Simrad NSS Sport Family Displays

Simrad Yachting last week announced a new series of touch-screen multifunction displays — the NSS Sport Series.  Available in 7-inch, 8-inch, and 12-inch models, the NSS Sport units feature LED backlighting and allow the user to control the display with the touchscreen, keypad and/or the “Simrad Yachting-signature” rotary control knob.

My friend Ben Ellison at Panbo was one of a special group of marine journalists invited to the product unveiling in Palma, Spain, last week and he’s got lots of details and thoughts on the overall Navico product strategy.  I haven’t had a chance yet to test the new MFDs but when I do I’ll report here on them.  In the meantime, here are some of the details from the Simrad Yachting press release:

The Simrad NSS Sport range features high-brightness (1200 NIT) bonded LED displays in 6.4-inch (VGA), 8-inch (SVGA) and 12-inch (XGA) diagonal screen sizes. All support NMEA 2000®, SimNet and composite video input. The NSS series uses little power and is designed for use in 12 and 24V DC power systems. The system has an operating temperature range of 5 degrees to 131 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees to 55 degrees Celsius); like the NSE and NSO multifunction displays, the NSS Sport is waterproof to the IPx7 standard, and protected by a two-year limited parts and labor warranty. The new Simrad NSS Sport is also covered by Simrad Yachting’s 24-hour exchange program. In the unlikely event that the device is identified as defective within the first year of warranty, Simrad Yachting will ensure shipment of a replacement device within 24 hours.

The Simrad NSS7, NSS8 and NSS12 have suggested retail prices of $1,895, $2,845 and $3,995 US, respectively, and can be purchased from authorized Simrad Yachting dealers and distributors throughout the United States and Canada. For more information on the Simrad NSS Sport touch-screen navigation system, or the entire line of Simrad Yachting professional-grade marine electronics, contact 800-628-4487 (toll-free) in the USA or visit www.simrad-yachting.com.

Copyright © 2011 by OceanLines LLC. All rights reserved.

Simrad-Yachting, a division of Navico, yesterday announced the availability of a new series of fully integrated, networkable chartplotters — the NSE series.  Available in both 12.1-inch and 8-inch displays (NSE12 and NSE8, respectively), the units purchased in North America come fully loaded with Nautic Insight HD high-resolution vector cartography.  They are fully compatible with the new BR24 Broadband Radar, which we wrote about here, and the BSM-1 Broadband Sonar Module, as well as Sirius weather integration.

The company’s announcement yesterday said the units were designed for the ultimate ease-of-use experience, combining elments of Northstar’s legendary direct access functionality, with Simrad-Yachting’s “powerful menu access.”  There is a new menu-driven user interface that includes specific user modes designed to “maximize functionality for specific boating segments.

New Simrad-Yachting NSE12 Chartplotter

Simrad-Yachting said, “key features include a rotary dial with logical push-to-enter selection that provides convenient function access and cursor control, direct access keys to simplify operation and an alphanumeric keypad that makes data entry a snap.  NSE systems feature Simrad SunView™ screens that incorporate an innovative, low-power white LED backlighting technology.  SunView displays are rated at a bright 1500 nits for full sunlight viewing and have a 120-degree viewing angle.   A company official told OceanLines that some HDS models (the 7-, 8- and 10-inch displays) also include LED backlighting, but we think the incorporation of this technology is a significant step forward.  Readers will notice that the best LCD HDTVs in the consumer market feature LED backlighting because it significantly enhances the LCD’s ability to create “blacker” blacks and “whiter” whites.  In other words, LED backlighting significantly enhances the contrast ability of LCDs, which not only makes them look sharper, but improves their ability to work in sunlight.

 Updates for the built-in charts will be available, but a final schedule has not yet been determined.  We’d like to see Simrad-Yachting make these available permanently, in real-time, even if they have to charge a small subscription fee.  The Nautic charts are capable of providing navigators high-resolution 2D and 3D shaded contour and satellite imagery information.  In addition, the Nautic Insight HD navigation cartography includes detailed shoreline and safety navigation data including spot sounding, navaids and obstructions.  NSE units are also compatible with Navionics® Platinum, Platinum+ and HotMaps Platinum cartography.  In addition, NSE units feature Navionics TurboView™, a new dimension in navigation that offers smooth pan and zoom plus viewing rotation, as well as 2D and 3D Platinum and Platinum+ cartography chart views with depth and elevation contour shadings.

The NSE units are designed to draw low currents on either 12- or 24-volt systems and are waterproof to the IPX7 (submersible) standard.  They have a two-year limited parts and labor warranty.  Prices for the NSE12 and NSE8 are $4,595 and $3,295, respectively.  The new line will be publically unveiled at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and units, the company proudly proclaims, will be available only two weeks later, on November 15, which if true will represent quite an accomplishment since several high-profile new product announcemtns in the marine electronics industry in recent years have proved to be somewhat…premature.

You can download the NSE Chartplotter Brochure (USA Sales) here.

Copyright © 2009 by OceanLines LLC

The helm of the new Kadey-Krogen 55 Expedition Awaits Outfitting

On Monday, February 2, 2009, OceanLines will publish the first in a unique series of articles intended to demonstrate the current state-of-the-art of passagemaking-level marine electronics.  We have been working with Kadey-Krogen Yachts and its vice president, Larry Polster, to demonstrate how each of four of the top marine electronics companies would outfit the newest Kadey-Krogen Yacht — the 55′ Expedition, which just arrived here in the U.S. and made its public debut at the Stuart Trawlerfest last weekend.  The 55 Expedition will be on prominent display at the upcoming Miami International Boatshow.

For this series, we asked Furuno, Garmin, Raymarine and Simrad to give us their recommendations, based on a fictional Request For Proposal (RFP) from a a fictional couple just acquiring their new 55 Expedition.  The RFP — which you can read in detail HERE – discusses the couple’s cruising plans, their general preferences in equipment, and the specific capabilities they require from the new electronics installed on board.

In order to help the marine electronics OEMs, Kadey-Krogen provided detailed drawings and specifications on the 55 Expedition, converting CAD files directly from the design into more portable document formats.  The OEMs were each given the RFP and the boat documentation early this month and they have responded with their recommendations and rationale.  Beginning Monday, we will present each individual response — one at a time, each day next week, concluding on Friday with a wrap-up and analysis of the series.

So, have a good look at this pristine helm station onboard one of the newest passagemaking yachts available and come back on Monday to see how Garmin proposes our fictional couple outfit the helm.

Copyright ©  2009 by OceanLines LLC

Bringing a modern, marinized PC aboard your trawler might just be a gateway to enhanced navigation, communication and entertainment capabilities that would have cost many thousands of dollars just a few years ago. It can also be intimidating, with a bevy of choices to make and no clear path to follow for solutions.

Yet buying a computer for your boat need not be any more difficult than buying one for your home or business. It merely requires a modest investment of time and perhaps a somewhat less modest investment of money.  The first choice you are apt to face is whether to buy a “marinized” computer or a standard, landlubber unit from one of the big manufacturers like Dell, HP or Gateway. Both have advantages and are worthy of investigation.

OFF THE SHELF

If you have a stately pilothouse trawler and you take weekend cruises on quiet waters, you might be able to get away with a laptop or desktop from a big–box store.  The primary advantage is cost: they can be dramatically cheaper than a purpose–built marine computer.  There’s also a familiarity factor – most of us have done this before and know the drill.

But that choice is not without risk.  What happens to your electronic charting system if your nephew knocks the machine off the chart table, or you drop it yourself while traveling between house and boat?  Another constraint on a standard laptop is the screen.  Most are not designed for use in bright sunlight, and may require a special shade.

But there is no debating that the cost of standard computers is lower – and one could argue that it may be efficient to simply replace a laptop every few years, taking advantage of the latest technology, rather than spending substantially more for a dedicated marine system.

MARINIZATION DEFINED

So what do you get with a “marinized” PC?  The truth is that there are no universal specification standards for marinization, and so the term means different things to different companies.

But there are some things you can expect.  Most marine computer manufacturers use some form of solid connection – usually solder or glue – to secure wiring and components.  Circuit boards are often coated with silicone or some other non–conducting material to protect them from corrosion, which is probably the biggest contributor to early death among marine electronics.  And hard drives and optical drives are usually shock–mounted to combat everything from the normal vibrations of the engines to the shock of landing in the trough of a large wave.  Many units are also far smaller than their land-based counterparts, and have connections placed strategically with a marine installation in mind, such as the Argonaut unit pictured above.

Most marinized computers also run on 12–volt DC power, with power supplies that can adjust to the varying DC voltage that is common on boats.  Some of these computers can be powered by either DC or AC systems.  Many are also designed to handle the extreme thermal environment of a boat cabin, using fans, passive cooling tubes or heat–sink components to draw heat away from the processor and circuit boards.

There are many vendors of marinized PCs. Some companies, such as VEI Systems and Big Bay Technologies, grew up providing high–end systems to the megayacht industry, with some commercial and military business too.  Others came from the community of passagemaking sailors, and were focused on inexpensive, low–power units that could do yeoman’s duty at a nav station without draining the batteries.  Some of these latter suppliers use basic processors and chipsets intended for mobile computing because of their inherently lower power requirements (and lower heat generation), while others swear by full–powered Pentium chips to handle the requirements of a fully networked system.

What you need will largely depend on what you intend to do.  If you’re going to install your system on a sailboat with a limited electrical budget and a snug nav station with limited air flow, a mobile chipset might be a good idea.  If you have the juice and the space for cooling, go with a full–blown Pentium Core Duo or higher.

Similarly important is the video processing capability.  Today’s vector charts are rich with detail, layers and colors and most experts agree that you need to have at least 128MB of available video memory in order to ensure the machine will re–draw the screen reasonably quick.  A computer with a dedicated video processing card is the best choice, as opposed to the integrated video offered on many budget systems.  As with most things in the computer world, more video memory would be even better.  Ask your vendor specifically about this and let them know the type of navigation software you plan to use.  (If you need help choosing, read Mad Mariner’s multi–part series on electronic charting software.)

The same more–is–better philosophy goes for RAM.  Simply stated, buy as much as you can afford. Nothing on any PC runs worse with more memory – it all runs far better.  Modern standards call for a minimum of 1 gigabyte of RAM.  Big charts and multiple programs will benefit from 2 gigabytes of RAM but it’s cheap enough that you should buy as much as the motherboard will accommodate.

Many marine PCs are still shipped with Windows XP because of its maturity and stability and the fact that drivers for most peripherals are readily available.  The complete switch to Microsoft Vista in marine computers may take another year or more while vendors finish writing drivers and users get more comfortable with the system.  If you do get a unit with Vista, make sure the software you want to use has been updated to run on Vista.

One of the major advantages of the marine computer alternative is that today’s units can take inputs from nearly every traditional marine sensor — radar, depth and fishfinders, weather sensors — that a chartplotter can, but they can also integrate sophisticated new monitoring systems, like those from Krill Systems, and the nearly unlimited entertainment hosting of the modern PC.  In short, you don’t have to settle for the tiny video window on a chartplotter to see your engine room or swim platform; you can have the boat’s computer display it full-screen on one of your multiple displays.  In fact, the notion of a “glass-bridge” need not be confined to the superyacht society any longer.  A typical higher-end PC will host many displays and easily integrate dozens of sensor and system inputs simultaneously.  Your imagination and helm space (and your budget) will be the only real limitations.

MONITORS

Indeed, monitors are among the most costly items required for an onboard computer rig, whether you buy a marinized unit or something off the shelf. But help is on the way.

Speaking of displays, these will be where you end up spending most of your money.  The nautical world has yet to catch up to the size and resolution capabilities of the consumer units most of us are familiar with from the office or home.  They do face stiffer technical challenges, however, and that contributes significantly to their higher cost.  Chief among these is the requirement to be visible in extremely bright light, yet also capable of being dimmed to almost nothing for night operations.  Add to that the challenge of dissipating heat somehow through a waterproof enclosure and you understand where the higher costs come from.  AmbientNav has some of the most impressive displays, with passive cooling technologies and mil-standard waterproof performance.

To–date, these monitors have been prohibitively expensive, on the order of $3,000 or more for a screen big enough to be useable. That is finally changing, as both technology and market demand combine to inspire new designs and lower prices. Argonaut, for example, one of the bigger marine PC companies, is now offering a 15–inch, waterproof, sunlight–readable display for less than $1,000. That may seem like a lot, considering you can buy a 32–inch widescreen monitor for your home with that kind of money. But it is a breakthrough in marine monitor pricing and bodes very well for the future.

WHERE TO BUY

So, who to buy from? There is an abundance of companies offering marine PCs, and the number is growing. For example, MarineNav, of Canada, is a relative newcomer but their founder, Kevan Merson, is a serious sailor who demands reliability and capability. His company, on Prince Edward Island, builds small PCs with lots of front connectors.  The company’s latest model, the Leviathan, has four processing cores, 4 TB of storage standard and can run up to 16 monitors in any combination of independent or cloned displays.  Vice President of production, Jean Guy LeClerc, uses his own company’s equipment, which is always a good sign.

LeClerc has the company’s Nautilus Extreme installed at the nav station of his Hunter 40.5, with all his sailing instruments and real–time weather services connected. The MarineNav systems can accommodate up to 1.5 terabytes of hard disk storage, which is nice if you, like LeClerc, keep your kids’ movies and music on the PC as well. MarineNav also makes a unique line of monitors that are gorgeous, wood–framed mirrors when unpowered but transform into full–featured, high–definition displays when needed. These make handy extra display stations in salons and staterooms. MarineNav PCs start at $1,395 for a very basic setup, including 60 gigs of storage, 512 megabytes of RAM and a 1.5 gigahertz processor.

Another possibility would be Comark Corporation’s unique PCs, which use flash drives for basic storage – conventional hard disks are optional. Comark President Steve Schott says recreational boaters often use Comark PCs as complements to dedicated chartplotters. Comark’s higher–end DuraMobile PC is a special, fanless unit that uses a finned aluminum heatsink to dissipate heat. The result is a quieter, less power–hungry and slightly more reliable unit (fans can fail). Comark says that their PCs will run even Nobeltec’s top–of–the–line Admiral navigation software with just an 8GB flash drive, although one may want to store charts on a hard disk instead of running them from discs.

For a high–end approach, Big Bay Technologies offers a dual PC Book system in which one of the units operates as a silent “mirror” in the background, ready to takeover instantly in case the first unit fails. That setup costs about $3,000.  You could add a 19–inch monitor for the pilothouse and a 17–inch waterproof monitor for the flybridge for about $3,000. The two displays cost $1,495 each (the smaller one is waterproof, hence the same price as the 19–inch).

Most marine computers have numerous USB, Firewire, LAN, modem and VGA connectors, as well as multiple video outputs.  Be sure the computer you buy has what you need. You should also look into the tech support offered by your manufacturer ahead of time.  You may even want to call the tech support number and see how long it takes to get a knowledgeable helper on the line.  If it takes an hour, you know what you are dealing with.  You don’t want to discover that tech support is by email–only if you’re offshore somewhere with only a satphone for communication. Similarly, make sure you understand the warranty, whether it includes all system components and what the repair and return policies are.

Some of the bigger, longer established vendors like VEI Systems have earned their business with a stellar support reputation.  They are unlikely to be the cheapest solution available, but if reliability and support are important, consider buying from them.  Don’t ignore some of the smaller companies, though.  Many have also been around for more than 10 years.  The easiest way to get to know them is to visit at a boat show near you; they’re usually at all the big shows.  Visit as many as possible with a good notion of what you’d like to do and then ask them all for recommendations about “how” to do what you want.  Avoid going into a discussion with pre-conceived notions about the solution.  You might be surprised at the creativity and capabilities you might get.

Copyright ©  2008 by OceanLines LLC