I'm off to the boat show tomorrow (thanks Sezza!!) so will no doubt gather a plethora of info. and have some great conversations around the subject. Will probably give it a go as other fishos seem to have had success.

I also use the ipad to view SST maps from OceanSST so I can see where the good water is.

Bricker I was thinking about this some more to help out.

The Mrs brought home her tough pad gimbal last night. Anyone fishing in a boat they cant mount the Ipad this might be good. They basically sit flat against you and when in use they are facing up, so you can use your stylus, well use it full stop. Thats what the guys scaling our mountains would be using with the tough pad. Interestingly tough pads dont use glass like iPads. Its plastic from what I can make out, it feels weird under the stylus. Like a really thick non glossy computer screen. Also they come in a tough shell. So there is like 3 layers.

Im going to ask a mate if there is any way to IP68 an iPad.

lastly do you have a stylus and is yours the latest 9.7" normal iPad that now accepts the use of a stylus? Because one thing that helps with real accuracy is a pen/stylus. You may not be able to control your iPads GPS (not that it would be out by more than a few metres) but you can control where you put your way point :-).

lastly if you cant mount it, as steps is doing, id try a cellphone/tablet waterproof bag, perhaps see if you can try it out in store. you can use a phone in one so i dont see why not an ipad. not sure about the stylus technology with Apple though.

just a few ideas to chew on that might help or might not.

Steps the stylus means you dont need to zoom, just makes it one step easier, it also makes using the maps easier, in fact using the iPad. Think of it like trying to use a computer without a mouse. Yes ive used it on Navionics and the Mrs topography Biology maps. Its super easy. They only released that model recently though (although the expensive 10.5 and 12.9" Pro models have had it forever since release).

Add to that 4g and a logitech keyboard and you have yourself a computer on the boat with a mouse acting as a stylus in which you can look up information regarding say a certain reef etc, then it just pulls off the keyboard and you put it back in its bag or on the dock and its back to being a stylus. Hence the term 2n1 computers these days.

You guys have actually convinced me to buy one for my next small boat lol.

RE glass, its not about bashing it, its about dropping it, thats why i suggested the tough pads as you can drop em and nothing happens, you drop and ipad and its potentially gone (it depends on what angle, what height, what you hit, but they arent that hard to crack). Lets say you are ultra hectic and you pick it up with a slightly slippery hand, dropped, yes it happens and no not just clumsy people. I repair them for people and it can happen for all kinds of reasons. Anyway, just putting a touch case on one will dramatically decrease the chances of cracking a screen if you are not mounting one.

Steps Im just offering some advice on a subject Im familiar with, not trying to step on your toes here.