Landing: The Best Marine GPS Amidst The Action

I have not used it yet but playing with it. It seems very simple and user-friendly. I’m taking it on a four day trip on Pensacola Bay called the Pensacola 120. I picked it because of the long battery life and easy to read and easy to use. Looking forward to using it I’ll let you know how it goes.

It is VERY wintery here in Northern Michigan, so I have not had my Maptattoo out on the water yet, but I have of course played around with it on land. What an awesome device! Very well made, solid, intuitive controls. I matched it up with a RAM® X-Grip® Universal Holder for 7"-8" Tablets and could not be happier! Erwan and the team are fantastically responsive. This GPS is a game changer for small boats.

Super nicely put together. There is very good documentation available too. The builders are responsive to queries and comments. An A++ product from a company of like minded adventures.

I am a very long time racing sailor in everything from small dinghies, beach cats, large multihulls, and keel boats. I race around the buoys and long distance races like the Mills race in western lake Erie around the islands in the western basin and also the Mackinac Island races from Chicago and Port Huron. This past summer I also helped return a Thomas 35 from Mackinac to Catawba Island in Lake Erie over 3 days. I have always used handheld Garmin GPS units for navigation and, upon learning about MAPTATTOO, wanted to upgrade so that I have the bigger screen while retaining the mobility of the handheld unit. I also liked the increased visibility that the screen allows in bright summer daylight while retaining, if not increasing, battery life. In other words, I could upgrade all the features I liked best without giving up anything and all at about the same price as I would pay for another handheld GPS. Since going after the MAPTATTOO, I have experienced nothing but helpful, patient, assistance and consideration from Erwan at MAPTATTOO. He has assured me that this will only continue to get better as they roll out future updates/upgrades as they have since product launch. I live along the shore of western Lake Erie and have Hydrobikes and small beach cats to use many days from my backyard and often take a GPS with me to know the distance of various features from my launch ramp and to mark features of interest which I can transfer to the new unit. I will use this very often in many ways and will benefit from its increased capabilities compared to the Garmin GPS that I have used so far.

First I would like to mention that my late wife and I went to Myrtle Beach for two weeks every year for over 25 years. We usually would spend the entire day under an umbrella enjoying the view and also reading books. I found out real quick that my color tablet did not work in the bright sun so I ordered a black and white E-reader which worked great. Who knew that a marine GPS could be invented along the same line as an E-reader? I applaud the inventor of the Maptattoo for realizing this potential.
I live on the Chesapeake Bay now and I'm adjacent to Ingram Bay Marina where I have a boat in a slip. I was not able to use the Maptattoo for several days due to the weather. However, living on the water I was able to acclimate myself to it from sitting on my dock. The video tutorial link that you get when you order one is great and I was able to learn about all the features along with my own trial and error experimenting with it. Everything functions as it should, both touch screen and buttons work great, battery life is great and the display is great in the sun. I own a 22 foot boat, a fishing kayak, a jet ski and even a paddle boat. This GPS works on all of these boats great as it is portable. Since receiving the Maptattoo I was able to go out twice in my 22 foot boat and had the Maptattoo mounted next to my onboard color GPS. I was able to see the Maptattoo much better in the sun even tho my onboard color GPS is a 9" screen. It appears that all the coordinates and depth information line up between the two also. I love that this unit is portable between the several watercraft that I own and although I don't stray too far with my kayak and paddle boat but I do with my jet ski and 22' Sea Fox.
Customer service is great as I receive emails from the inventor with updates and tips too.

I am updating my review, having previously noted that while I love my Maptattoo tablet, its utility was limited on small lakes that aren't on nautical charts. In September 2024 I purchased the new inland lakes maps for my region, and I have been very pleased. I now can use my Maptattoo more. I row on a series of small lakes connected by rivers; it's often hard to see where the outlet to the next lake in the chain is. Now I can load in routes that take me right through the chain and I spend a lot less time peering over my shoulder trying to find narrow channels. I also have started to go on night rows and I appreciate the back lighting feature at night. It's very bright and easy to read even on the low setting. I did have one problem with night operation, and that is while the Maptattoo screen lights up, the navigation buttons do not, and I can't see them without an external light source. My solution was to wear a red headlamp so that I'm not blinded by the glare.

I also really like the software update that makes it so that once you reach a waypoint in a track, it automatically switches to the next waypoint. And the fact that it automatically keeps you centered in the display. This reduces the number of times I have to touch the tablet, which is really important in rough water when it's hard to take my hands off the oars.

I got the MapTattoo as a reasonably priced alternative to a traditional electronic navigation system for my new-to-me 1981 Catalina 22’. The fact that the MapTattoo cost 20% of the cost of the boat was a bit of a struggle to get over, but the fact that it’s easily moved to my kayak as well mitigated that a bit. And in comparison to a traditional marine electronics system, it’s much more affordable.
As for the device, the physical qualities of it are good. It’s hand-holdable with a good non-slip surface and feels rugged. There’s an attachment point for a wrist loop or tether and I plan to add the quad-lock mount for mounting to my boat.
Using the device, it was relatively easy to figure out how to do what I wanted: zooming in/out is similar to an iPad, adding a waypoint was simple (though I have not figured out if I can edit the names), and the chart data for my area seems good.
The visibility of the display is a huge improvement from the iPad Pro I used on a previous outing on the boat, and I’d never take the iPad on the kayak due to size and lack of water resistance. The software works pretty well and seems to be under current development so is improving. That’s good because I have had the device lock up twice in a few hours of use. I figured out how to reset it with the power button both times, though not sure if it was the long-hold alone, the hold and triple click, or what, so that should probably be added to the user guide.
Overall, a pretty good device, a strong value proposition vs a traditional marine navigation system, easily installed and moved between boats, but with room for improvement in the software (like all devices with software).

I found a review on YouTube of MAPTATTOO and was very interested. I paddle a sea kayak and sail a dingy in San Diego. Paper charts on the kayak are easy, but using a phone, my Garmin watch or old Garmin hand-held GPS is challenging - especially in the evening or when in bigger waves. Paper charts are a challenge when single-handing a dingy amongst all the boaters in the bay, especially on the summer weekends. I was looking for a better way to manage my progress when I leave the bay for coastal paddles and dinghy cruising.

I have played around with OpenCPN for several years and was trying to integrate it into my boating, but I was never able to come up with something I liked. MAPTATTOO fit the bill, perfectly. The e-ink display is perfect for my usage. It only took a little adjustment to change from color charts to grey-scale - after 2 days use it is intuitive to me now (it probably helps that I spend lots of time there in the kayak) - and the outstanding readability in direct sunlight is awesome. And not having to have an electrical system in the boat is a huge plus.

I haven't taken it on an extended trip to check the battery life yet, but I didn't have to charge it until after 3 uses gives me hope.

The price seems high, but I think the product is worth it. Especially if they continue to update it. I am looking forward to inland maps, too.

Keep up the good work, MAPTATTOO, I think you have a great product with excellent potential on your hands.

I sail a Norseboat 21.5 and I paddle kayak and canoe on the Tred Avon and Choptank Rivers off the Chesapeake Bay. I have tried a hand held Garmin, but the screen is tiny and difficult to read in direct sunlight. I have used the Navionics app on both an iPhone and an iPad, but both are difficult to read in direct sunlight and battery life is very limiting.
MAPTATTOO solves these problems with its highly readable display and long battery life. It really is the perfect device for small boats and I even take it along on my larger boats as a back up.

Must have on any small boat. Happy to stop navigating with a cell phone and use a chart plotter that lasts for days without a charge. There are definitely quirks but I think it’s the best there is for dinghies. So good to be able to tune with an accurate speed readout and a chart.

Need more interior lake charts pls.

Took several months for me to get over the sticker shock but finally purchased after the $100 discount nudged me over. I really struggled to between spending the money on this or a permanent chart plotter. I have a Cal 2-29 and plan to take her from the Sacramento deltas to SF Fleet Week this year. But no also have a kayak and a PWC that I’d like to use the Maptattoo for my fleet. Yeah, first world problems. Will be out this weekend for a test run. Initial impression out of the box is that it’s heavier than I had anticipated. Not a negative as long as it does the job. I also have an A5 Supernote as well as an Amazon Tinder with similar e-ink technology. The lag is ok as I kinda expected it given the physics of e-ink displays. I’d like to give a 5, but it’s not a perfect product. And I would’ve given a 4 if the purchase process didn’t take so long, and I got an email requesting a review even before the unit arrived. I get it, it’s a small company. So hopefully I will be so impressed this weekend that I’ll come back and upgrade the review to a 4.

I sail a 22ft Nonsuch in Lake Ontario. I love this gadget. For a boat of this size, I had no intention of fishing new wires, cutting bulkheads and mounting antenna. My Maptattoo is the perfect answer. I particularly like the fact that I can read it clearly in sunshine and take it home with me after a day’s sailing without fear of having it “removed” from the boat while I am not on board.

I went looking for a better solution after an island camping adventure by small skiffs with friends. We were in torrential downpours and rough conditions with sea spray trying to navigate by Navionics app and having a heck of a time getting our phones to cooperate in the wet conditions. I stumbled across Maptattoo before it was available to purchase and put in a reservation for one of the first units. I have been nothing but pleased with the product and customer support. Thank you for filling a void and creating a product that does what it promises to do.

This is a GREAT item for small vessel boating (actually for any size vessel!) Compact, easy to use, very clear screen, handled sunlight with no problem. The controls are very well thought out and easy to learn. I really like the simplicity, just a very excellent first class product! Well worth the modest cost.
We tested it out on a 48’ motorboat and frankly I liked it better than the fancy much more expensive chart plotter built into the boat. It was easier to read and easier to use. It was also better and easier to use than the various apps on my iPad and iPhone, plus in some conditions the screen is MUCH easier to read. Five Star Rating all the way!

I used it as a back up for my chartplotter on a 32.5 sailboat (C&C 99) qualifying for the Lake Erie Solo Challenge where I needed to sail at least 100 statue miles and 24 hrs. 6-7 hrs into the qualification sail, my electrical system went dead (actually it was my fault, my batteries were improperly connected). I finished the qualifying sail, covering 126 miles and 26 hrs using the MapTattoo tablet. I had no autopilot, but I completed the qualifier with the MapTattoo as well as a handheld Garmin GPS (Whose screen is way to small).

I am doing the Lake Erie Solo Challenge 2024 on August 10, and the MapTattoo tablet will be there with me. This is a 312 mile race crossing Lake Erie from Monroe, Michigan, to Buffalo, NY, then to Erie, PA, non-stop and singlehanded.

Like one of the reviewers above, I am not an early adopter. However, the option to have a larger screen that can be read in any conditions got my attention. I sail a Sparrow 16 all over the Salish Sea and the lakes of North Idaho and this chart plotter will be a welcome addition to my boat. I'll still use my hard-copy charts on plastic paper, but this will be a great improvement over the old hand-held GPS I had been using. Traditional chart plotters would be too much for my boat and I was looking for an upgrade from my useful, but limited in size, hand-held GPS.

I'll leave it to others to relate their impressions when used aboard their boats. Since I haven't used it on board yet, I'll restrict what I share to the software capabilities.

Initially when I got it, I found that I had a few concerns regarding the software features. The primary ones were how to use the waypoints. I had suggested that there needs to be a way to enter in a custom name for each and then not necessarily use them as part of a route. My other concerns were much smaller, such as desiring a fathoms setting for the depths and that the basemap and automatic chart zoom levels made it hard to find locations far from your current location or if you were inland.

After a couple emails with Erwan, I learned that my first concern was planned to be addressed in a future software update and the others ones will be considered in later ones. As for the latter concerns, I realized they were really not that important when underway and not critical at all. The quick addressing of my concerns was very reassuring.

A nice extra I found was that the charts do include tide and current information. I normally prefer to use hard-copy tables for these, however having them on the device will be a nice bonus.

The only downside, for now, is that there are no charts for the large lakes on which I sail in North Idaho. However, according to their website, charts for inland lakes for USA, Canada, the UK, and Ireland are on their way.

I'm typically a late adopter, but a domestically engineered and assembled product designed for my kind of boating (Paul Gartside pedal boat, Chesapeake Bay) was hard to resist. Based on a single six-hour outing (0400-1000), the MAPTATTOO lives up to its billing. The screen visibility is fantastic in daylight and at night (on the "low" setting). The device size is a perfect compromise for fitting on a small boat and being readable. Boat speed and headings match my trusty Garmin. The chart "stitching" takes a little getting used to, especially if you are accustomed to aps like Navionics, but once you are settled on a map scale, it works well. Haven't tested the claimed 50 hr. battery life (yet), but that is a huge attribute if true. The charts are clear and uncluttered. The rubber controls work super well and avoid the poor response and saltwater residue that plague my smartphone screen. The functionality is simple and intuitive with thoughtful prompts on which controls to use when scrolling. The unit froze once while I was fumbling through commands but, cycling it on-off quickly restored functionality. At one point a display heading of 366 deg M brought a smile to my face. Whether a bug or feature, it was endearing. I was running firmware 244.1.0 at the time of this review. I mention this only because recent firmware changes have included significant improvements and expect that will continue. At the risk of cluttering up a very clean display, a 24 hr clock would be a welcome addition. All that said, I am very happy with my MAPTATTOO as is!

I am new to sailing. I currently sail a 22-foot Hunter in the southern California bay and enjoy the sport. My only frustration was my struggle to have visible navigation charts. I was using my tablet (with 5G network) along with a navigation app. The app worked fine....if it wasn't freezing or lacked true speed/tracking/sea depth. I was frustrated that the tablet's screen was not bright enough and hard to see from various angles as I moved around the cockpit. I saw this Maptattoo on social media and was hesitant to buy it. But, the frustration got the best of me, so I pulled the trigger and bought a Maptatto. After using Maptattoo a couple of times in the bay, I am quite satisfied with it. I can see Maptattoo's screen easily and from any angle; and, the numbers (speed and heading) are in large font. The best part is that it tracks my location well without freezing up on me....even if the sun is baking it. The only downfall is that I prefer the chart to read in feet and not meters. I am still learning how to use the Maptattoo's functions. I'm sure it's user-error, so I hope to figure out the settings soon. Cheers and happy boating.

I use this in the north channel of Lake Huron for: 1) a coastal rowing single and 2) on a Boston Whaler Montauk '17 without hard-wired GPS. It is EXACTLY what I was looking for, and delivers in all ways. On my rowing shell it's velcroed to the foot stretcher, and has greatly expanded my range and made me feel safer when caught in fog or unfamiliar waters. I hope to use it on the Blackburn next summer as the reviewer above did. Likewise on our older Whaler it has supplanted old, potentially inaccurate, and unwieldy paper charts without a difficult installation and significant battery drain, and has been reliable and accurate, again markedly expanding the area I feel comfortable taking the boat. Money well spent!

I rowed in the Blackburn Challenge (20 mile open water paddle race around Cape Ann, Massachusetts) last weekend. Patchy fog was predicted, but things changed and we ended up paddling in very thick fog for the second half of the course. I was so glad I had my Maptatoo navigation unit! Other boats were lost in the fog, but I just kept following the line of the track I had laid out. This is the first GPS unit I've had, so I had to learn about creating and uploading .GPX files, but the directions in the user guide were straight forward and I figured it out pretty easily.

I also row on the Great Lakes and the Detroit River, and it has been really useful in different conditions. I can read it easily in bright sunlight, much better than I can my cell phone. I love that it's totally waterproof and I don't have to put it in a case. I use a standard ball mount and tablet holder and fix it to my seat track between my feet.

The part that I don't like, and that others have mentioned, is that it is only useful in places covered by nautical charts. So I can't use it on my local small lakes and rivers, which is where I do most of my rowing. (Well, I could put in local routes, but they would just show up as lines in the middle of blank areas on the map.) It would great if there were even basic maps that you could download that showed the courses of rivers and the outlines of smaller lakes. Topo maps would be even better.

I got it to replace an old Garmin, and take the laboring oar from AquaMap on my iPhone. Maptattoo does a few things very, very well - and the few things are all I need. Knowing speed, heading and where it’s six or more feet deep, and knowing those things at a glance in full sun, they’re the key things for me. The unit gives more information than that, but not a bunch of worthless stuff (e.g., how many satellites are up there).

I bought it on the recommendation of Ben Fuller in Small Boat Nation (June 2024 issue).

Just tested on a four day trip in Maine, in a small open sail boat. I mounted it just after of the centercase, and as a backup have a case for my phone that would slot into the same mount, but never did — the maptattoo worked exactly as advertised.

I decided to try the Maptattoo after being frustrated with other small gps units including my phone and a Garmin handheld - it has lived up to its billing. I use the unit on small sailboats and it is perfect for the task. Easily readable by older eyes in the full Florida sun. The display is legible from three away across the cockpit. I’ve been impressed by the ease of operation. The sensitivity of the installed accelerometers is outstanding and is used to advantage while racing. I still have to master all the available features, but that is a me issue and does not reflect on the design. Customer service has been outstanding! The response when I reached out was in the same day with clear, friendly instructions -even though it was a user generated problem. I’ve been happy to show the unit to fellow sailors and recommend it highly

I used the Maptattoo recently during the Everglades Challenge, a race from Tampa Bay to Key Largo through three complicated checkpoints. The unit was clamped to my tiller the entire 300 miles and proved to be totally waterproof, and able to hold its charge for 50 hours. My favorite feature was how visible the screen was easily viewable the screen was in broad daylight, at every angle. Maptattoo was 90% of my navigation during this event and the only thing still powered on when I actually finished in Key Largo. I'm a delivery skipper by trade, and plan to bring this with me on all deliveries as well, since it's a perfect backup GPS and could be crucial after an electronics failure, especially with the long battery life and waterproof control pad.

The MAPTATTOO device is fantastic, and the customer support has been really on top of the troubleshooting Colorado altitude when I caused problems with uploading .gpx data and . I took the device to the Everglades Challenge in early March 2024, and it performed great. Wet hands, were no problem, easy to read in the bright sunlight, and the maps were plenty detailed for our needs. I wish we had more wind, it was incredibly flat calm and we didn't finish, but the device saved all the tracking data into files so we could see exactly where we had been. Pretty great tool, and I cant wait to put it to use this coming year

From the videos I've seen, from handling the device, this seems like a great device for coastal trips in small boats, which is what it was intended for.

But...since I'm 100% lake kayaking right now, even though it tracks well on the large lakes I go to, unfortunately, the tracking is all on a blank area because there are no lake maps. It works, it's just not exactly ideal for my usage.

Frankly, Maptattoo would be great if it also had more complete topo maps of hiking trails as well. Since this device is rugged, water proof, and has an easy to read screen in daylight, it would be ideal as a hiking tablet. Hiking in the winter, you wear gloves, so the physical buttons are great. The buttons are useful even during a heavy rain storm, and never worry about the device getting damaged. The long battery life is also really key.

I own a very very old Garmin GPS V (from 2002), and still use it on backpacking trips occasionally, even though it doesn't have anywhere near the battery life of the Maptattoo. The Maptattoo is basically a giant screen version of the GPS V, without the maps. I would truly love the full topo maps downloadable to the Maptattoo. Also related to potentially using this for hiking, I would love a GPS location display screen, with the ability to select different GPS formats to display (e.g. GPGGA, GPGLL, GPVTG, etc.)

Tested on 3 day Everglades kayak trip. Works fine, easy and convenient large screen. Clear simple menus. No problem with wet hands and wet screen in sea water. Clearly visible in full sun light. Way more convenient than numerous iPhone apps. Battery was holding for 80 hours without charging. The tracks can be uploaded to Google maps.
Customer service is very professional and responsive.
It is expensive, but in my opinion, it justifies the price.

We use our Maptattoo exclusively in our dinghy. It's perfect for us. Incredibly long battery life,super easy to see in bright sun and stashes away in a pocket when we tie up at a dinghy dock. Bigger than my phone but smaller than an iPad it checks every box.

Absolutely perfect for our trailer sailor on Lake Tahoe! Happy to be part of the product launch, and excited to see the progress/updates in the future. The battery life and full-sun visibility is INCREDIBLE!

The best things so far about the Map Tattoo are:
1. Easy to see chart screen, regardless of sunlight or glare
2. Very responsive company--when I emailed them a question, they got right back to me.
I hope to use this while rowng in the Seventy 48, and also sailing in the Salish 100. With the long battery life and weather resistance, it's just what I need for small boat adventures.