Category: Navigation

Today Lowrance introduced the HDS Gen2 Touch series — new Lowrance web pages here — and I feel especially prepared to cover the news because I got to touch one myself a few weeks ago, and also because a friend of Panbo sent me a copy of the detailed PDF that went out to dealers. The page above, for instance, shows how the new 7-, 9-, and 12-inch Touches compare to the existing HDS Gen2 models they can happily co-exist with. Thus users who are shy about touch — particularly understandable on bouncy boats — can pair that interface with a full button/cursor control model, a good idea that up until now only Garmin offered…

No knobs, no buttons, no “hybrid touch”?  Is anyone else surprised by the pure touchscreen interface on the just announced Raymarine “a-Series” multifunction displays?  We can discuss usability issues after the break, but one thing about pure touch is obvious: It let Ray design for maximum screen in minimum helm space. These new MFDs use an area only 6.5 x 5.7 inches to encase that “Super Bright LED” 5.7-inch (diagonal) 640 x 480 pixel screen, which is quite a contrast to the previous A-Series (at 8.9 x 6.3 inches and a lot thicker). But the little a-Series is not at all small in terms of horsepower or connectivity…

The cool thing about this picture is that the potent storm cell generating all that wind and rain was just about to pass to the east and I’d managed to avoid almost all of it thanks to radar. After taking this shot I just ran up into Camden’s outer harbor and rigged fenders and docklines while Gizmo drifted sideways downwind; by the time I reached my float the evening sky had cleared and I tied up in calm conditions without foul weather gear…

The Maine Boatbuilders Show starts today, and I’m making my (almost) annual pilgrimage to Portland first thing this morning. But I’ve already spent some quality time trying out a show debut, the rather spectacular update of the USHarbors Network. Among many major enhancements is a full screen raster-charts-over-Google-Maps mode that may well be the best online charting engine I’ve ever seen. Note how it’s even quilting in skewed small craft charts at the particular zoom level I captured above. That’s hard, and moving around on these charts is fast!…

Furuno has been extremely tight lipped about its new NavNet TZ touch systems, aside from the ad, but much more should be revealed in this morning’s press breakfast. I’ll be there and will report...