On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

Windjammer wrote:

On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

The ones I saw did resolutions of 640 x 480 (4:3 for computer display)
and 1600 x 1200 (16:9 for movies) and were rated for brightness at 400
nits.

In use, 640 x 480 is a pretty small desktop for a computer but adequate
for displaying one application (like fugawi, for example).

If you want to use them out in daylight or in bright sun, the "nits"
value is an important number. A LCD display of 400 nits (like the ones
on eBay) is considered daylight viewable but you probably won't find it
useful in direct sunlight. You may be able to use it if you shade the
display or are under cover with sunlight not striking the screen.

A good quality marine display would be rated at 1600 nits for brightness
and is basically 4 times as bright as the 400 nits one and easy to read
in direct sunlight. But those extra 1200 nits don't come cheap. Build
it into a NMEA4 "sealed from salt spray mist" enclosure and the price
goes up again. The touchscreen is usually optional and the price goes
up again. And in some cases the touch screen layer renders some of the
nits less effective and the reduces the viewing angles.

It looks to me like good and cheap are mutually exclusive on displays
suitable for daylight use in marine settings.

More on the resolution. If you set your desktop display to 640 x 480
and run Fugawi, you can see the amount of info that would be displayed
on the smaller monitor at that resolution. It will be physically
smaller on the small monitor but the same amount data is seen. To most
people 640 x 480 looks better on a small monitor than it does on a large
monitor.

If you cut a 7" diagonal 4:3 hole in a piece of cardboard, held that at
the distance you intend to mount the monitor, then backed off until
your computer display is visible through the hole, you can get a feel
for what you will see with the monitor mounted. This is an
approximation, you have to sort of mentally visualize that the display
is at the same distance as the cardboard.

On the touch screen software, your finger tip on the screen should cause
the same things to happen as does your mouse cursor. If a cursor-over
pops up a menu then a touch should do that. Taps and double taps will
do things like click and double clicks. It should work much like a
typical kiosk or the touch pads found on many laptops. But you are at
the mercy of the intentions of the programmers and the amount of
flexibility programmed in.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

Care to give us a link to these listings?

"Windjammer" wrote in message
...
On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being
sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen
could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

I have an 8" 800X600 one that I run on a mini-itx (1ghz) machine. I am
going to use it primarily for music and as a backup for navigation. I have
run NobelTech on it just to see how it would work. Yes it is small, but
the screen size and resolution tells you that. The monitor works fine, has
a nice clear picture. I haven't really tested it for brightness in bright
conditions because I only intend to use it below decks, but the brightness
seems as expected with 400 nits. I do understand that some loss should be
expected due to the touch screen option.

The touch screen works great, I have big fingers and the buttons on
navigation software tend to be small and plentiful so can be a little hard
to pickout what you want. The provided wand works good for this, but I
expect it would be a little hard to use on a rolling boat in any kind of
rough conditions.

In summary, for my purposes, I am quite happy with it.

Hope this helps
John

"Windjammer" wrote in message
...
On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being
sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen
could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

Brand? Price? Sounds nice? Waterproof? Voltage? Current?
Got a link to a source?

Doug

"Johnhh" wrote in message
...
I have an 8" 800X600 one that I run on a mini-itx (1ghz) machine. I am
going to use it primarily for music and as a backup for navigation. I
have run NobelTech on it just to see how it would work. Yes it is small,
but the screen size and resolution tells you that. The monitor works fine,
has a nice clear picture. I haven't really tested it for brightness in
bright conditions because I only intend to use it below decks, but the
brightness seems as expected with 400 nits. I do understand that some loss
should be expected due to the touch screen option.

The touch screen works great, I have big fingers and the buttons on
navigation software tend to be small and plentiful so can be a little hard
to pickout what you want. The provided wand works good for this, but I
expect it would be a little hard to use on a rolling boat in any kind of
rough conditions.

In summary, for my purposes, I am quite happy with it.

Hope this helps
John

"Windjammer" wrote in message
...
On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being
sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen
could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

Brand: Lilliput
Price: $280
Not waterproof
Voltage: 12volt with cigarette adapter/regulator and 110 wall wart.
Amps: 0.8
link: Lilliput 8" Touch screen XGA TFT Car Monitor VGA PC
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7570 201&rd=1
Same montor, but I'm not sure that's where I got mine.

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Brand? Price? Sounds nice? Waterproof? Voltage? Current?
Got a link to a source?

Doug

"Johnhh" wrote in message
...
I have an 8" 800X600 one that I run on a mini-itx (1ghz) machine. I am
going to use it primarily for music and as a backup for navigation. I
have run NobelTech on it just to see how it would work. Yes it is small,
but the screen size and resolution tells you that. The monitor works
fine, has a nice clear picture. I haven't really tested it for brightness
in bright conditions because I only intend to use it below decks, but the
brightness seems as expected with 400 nits. I do understand that some
loss should be expected due to the touch screen option.

The touch screen works great, I have big fingers and the buttons on
navigation software tend to be small and plentiful so can be a little
hard to pickout what you want. The provided wand works good for this,
but I expect it would be a little hard to use on a rolling boat in any
kind of rough conditions.

In summary, for my purposes, I am quite happy with it.

Hope this helps
John

"Windjammer" wrote in message
...
On eBay, there are at least two types of touch-screen monitors being
sold -
7" and 8" size both with VGA input as well as A/V.

Has anyone tried using these as displays for marine navigation?

In particular, wondering about the resolution and how the touch-screen
could
be used with popular nav software like Fugawi?

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Care to give us a link to these listings?

This link will expire before long, but here is an ebay search for
"touchscreen monitor vga":

http://search.ebay.com/touchscreen-v...ectZ1QQfromZR8

How does a map look like on 800X600 for instance? The Lilliput has ca.
900.000 pixels the other 8" monitor has 1.440 millon and is far mor
expensive. I have seen C-Map on the 1.44 million pixel monitor and it looked
good at 800X600. Lilliput claims a resolution of 1024X768 with 921600
pixels. This is really only 640X480 X3 colors = 921600. All the higher
resolutions are interpolated pixels and usually generate a bad picture ( not
sharp).
Some of the cheaper ones for DVD are having even less pixels. On board I use
an old Toshiba with 800X600 and C-Map and I would like a better resolution.
So what resolution is used on the Lilliput? I would like to buy an 8" but
because of above I´m no more sure anymore what to do.

Frank

"Johnhh" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Brand: Lilliput
Price: $280
Not waterproof
Voltage: 12volt with cigarette adapter/regulator and 110 wall wart.
Amps: 0.8
link: Lilliput 8" Touch screen XGA TFT Car Monitor VGA PC
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7570 201&rd=1
Same montor, but I'm not sure that's where I got mine.

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Brand? Price? Sounds nice? Waterproof? Voltage? Current?
Got a link to a source?

Doug

Its native resolution is 800X600 and that's what I'm running it it at. If
the pixels are interpolated, you could never prove it by me. If you want
higher than 800X600 this is not the monitor for you.

A chart on it looks just like I would expect it to at 800X600. I'm not sure
how else to answer the question.

I find it to be perfect for *my* needs, If I had lots of bucks, needed it
to be outdoor viewable or was depending on it for primary navigation on
extended voyages, then I would look elsewhere.

"Frank Klose" wrote in message
...
How does a map look like on 800X600 for instance? The Lilliput has ca.
900.000 pixels the other 8" monitor has 1.440 millon and is far mor
expensive. I have seen C-Map on the 1.44 million pixel monitor and it
looked good at 800X600. Lilliput claims a resolution of 1024X768 with
921600 pixels. This is really only 640X480 X3 colors = 921600. All the
higher resolutions are interpolated pixels and usually generate a bad
picture ( not sharp).
Some of the cheaper ones for DVD are having even less pixels. On board I
use an old Toshiba with 800X600 and C-Map and I would like a better
resolution.
So what resolution is used on the Lilliput? I would like to buy an 8" but
because of above I´m no more sure anymore what to do.

Frank

"Johnhh" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Brand: Lilliput
Price: $280
Not waterproof
Voltage: 12volt with cigarette adapter/regulator and 110 wall wart.
Amps: 0.8
link: Lilliput 8" Touch screen XGA TFT Car Monitor VGA PC
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7570 201&rd=1
Same montor, but I'm not sure that's where I got mine.

"Doug Dotson" wrote in message
...
Brand? Price? Sounds nice? Waterproof? Voltage? Current?
Got a link to a source?

Doug

This looks like what I have been thinking about also.

I have been using a laptop on the nav station below with the Cap'n First
Mate and have been thinking of putting a monitor under the dodger to be able
to see the GPS positioning data and the charts on deck.

Any idea if these can be run on 11.5 - 14.5 volts DC and how much current
they draw?

Ansley Sawyer
SV Pacem