Chart Plotter: Touch Screen or not?

[willk]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

sure if you want 5 year old tech it will be less, but they have a habbit of discontinuing things to keep prices where they are.

B.O.A.T.....Break Out Another Thousand

not a chance we will be paying less for the best stuff in a couple of years, why....because it is the marine sector and not the volume of say a mobile phone (my new note was £750 btw so price not coming down there mores the pity)

Bleeding edge gear will always cost whatever the eager buyer will pay.

But the fact is that plotter ticket prices have plummeted over the past decade, with previously costly extra features now included FOC. Sure, if you want built-in wifi and coffee maker it will still be "an arm and a leg".

The rocks on 5 year old tech are still in the same place, and I've been pleasantly surprised at some of the goodies I got in free software updates from Lowrance - autorouting was one of them!

[Xk59D]

coffee maker? i'd be in for that

can't argue prices have came down over last decade but 1-2 years is going to make heehaw difference.

what has happened is you get more gadge for the wedge without question, that is bound to continue.

quite agree if you want the mutts nuts you will still be paying top whack for it simply because people pay it.

[GuyC]

Either buttons or touch screen sure beat pencils and soggy charts for convenience. I have buttons because I thought I might be more accurate with buttons but I'm sure I'd get used to a touch screen pretty quickly.

[Xk59D]

oh btw, since people have mentioned NMEA and Garmin, it is only fair warning that imo my pair of garmins and the NMEA engine data warnings are far from ideal. the alarm options leave a lot to be desired so make sure it does what you want before spending the hard earned.

as an example, i put an alarm on after temp went up due to blockage on tell tale. the "alarm" won't emit an audible beep/tone, nothing. all it does it flash the gauge red for temp and if you happen to not have the temp gauge on the screen at the time you won't know it alarmed. they will audible alarm for the main functions such as course drift, anchor moving etc but not engine data.

another annoyance was i couldn't turn the brightness down at night so night vision was shot, i need to check the manual for that actually but nothing obvious in the menus when i needed it.

[sailrib]

Another member here recently just purchased new a SIMRAD
GO7 XSE TotalScan 7" Multi-Touch Chartplotter with Built-In Sonar, wi-fi, charts & GPS for £400.

With that it's hard to ague that new tech is too expensive compared to buying old tech. You can easily connect your motor to it for a full engine monitoring panel. With the new touch screen models you're also buying into better and easier connectivity to other equipment and more features on one monitor (if thats what you need).

They (Simrad) are getting good reviews with no comments about wet touch screen issues, not to say it can't happen. It pretty impressive what it's capable of and would work nicely for a rib. It can kill many birds with one stone and help save on the very precious and limited space on a center console. I do use a lot of Raymarine chartplotters and would much prefer using the newer Simrad touch screen by leaps and bounds. Touching a new waypoint ahead of me on the screen or changing the route on the go is priceless to me.

I can definitely appreciate the question and concerns of using wet touch screens. I will say using gloves designed for iPhone use greatly helps in cold wet weather. I regularly have to use a touch screen cell phone on a rib while working, it's only an issues about 10% of the time and the newer chart plotter touch screens are superior in the wet compared to my iphones touch screen in the wet. Using the lock screen for a quick wipe if needed is easy peasy.

Nothing wrong with buttons if that works for you and your content with the old tech and limited options, they do however take up much more space.

[Xk59D]

i think i saw that plotter advertised few weeks ago, cracking buy that.

i just can't see prices "plummeting" as at 400 quid that is good value for the marine market. what we can hope for is the rest follow suit and we get more bang for buck in the gadget department.

now....i am in the mood to add 3d imaging now

[jonp]

I've got a hds 12 gen 3 in my 550 pro, if it rains I simply select the key function from the home page, this disables the touch function. This same feature is on the hds 9 and 7 as well as the newer simrads.

If you have a wet riding boat then a spray cover may help.

Jon

r

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Xk59D

(my new note was £750 btw so price not coming down there mores the pity)

But it does come with a built in heater!

Originally Posted by willk

I have both types fitted. Water hasn't been an issue (and yes, they get wet now and then) and I can't say the touchscreen is overly difficult to use underway. I say that because I'm not doing much with it when underway other than look at it. It would be difficult to place an accurate waypoint while bumping along but changing screens, zoom, etc., is fine.

I've used both of Willk's plotters. Touch screen is definitely more intuitive to anyone who has used smartphones/tablets. UX on all plotters though is far behind iOS - and you will still be navigating through stupid menus to find settings etc. If going touch screen increases the actual display size I think it is a no brainer. If going touch screen and your budget means you have a slightly smaller display then I would go buttons because no matter how big your screen is it will be smaller than ideal!

At 35 knots whilst hanging on and watching where you are going I find it difficult to do anything other than read the plotter or zoom in/out - I'm not sure if its because I'm speccy, but I find reading any detail whilst bouncing around is hard, never mind plotting new positions etc.

It is all luxury compared to the 1.75" B&W screen on my own boat though!

[stray]

Another member here recently just purchased new a SIMRAD
GO7 XSE TotalScan 7" Multi-Touch Chartplotter with Built-In Sonar, wi-fi, charts & GPS for £400.

Was that in the UK, and did it include the Totalscan transducer?

[sailrib]

Originally Posted by stray

Was that in the UK, and did it include the Totalscan transducer?

Yes, it was in the UK and with total scan. Contact him.

http://www.rib.net/forum/f10/chartpl...tml#post729152

[boristhebold]

Pure touchscreen is not great in this country as they dont work with gloves on. I went for a hybrid approach witht he raymarine E7 which has both a touch screen and buttons, ive had it for about two years and do use the buttons when underway most of the time and when at anchor use the touch screen.

[willk]

Originally Posted by boristhebold

Pure touchscreen is not great in this country as they dont work with gloves on.

[Poly]

You are just wearing the wrong gloves!