On Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:26:06 -0400, HK wrote:

Chuck Gould wrote:
On Jun 15, 5:15?am, HK wrote:
Anyone publishing these?

As in, $1000 chartplotters/fishfinders, six new units tested.

That sort of stuff.

Test them for what? To see if they work?

Almost any brand of electronics will be very reliable. In general,
units that don't fail in the first 90-minutes or so of use after
installation can be relied upon to give so many years of service that
they will ultimately be replaced due to obsolesence rather than
finally wearing out. That's why there are so very few technicians that
actually repair electronics- the rare warranty failures are typically
resolved by swapping out an entire unit.

Beyond reliability, a lot of the issues become very, very subjective.
Boater A prefers a certain type of display, Boater B prefers another.
Unless two units are attempting to prioritize the exact same aspects
of performance and operation, doing an objective review is pretty
difficult.
It requires the reviewer to impose his or her *own* subjective values
as a standard for comparison.

For example: MagicNav Technologies new GPS/plotter might have an
particularly bright display and an interface that uses only a couple
of large buttons that need to be pressed in some complex combinations
to perform a few dozen functions. Competing ElectroScan offers a unit
with a less brilliant display, but with 17 clearly labeled (if small)
push buttons that normally offer one-touch functionality.

Which is "better"?


That's right, Chuckster...do whatever you can to minimize the
possibilities of important objective and subjective differences in the
gear available to boaters.

There are any number of reasons why "head to head" comparisons of, say,
7" display GPS Plotters might be of interest to boaters. Or depth
finders. Or fish finders. Or radios.

It is almost impossible to check out all the possibilities in your local
West Marine or any other major marine equipment store. First, they don't
have the depth of inventory. Second, they rarely have things hooked up
so you can mess with them comfortably. Third, they never seem to have
things like manuals handy. Fourth, the sales people they employ simply
have no depth of information about much of anything.

Before I buy an appliance, I check it out in Consumers Reports. There's
no reason why the same sort of comparative info on boating gear wouldn't
be useful to boaters.

Stop pimping for the boating industry, Chuck. It doesn't serve anyone
but your masters.

Pure, unadulterated, jealousy-driven horse****!