Customers often ask us whether they need to insert a SIM card into the tablet to navigate. No, it is not necessary at all.
It’s almost become an urban legend, which originated in the Apple world: on iPads, the cellular chip and the locator chip are on the same circuit board and so models without a cellular chip also don’t have GPS chip. As a result, many have concluded that a cellular network connection (and therefore a SIM card) is required to enable location.
This is absolutely false, localisation works very well without a SIM card, it uses the various satellite networks accessible anywhere in the world. In the case of the SailProof tablet, the tracking chip will combine signals from the GPS (American), GLONASS (Russian) and GALILEO (European) networks, possibly corrected by the American (WAAS) and European (EGNOS) SBAS networks. You will therefore obtain a very precise position, even in the middle of the Atlantic, thousands of kilometres from any cellular network.
On the screenshot below (taken in real conditions, WIFI and 4G connection deactivated), you can see that the signal of 21 satellites is acquired (for 28 visible in total) which allows positioning with an error of only one meter.
If you have any questions, please contact us directly via the form.
Happy boating!