Category: NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K
Today is an excellent time to look in more depth at the Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch, a slightly awkward name for six products that form the “top end” of the Lowrance multifunction display range. The reason is the recent release of the 2.0 software version that brings GoFree functionality — as seen above — and much more to both the Lowrance Gen2 and Gen2 Touch range. Last year I upgraded my HDS Gen1 to a HDS2T and in this entry I will compare the HDS2T to other Navico options, give you the reasons why I like it and of course discuss the new features in the 2.0 software.
That screen above makes me so happy! I had been reluctant to give up on Gizmo’s standalone tank monitoring system but circumstances forced a change. Had I realized how easy and relatively inexpensive it...
In my opinion it was the Garmin GMI 10 that trail blazed the wonderful world of color NMEA 2000 all-in-one displays, but it’s gotten major competition from the Raymarine i70 (comparison here), the B&G Triton (first look here), and the Furuno RD-33 (hand’s on here). And when Garmin demoed its new 800 Glass Bridge Series in Miami, the GMI 10 also installed on the dash looked decidedly out of place. So it was really no surprise when they announced the new GMI 20 and its GHC 20 sibling last Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if they’ve outdone the competition but that’s hard to judge as these all-in-ones can potentially do so much, though not necessarily exactly what you want…
There’s lots more to report on from the Miami show, but partially installing a Maretron DCR100 Direct Current Relay on Gizmo just got me so excited I want to share. This boat has never had switches for running and flood lights on the fly bridge — especially annoying when I wanted to light myself up when crossing paths with a possibly unaware stranger — and it didn’t have a switch for the new bow LED spot at all (to be explained). Now for relatively little effort and expense, I’ll not only have switching at both helms but also be able to monitor and even alarm on real time circuit currents. The installation isn’t complete but I’m fairly confident that Gizmo will trek north with that often-cited feature of digital switching, an immediate warning if any one of the four incandescent running light bulbs blows. Plus I got to experience the beauty of NMEA 2000 Labeling, a feature that Maretron has trail blazed but which will hopefully become common across brands…
Raymarine was a little slow getting their Miami press releases out, but then again they have a LOT to talk about. And even with the six releases you’ll find at that link, they left out what I think is a significant move: the coming-soon Lighthouse 6 software release for a-, c-, e-Series — as well as the new gS glass bridge MFDs — will include support for Empirebus NXT digital switching and distributed power technology…
Whether it’s called a Simrad GS50 or a B&G ZG100 or a Lowrance Point-1, it does not seem to be just another NMEA 2000 high-precision, high-refresh-rate GPS/Glonass sensor. Also integrated in is an “e-Compass/Gyro” heading sensor “that ensures access to stable and smooth vessel orientation” and “when used with a compatible” Navico display “greatly enhances navigational information by providing accurate course over ground (COG) data at any speed and enabling radar overlay on charts.” I’ve quoted the press releases heavily because I’m not yet sure that the sensor actually outputs Heading data, but I do know that whichever brand you buy, this souped-up overlay-enabling GPS is just $199 retail, and that sounds good…
Regular Panbo readers may recall that Jeremy Anwyl wrote a 2011 guest entry about his efforts to bring some stability to his admittedly complex NMEA 2000 network. Back then he was focused on the backbone, minimizing voltage drops, managing reflections and so forth. Anwyl continues to enjoy using his lovely Beneteau 57 Tranquilidad as an electronics lab, but he’s also finding bugs in new places…
When Kees spotted Maretron’s new little display at METS, it didn’t seem like a big deal. In fact, it’s fairly homely compared to other contemporary NMEA 2000 all-in-one displays like the B&G Triton and the Raymarine i70. But now that the DSM150 is fully detailed, I think it represents a significant new opportunity for boaters who used to think that Maretron gear was out of their league…
In part 2 I’d like to talk about the items related to NMEA 2000 in some form or fashion. Actually it’s becoming hard to find a new marine electronics product that does not have an N2K interface! From batteries to sensors, they all seem to grow a NMEA 2000 interface. Lets start off with the better known specialists first. Maretron had a lot of gear that I hadn’t seen before like a very new 3.5″ color display, unnamed as of yet, that is essentially a smaller version of the DSM 250. Not only does this fit in better with the 110 mm displays from other manufacturers, I thought the screen actually looked better as well because it has the same amount of pixels at higher DPI. Thus it gets rid of the slightly grainy display that I felt let the DSM 250 down. It probably also uses less power too…
It would be interesting if the new Simrad RS35 VHF and its optional HS35 wireless mic could actually work different channels simultaneously, but I think that the suggestive product image above is just a Photoshop mistake. However, this radio and its Lowrance Link-8 sibling bring together a unique feature set that’s much more valuable, I think. These radios include a two-channel AIS receiver, like the very successful Standard Horizon Matrix AIS line, but they add a NMEA 2000 interface and that should add up to all sorts of plug’n’play goodness…
