Can anybody point me in the direction of a 12" sunlight viewable, waterproof
screen to work from the external VGA port on my Laptop. I want to be able to
see my navigation software at the helm as well as at the chart table.
Thanks

Phil

Phil Stanton wrote:

Can anybody point me in the direction of a 12" sunlight viewable, waterproof
screen to work from the external VGA port on my Laptop. I want to be able to
see my navigation software at the helm as well as at the chart table.
Thanks


A quick google for "marine display" will bring you a lot of hits, here
are a few:

http://www.argonautcomputer.com/displays_tflex.htm
http://www.nauticomp.com/
http://www.navstore.com/marina_displays.asp

To run it off of a PC you'll want to get a touchscreen model. Anyone
that says "I don't need that, I'm only going to look at it..." has not
been there. And anyone that says "I'll use a cordless (name any human
interface device)..." has not tried it yet.

I've been around some good sunlight displays and have not seen a good
one yet that was not about the same price as buying a good chart
plotter. For what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a
Raymarine C120 and some chart chips.

Jack

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

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:59:13 -0500, Jack Erbes
wrote:

For what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a
Raymarine C120 and some chart chips.

====================================

That's probably true if you are talking about a marine waterproof
display, although I prefer to have both. With the price of small, 15
inch, flat panel displays now down into the $200 range you can use one
of those, protect it reasonably well, and take your chances without
risking a king's ransom. I have an ordinary 15 inch flat panel which
has now survived 5 years on two different boats. I protect it (when
necessary) with one of those large platic envelopes that Maptech sells
to protect their chartbooks. Brightness is reasonably good, although
not as good as my Furuno chart plotter, it is brighter than most
laptop screens. I think if you mounted one on a pivot arm you could
probably use it either at the nav station or in the companionway area.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:59:13 -0500, Jack Erbes
wrote:

For what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a
Raymarine C120 and some chart chips.

====================================

That's probably true if you are talking about a marine waterproof
display, although I prefer to have both. With the price of small, 15
inch, flat panel displays now down into the $200 range you can use one
of those, protect it reasonably well, and take your chances without
risking a king's ransom. I have an ordinary 15 inch flat panel which
has now survived 5 years on two different boats. I protect it (when
necessary) with one of those large platic envelopes that Maptech sells
to protect their chartbooks. Brightness is reasonably good, although
not as good as my Furuno chart plotter, it is brighter than most
laptop screens. I think if you mounted one on a pivot arm you could
probably use it either at the nav station or in the companionway area.

There has been some discussion on the ssca forum recently about laptops
vs chartplotters. On fellow commented that he tried a 15 inch LCD
screen at the helm but found it too bright at night. He could not dim
it enough. What has been your experience?

On 30 Dec 2005 21:08:32 -0800, wrote:

On fellow commented that he tried a 15 inch LCD
screen at the helm but found it too bright at night. He could not dim
it enough. What has been your experience?

I have the same issue. At night I switch back to using just the
laptop screen which is dimmer, and close the cover when I don't need
to see it. I have the advantage of also having a fairly nice Furuno
chart plotter which dims down to very reasonable levels.

The advantage of having both is that I prefer the route planning and
tracking on the Maptech OSN software, and it gives a better wide angle
perspective in conventional raster mode. The Furuno is ideal for
going one waypoint to another and zooming in for good detail. It also
integrates nicely with the RADAR.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:59:13 -0500, Jack Erbes
wrote:

For what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a
Raymarine C120 and some chart chips.

====================================

That's probably true if you are talking about a marine waterproof
display, although I prefer to have both. With the price of small, 15
inch, flat panel displays now down into the $200 range you can use one
of those, protect it reasonably well, and take your chances without
risking a king's ransom. I have an ordinary 15 inch flat panel which
has now survived 5 years on two different boats. I protect it (when
necessary) with one of those large platic envelopes that Maptech sells
to protect their chartbooks. Brightness is reasonably good, although
not as good as my Furuno chart plotter, it is brighter than most
laptop screens. I think if you mounted one on a pivot arm you could
probably use it either at the nav station or in the companionway area.

I agree, and it saves you having to take out a mortgage on a real daylight
waterproof screen.

wrote:

There has been some discussion on the ssca forum recently about laptops
vs chartplotters. On fellow commented that he tried a 15 inch LCD
screen at the helm but found it too bright at night. He could not dim
it enough. What has been your experience?


It is some of the subtle things like that that really make the
difference on the high end marine grade displays.

Last fall I did a delivery trip on a boat with a Raymarine C120. I was
in party with another boat and we were both by ourselves on the boats.
We made a night arrival at Portland, Maine in the same crappy weather
and in typical traffic and I was able to dim the C120 down enough to use
it in darkness without losing my ability to see out of the cockpit.

The display was panel mounted directly in front of the helm, 18"-24"
away, and below my line of sight and it is the first marine color
display I've used that would dim down enough to be that useful in
darkness. It it was not threatening my night vision at all. Very
confidence inspiring and big enough that a split screen radar/chart
plotter display worked well.

Up to that point, I had always preferred the older CRT and amber and
green monochrome LCD displays for use at night.

I'm kind of old school and used to consider color displays to be sort of
trivial or an "eye candy" thing but I've come to realize that the way
that color displays differentiate different by colors lets you spot
specific things quicker at a glance.

It is sort of tough to rate display by the specifications. Some of them
advertise with NITS values that seem to be aimed winning over buyers
with the biggest numbers. I've seen good displays that called
themselves 1200 NITS display and better displays that were spec'd at
half of that.

It would be great if you could find specs that give you the brightness
and contrast ratio expressed as meaningful range of appropriate values
and as they relate to day and night viewing in the real world.

Jack

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

On Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:49:56 -0500, Jack Erbes
wrote:

It would be great if you could find specs that give you the brightness
and contrast ratio expressed as meaningful range of appropriate values
and as they relate to day and night viewing in the real world.

=====================================

Yes. I ended up buying my Furuno system on the strength of a
Practical Sailor report that evaluated all available 10 inch screens.
They thought Furuno had the best daytime visibility in direct
sunlight, and that all of the other feature differences between units
were more or less a dead heat in the final analysis.

We have not been disappointed and everyone else who has come aboard
always comments favorably.

Thanks to all who have contributed. I went to the boat show, and there
appears to be one coming out in February at a reasonably sensible price.
I'll believe it when I see it

Phil


"Jack Erbes" wrote in message
...
Phil Stanton wrote:

Can anybody point me in the direction of a 12" sunlight viewable,
waterproof screen to work from the external VGA port on my Laptop. I want
to be able to see my navigation software at the helm as well as at the
chart table.
Thanks


A quick google for "marine display" will bring you a lot of hits, here are
a few:

http://www.argonautcomputer.com/displays_tflex.htm
http://www.nauticomp.com/
http://www.navstore.com/marina_displays.asp

To run it off of a PC you'll want to get a touchscreen model. Anyone that
says "I don't need that, I'm only going to look at it..." has not been
there. And anyone that says "I'll use a cordless (name any human
interface device)..." has not tried it yet.

I've been around some good sunlight displays and have not seen a good one
yet that was not about the same price as buying a good chart plotter. For
what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a Raymarine C120 and
some chart chips.

Jack

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

Who is coming out with this monitor? Which boat show?

thanks
John

"Phil Stanton" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all who have contributed. I went to the boat show, and there
appears to be one coming out in February at a reasonably sensible price.
I'll believe it when I see it

Phil


"Jack Erbes" wrote in message
...
Phil Stanton wrote:

Can anybody point me in the direction of a 12" sunlight viewable,
waterproof screen to work from the external VGA port on my Laptop. I
want to be able to see my navigation software at the helm as well as at
the chart table.
Thanks


A quick google for "marine display" will bring you a lot of hits, here
are a few:

http://www.argonautcomputer.com/displays_tflex.htm
http://www.nauticomp.com/
http://www.navstore.com/marina_displays.asp

To run it off of a PC you'll want to get a touchscreen model. Anyone
that says "I don't need that, I'm only going to look at it..." has not
been there. And anyone that says "I'll use a cordless (name any human
interface device)..." has not tried it yet.

I've been around some good sunlight displays and have not seen a good one
yet that was not about the same price as buying a good chart plotter.
For what you spend for a good 12-15" display you can buy a Raymarine C120
and some chart chips.

Jack

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