Northstar 8000i & VEI & Furuno, @ 40k+

PMY’s Patrick Sciacca had quite a time testing this 3,600 hp Hatteras 60GT, at one point doing 48 mph in a serious seaway.  He was also impressed with the 15” touch screen Northstar 8000i on center in the helm’s pop-up electronics console. I got quite excited about the 8000i when it was previewed to me back in late 2005, but then it didn’t actually get to market for some time, and now things are a bit up-in-the-air as Navico absorbs Northstar.

At any rate, I’d sure like to try an 8000i , and am all for a face off Maptech has proposed involving its i3 system, plus maybe its sister, the Faria Maestro, and the Garmin 5000. This would be great as touch screen navigation is so new, and the interfaces so different.
Interestingly those dual VEI monitors on the Hatteras are also touch screen and can be used to operate/display the 8000i, as well as display the output (probably radar and fishfinder) of the boat’s black box Furuno NavNet systems (one keyboard visible at left, bigger image here, and another in the right hand dash cabinet, along with a keyboard for the 8000i). Dave Fields, the pro captain of this demo boat, which does 25 tournaments a year, is quite the VEI fan. VEI, by the way, has just gotten seriously into night vision. Finally, I noticed that there have been at least seven articles done about this new Hatteras, but none is a thorough as PMY’s. And note that Patrick recently started his own Web site, TournamentAngler.org, which thoroughly lives up to its motto… “Go big or go home!”