ActiveCaptain®

So for me, I have always bought Garmin for 30+ years. I have to say it has been a love hate relationship over the years. I do believe Garmin has the best interface of all brands but I feel at times they fall short to go all the way. I was between 3 and 4 stars, i gave it 4 be cause the more I use active Captain (and its Interface with the boat) the more I have learned about its capabilities. There is so much that the app can do for you why the 4 star, but, as always, pour tutorial support as to how to really do it (why almost 3 stars), it is a frustrating learning process and very time consuming. You can easily sit at home or on the boat for hours just trying to navigate the system. Second remark and why almost a 3 star, I use both my iPhone and IPad with the app. They are both online and I am logged into my account, why can they not sync between each other? I literally have to have them side by side and verify all settings line by line. The settings should live in the cloud and be shared by all devices. This causes the status of different devices not to match and if you update your software on your marine devices, the updates and user data does not match, very frustration. End the end, once you spend the time to learn it, I love it, but. This review, while for this app, really refers to this app, its usage and its interface with your marine devices and its usage. I will stick with Garmin in the end.

I love that I can mirror the plotter to my phone and tablet. However, getting there took time with support. You must disable cellular data in order for Helm to show the video feed. You can still press buttons and the thumbnail will reflect that, but no video. There are in app settings and phone settings so it can be seamless. This app helps when we are cozy down below and need to get some info about what’s going on up top and around us. While we are not using it to its full potential, the bells and whistles we have are pretty great. 3 stars due to the cellular issues and cannot pinch to zoom on Helm. A few other minor frustrations. Can’t wait until any tablet can be used as a full replacement for a plotter and all instrumentation is available wirelessly. Still, hands on analog data is still pretty hard to beat. If you wanna impress the hotties, this app will do it. If you wanna impress your fishing buddies, this app will do it. Be prepared for jeers from the fuddyduddy and boomer crowd.

We stayed at Chipman’s for a month in June and early July doing some troubleshooting and waiting for parts. Pat and her son Chip own and run the marina and they have for almost 30 years. Chip is a skilled mechanic—at very reasonable rates—for many types of boats and engines and he helped Dave disassemble a difficult to remove wet exhaust riser. Many of the non-transient boaters have kept their boats here for years and they were also very helpful in troubleshooting, recommending local resources, and showing us how they had solved a problem similar to ours. Chip steps a lot of masts; we often saw them do more than one a day. People put their name on their wood mast supports and leave them at Chipman’s on their way north to Montreal and then reuse them next season when they head south down the Hudson. The two main stone buildings are over 200 years old and 4 stories high. The washer and dryer are to die for—only $1 a load. Just watch your clothes in the dryer—it gets hot. This was a fantastic place for us and just what we needed, but this is not a place with lots of shopping or activities. This is a lovely rural area. The two convenience stores in Orwell are four hilly (I admit to having to walk up a couple of them) but scooterable miles away with dairy farms, cows, picturesque old barns, and beautifully kept yards and fields. Chip puts on an incredible July 4 fireworks show. If you stop, be sure to ask Pat to tell you her sailboat in the lock story.