On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 07:07:43 GMT, "Glen \"Wiley\" Wilson"
wrote:


What you say has a good deal of merit, IMHO.

Well, thanks...it mainly comes out of being forced to think outside of
the box (PC box?) due to the effective 300% premium of the word
"marine"...

Just to be fair and
balanced, I'll mention the two downsides I've observed. First,
daylight visibility of commonly available and reasonably priced
displays is poor.

Which is why I would NOT have the display in the sun, per se, but
mounted on a swiveling armature that is viewed in the relative shade
of the companionway. Fiddling with the text size settings can
conceivably give huge numerals that should be visible for depth
finding, say.

I would concur that if you want to see radar or densely packed charts
in your cockpit, you may need a specialty display. It needn't be
"marine", however, as there may be options from the automotive arena
or the sort of displays used by paramedics in the field and so on. Or
a simple hood with Velcro strips to block extraneous light.


Second, when the chips are down and the seas are
high, screwing around with a mouse and standard keyboard to setup
waypoints is a bit problematical.

Yes, it is. But if you require, say, a switch between a chart plotting
display linked to the GPS providing a current position and a heads up
radar display set to 12 miles, you can click a wireless mouse at the
IR sensor in the display (add on or built in) without leaving the
wheel or tiller. That's actually easier than punching in waypoints
using most Raytheon etc. displays. I am not knocking such devices, but
merely pointing out that they command a high and perhaps unnecessary
premium (for most sailors) considering what they do and how they
display information....part of the reason many people don't want
bigger displays is, I suspect, that they don't want that windage on
the cabintop, and/or to cut that big a hole in the bulkhead, or to
clutter up the binnacle. The largish, fold away display which uses a
PC to link the various incoming depth sounder/radar/GPS signals seems
to me to be a workable compromise.


I have some thoughts about that, but
I haven't had a chance to experiment. My current approach is to keep
the standalone instruments, using the PC as a repeater. That gives me
the best of both worlds. Please excuse the blatant commercialism in
my standard sig. At least it's on topic...

Actually, it's handy to consider, as there are a few "getting all the
kids not to argue" issues with integrating all these gadgets on a PC.

The repeater idea is good, too, because you can bury the PC box
someplace safe and dry and run USB to displays and keyboards, etc. you
can pack away when not in use in the nav station drawers.

R.