StarPilot at Mac App Store analyse

Nearly complete version of the renowned Starpilot program for PC / TI 89 Calculator: Celestial and nearly all computations of costal navigation covered. Plus: incorporation of the iPhone´s GPS capability ! Wonderful solution ! Dear Mr.Soltero, David Burch writes in his book "Inland and coastal navigation" that you made "a very convenient digital solution to the problem" of horizontal-sextant-angel-navigation (3-Body-fix) available in the Starpilot navigation software program. Will you make this solution also available in the iPhone version of your program ? Also please include a chapter about the used abbreviations Best wishes

This is ported over from a PC and HP program. Interface is not intuitive eg 49deg50.2W is entered as -49.502. So theres a learning curve. Help file is okay but pretty rudimentary. So far I cant get it to agree with my hand calculated results for sun sights. Not worth the price.

With this app and a sextant you can go anywhere. Learning how to use it takes some time but there are helpfull utube videos. Even if you flunked your astro course you can become an ace navigator with this app.

Applicazione molto verticale che racchiude tutto quello che serve per fare il punto astronomico con il sestante. Non è facile da usare in quanto le informazioni necessarie sono in posti differenti e manca un filo logico che accompagni lungo il percorso, ma a parte questo cè tutto! Dalle effemeridi alla costruzione del calepino, dalla meridiana con una serie di osservazioni, ai dati dellequazione del tempo. Indispensabile.

The last update has left the screen red. I cant see any of the menus and I paid way too much for this app. Please fix or let me download again. Dont purchase until this red screen problem is fixed.

The Star Pilot package is absolutely fantastic. I have had the good fortune to complete two voyages across the South Atlantic, the first in the yacht Pelagic Australis and the second via Antarctica in the three masted barque Europa, both were hugely enjoyable voyages. Throughout both voyages I took sun, moon and star sights whenever possible, instead of dreading getting out all the tables I had a position within minutes of taking the final sight thanks entirely to the Star Pilot software installed on a Ti 89. This has huge advantages over a laptop as the skipper does mind if you leave it around the chart table and it is much easier to keep safe and dry. The satisfaction of consistently getting positions within 10 miles of the GPS is very satisfying but on a two month voyage there is also a great deal of pleasure to be gained in planning the star sights each day and entering the results in the log, it is a great way to learn more about the our universe. There are other navigational calcs as well and even though I dont need the rhum line course from Cowes to Lymington I still take the Star Pilot on my coastal cruises. Excellent piece of kit. Many thanks, Ken Barker

The Starpilot iphone/ipod program is a well made celestial navigation application for the professional mariner. I have made a number of sea passages using the app for iphone and have found it very useful, well designed, and fun to use. No matter what your level of involvement is with celestial navigation (C-Nav), from just doing a few azimuths or amplitudes to check your vessels compass to doing full days worth of celestial navigation, this program has it all covered. For me it puts the fun back into C-nav by removing almost all of the tedious number crunching and calculation errors (human) that can go along with using the publications and I have found the results to be highly accurate. I do not recommend that someone preparing for professional testing/licensing use this program as the sole means of learning Celestial Navigation. For that there is no substitute for learning to use the publications in this situation. Though, it could be used as a way to check your work. One advantage I can see this App would have onboard a small vessel is the precious space saved by the reduction of publications needed to do C-Nav. Another advantage that using this app on an iphone or ipod touch has is that the device is backlit so you can do your calculation on a dimly lit bridge or chartroom without having to hold a flashlight to see your work, ruining your night vision. The program is well designed and layed out. But, Don’t be fooled though, it will take some time to learn your way around and get your bearings. But, I would think this would be expected based on the complexity of c-nav and the number is different uses the program has. After playing around with it a bit and taking a few sights most people should have no problem with it. Also the manual is built into the program under the “help” option. The creator of this app seems to be very passionate about his product. I wrote to him to make a suggestion about the Starpilot program and within minutes of hitting the send button I had a reply from him. I strongly recommend this app.