On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:42:55 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

One thing that I do for my husband that you might do for yourself is
to put a route or previous track on the computer. The routing is a
big blue line, and it is pretty easy to whether the ship is on the
route or not. If it is in the ICW or someplace where we have been
before, and where the route twists and turns a lot, I put the previous
track (which I have saved) up on the computer.

Unless the screen shots are magnified, that's a pretty big screen
compared to the GPS 76. Does the colour help a lot in darkness?

Ryk

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:04:00 GMT, in message

wrote:

There is nothing wrong with wearing bifocal glass. It is a natural aging
process. Most LCD are hard to read in direct sun light. Beside
navigational equipment digital cameras are the worst to read in direct sun
light.

I don't disagree, but the visibility through both wet glasses and wet
instruments in the rain is pretty dismal.

Ryk

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:09:48 -0400, in message

Wayne.B wrote:

On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:27:00 -0400, Ryk
wrote:

I'm sure there are others on this route. I would like to hear from
anybody else with 50ish eyes who has moved on to a better display. How
much is enough? Should I just bite the bullet and buy a big screen? Or
should I keep a pair of half glasses at the helm? (which might not
help the rain issue)

If you have space and the budget, the Furuno 10.4 inch color screens
are outstanding for both daytime and night time visibility. Next best
are their 7 inch screens.

Do they dim down enough for good night vision and still give a clear
picture? I find that a look at my notebook on the dimmest setting
still trashes my night vision.

Ryk

On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:29:27 -0400, in message

"OldSailor" wrote:

Ryk,

I have same problem, except worse - I need reading glasses at home computer
and I can't read my iPaq display - I use the iPaq along with Fugawi as a
chart display - It has a zoom function that helps, but I am still juggling
sunglasses and reading glasses just at the worst moments.

What I am considering and will order tonight, seeing you jogged my memory,
is one of these:

http://www.gpscity.ca/item-ram-mount...er/rammag1.htm

We will see if it helps!

There are larger screen portable - Ultra-Mobiles. Need to wait for price to
come down!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.... P=rdr0000276

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure how well either would work in
the rain. Let me know about the magnifier.

Thanks,

Ryk

Ryk wrote:
On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:09:48 -0400, in message

Wayne.B wrote:


On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:27:00 -0400, Ryk
wrote:


I'm sure there are others on this route. I would like to hear from
anybody else with 50ish eyes who has moved on to a better display. How
much is enough? Should I just bite the bullet and buy a big screen? Or
should I keep a pair of half glasses at the helm? (which might not
help the rain issue)

If you have space and the budget, the Furuno 10.4 inch color screens
are outstanding for both daytime and night time visibility. Next best
are their 7 inch screens.


Do they dim down enough for good night vision and still give a clear
picture? I find that a look at my notebook on the dimmest setting
still trashes my night vision.

Ryk


I have extensive experience with the Furuno display, day and night
mounted outside on a flushdecked sailboat. We sailed in the rain hail
and snow. It is a great screen and terrific system. Just a couple
negatives, The C-Maps are not perfect and the track ball gums up
quickly. I always kept the remote handy (in a waterproof thingy) and
crossed checked tricky areas with the paper charts. For some reason the
geeks that digitized the maps for C-Maps frequently read rocky bottom
symbology as rocks awash and entered that into the digital charts. I
have many examples around the PNW.

Gary

Ryk wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:42:55 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

One thing that I do for my husband that you might do for yourself is
to put a route or previous track on the computer. The routing is a
big blue line, and it is pretty easy to whether the ship is on the
route or not. If it is in the ICW or someplace where we have been
before, and where the route twists and turns a lot, I put the previous
track (which I have saved) up on the computer.

Unless the screen shots are magnified, that's a pretty big screen
compared to the GPS 76. Does the colour help a lot in darkness?

Ryk

It's a regular laptop screen - I just measured this one and it is
8"x11" and I think the one pictured is about the same (can't remember
which one it was).

We have two old Garmin GPSs which have a very small screen and only
one of them has ATONs on it. They are both LCD.

Yes the color does help. Bob complains if I put the night colors on
because it washes the colors out.

http://p.vtourist.com/1492883-Bob_at...Indian_Key.jpg
This is Bob at the helm. You can see the back of the autopilot on the
left, and the GPS is clipped to the top of the binnacle.

http://p.vtourist.com/1493295-Bob_si...ional_Park.jpg
This is Bob sitting on the side of the cockpit. In this one you can
see the front of the GPS and the radar, and Bob has his back leaning
on the computer box (the computer is just dimly visible inside there.
The trackball is up on top of the box. The second GPS is attached to
the computer and the antenna for it is up the mast.

http://p.vtourist.com/1498854-Rosali...rina-Miami.jpg This
is the bow of the boat in Miamarina in Miami.


grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:27:11 -0400, Ryk
wrote:

Do they dim down enough for good night vision and still give a clear
picture? I find that a look at my notebook on the dimmest setting
still trashes my night vision.

Yes, that is one of the great things about the Furuno screen. It is
far superior to a laptop screen in every respect. At night I need to
keep my laptop closed most of the time even though it is still
tracking.

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:52:35 GMT, Gary wrote:

For some reason the
geeks that digitized the maps for C-Maps frequently read rocky bottom
symbology as rocks awash and entered that into the digital charts. I
have many examples around the PNW.

I've seen that a few times also but I can always cross check against
the raster charts on the laptop when I need to. The Furuno can also
be ordered with Navionics charts instead of C-Map but I have not yet
seen a good analysis of the pros and cons between them. I agree that
the Furuno hardware, especially the screen, is first rate.

We used C-Map charts in the Bahamas that are identical to the Explorer
chart books, and they were very very good.

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:45:59 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

Ryk wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:42:55 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

One thing that I do for my husband that you might do for yourself is
to put a route or previous track on the computer. The routing is a
big blue line, and it is pretty easy to whether the ship is on the
route or not. If it is in the ICW or someplace where we have been
before, and where the route twists and turns a lot, I put the previous
track (which I have saved) up on the computer.

Unless the screen shots are magnified, that's a pretty big screen
compared to the GPS 76. Does the colour help a lot in darkness?

Ryk

It's a regular laptop screen - I just measured this one and it is
8"x11" and I think the one pictured is about the same (can't remember
which one it was).

We have two old Garmin GPSs which have a very small screen and only
one of them has ATONs on it. They are both LCD.

Yes the color does help. Bob complains if I put the night colors on
because it washes the colors out.

Thanks for the input. Looking at the pictures I think we are doing two
different kinds of sailing. I could not keep a computer in the
cockpit, even in a box.

Cheers,

Ryk

Ryk wrote:

On Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:45:59 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

Ryk wrote:

On Tue, 15 Aug 2006 16:42:55 GMT, in message

Rosalie B. wrote:

One thing that I do for my husband that you might do for yourself is
to put a route or previous track on the computer. The routing is a
big blue line, and it is pretty easy to whether the ship is on the
route or not. If it is in the ICW or someplace where we have been
before, and where the route twists and turns a lot, I put the previous
track (which I have saved) up on the computer.

Unless the screen shots are magnified, that's a pretty big screen
compared to the GPS 76. Does the colour help a lot in darkness?

Ryk

It's a regular laptop screen - I just measured this one and it is
8"x11" and I think the one pictured is about the same (can't remember
which one it was).

We have two old Garmin GPSs which have a very small screen and only
one of them has ATONs on it. They are both LCD.

Yes the color does help. Bob complains if I put the night colors on
because it washes the colors out.

Thanks for the input. Looking at the pictures I think we are doing two
different kinds of sailing. I could not keep a computer in the
cockpit, even in a box.

I'm sure we ARE doing two different kinds of sailing. I would not go
if I did not have a bimini. And Bob has to stay out of the sun
because he's already had one melanoma removed from his arm (just above
his watch).

I don't mind not having ice cubes and ice cream in the freezer - I
will drink warm water or other drinks without ice cubes (per the other
refrigeration thread). I enjoy traveling by boat. But I won't be
out in the sun.

The bimini makes the instrument reading a whole lot better too. Most
of the time it shields the screens from the direct sun and the
computer box helps too.

FWIW, before we had the computer box, we strapped the computer to the
nav table in the aft cabin where we could see it from the helm by
looking over the right shoulder and down the companionway. Although
we do have the box, and have had the computer in it through some
pretty heavy rainstorms, we don't normally have it in the cockpit if
we anticipate really bad weather.