Here’s my setup:
* Quark Electric model A026 AIS receiver/GPS/NMEA WiFi multiplexer, $125, the heart of the system
* GPS antenna for the A026, $10
* Glomex RA201 VHF antenna splitter for the A026 enabling AIS signal reception, $40
* ASUS ruggedized Chromebook (Flip 213SA), $300 (used ashore too - cool device), running OpenCPN in Android ($10 for Android version)
* iPhones, iPads running iNavX (also used ashore)
* Free cloud account at Fugawi.com stores waypoints and routes and assists, somewhat, in syncing across devices
I also run OpenCPN on my home Mac, because wrangling waypoints and routes is far superior on a large screen. It is much easier to maintain a central set of data on the Mac. Also, the apps on the small devices are a little finicky, especially OpenCPN.
Not counting the iOS devices and Chromebook, which I already had, this bestows chartplotter and AIS receive capabilities for under $200. I’m investigating the possibility of tying the Tillerpilot into this too, but that’s icing on the cake if it ever works.
The GPS capability of the A026 is helpful for two reasons: it’s wired into my DSC-capable VHF via the NMEA ports, and also transmits position information over WiFi to the Chromebook, which does not have internal GPS like iOS devices do. The WiFi capability is key, of course, and the ultimate benefits of the Chromebook are the good screen size and the fact that it will run wirelessly for 10 hours or longer on a charge. IOS devices running nav software cannot do that.