik charts on the iPhone and the MacBook Air and the Navionics on the iPad.
I clearly prefer the Navionics Charts in the narrow waterways between the skerries. The vector charts really show their potential when you zoom in really much. The chart display gets really clear as all buoys etc. are rendered in the same size independently from the zoom level. When you zoom into the Solteknik charts everything is just shown bigger so it does not get any clearer but just bigger. Another advantage is thet the Navionics charts are more colourful. E.g. buoys are drawn in their actual colour so you can see at a glance if the next one should be green or red or a cardinal one. On the Solteknik charts all the buoys are black with tiny letters indicating the colour.
But there is also a drawback in the Navionics charts: I think it takes a little to get used to the varying scale and to judge distances.
Another little thing: although I purchased the 2011 release of both charts, changed buoys close to Öxelösund were only represented in the Solteknik charts and not in the Navionics charts. These showed the same as the 2010 Solteknik charts so the change seems to be quite new.