Touch screen technology is everywhere for many of us with the iPhone, soon the iPad and on laptop screens and now its moving into the marine world.
Manufacturers have learnt that intuitive, customizable screen navigation, backed up with online graphics based instruction ‘manuals’ make onboard information assimilation much easier. Touch screen controls are faster and easier to use and these are now appearing in the marketplace.
On big flybridge boats there are few issues but when you want to use a sophisticated touch screen system on open decks on fishing boats or yachts, it’s a real world challenge.
Driving rain and solid spray are serious problems if they are randomly recording ‘touches’. You really need absolutely dependable navigation systems when conditions are toughest, so the very idea of a navigation screen going crazy is not something a boater wants to contemplate.
Enter Raymarine's new E-Series Widescreen’s Hybrid Touch user interface.
We recently had the opportunity to see this run through its paces albiet on a sunny day on Sydney's Pittwater, certainly not threatening conditions but we were impressed by the overal unit.
It provides both the speed and convenience of touch screen, with the security of Touch Lock (out) and keypad control. The touch screen is programmed to ignore false inputs from light rain, spray etc. and the Touch Lock feature enables total button-based operation in the toughest rain and water conditions.
The E Series Widescreen comes in three sizes – 9', 12' and 14' screens the E90W, E120W and E140W.
For marine use the heavy duty glass, scratch resistant touch screen with anti-glare optics delivers a reliable and practical touch screen experience and the LCD display technology delivers strong colour and good visibility.
The new user interface starts from a home page screen that delivers control, which can be quickly customised for the needs of a particular boat and crew.
The touch screen allows easy chart control and panning, quick access to chart and navigation data simply by tapping the screen, while a familiar ‘qwerty’ on-screen keyboard is used to edit and name routes and waypoints.
The E-Series Widescreen series is multifunction with GPS Navigation/plotting, fishfinder, radar and video.
Here is a silent run through of the features of the Raymarine’s new E-Series Widescreen’s Hybrid Touch system
The E Series Widescreen has been launched with preloaded Navionics Silver cartography with ready-to-navigate charts, and is compatible with Navionics charts including Gold, Platinum, and Platinum Plus with Turbo View. The chart plotter is now easier than ever with the touch screen. You can quickly mark routes or waypoints with your finger and use the on-screen keyboard to name and manage them.
The Raymarine E Series Widescreen has many new features and functions. Having spent a lifetime using admiralty charts which are still a mystery for many, the navigation experience with Navionics Turbo View technology which presents a 3D combination of high resolution aerial photos, port photos, 3D underwater contour views, coastline points of interest and port data, provide a data set which will deliver confidence to any operator.
And just in case of moments of inattention, an anti-collision alarm uses boat dimensions such as draught, height, and beam to safely navigate shallow water and help avoid chart hazards.
The new Raymarine HD Radar scanner features, configurable by E Series Widescreen, include 48rpm high speed scanning and Bird mode, which optimizes the radar display to track low flying flocks of sea birds. Seabirds on the water can mean schools of baitfish and hence larger predators.
Boaters can navigate confidently at night, in driving rain, or sea mist with a networked Raymarine HD Digital radome or open array antenna.
HD Digital radar provides an impressively clear radar picture with much more defined contact echoes and much easier to interpret target presentation.
On small boats there can be a single widescreen display network, or on larger vessels, a multiple E-Series Widescreen network with up to eight SeaTalks network devices.
The E Series also supports SeaTalk and SeaTalking protocols for seamless integration with a Raymarine external GPS sensor, Life Tag, SeaTalk instruments and SeaTalk autopilots. Standard NMEA2000 support allows integration with third party electronics and engine monitoring. There is also a video input for an on-board camera or DVD.
All in all its another impressive step forward for Raymarine and the marine consumer.
Ben Bowley, Managing Director, Raymarine Asia Pty Ltd sums up..
'Raymarine has again revolutionised the Marine Electronics market with the New E wide series' 'We’ve combined the best of touch screen technology with the reliability of hard key operation and called it ‘Hybridtouch’, thus providing customers the best of both worlds.
'We’ve also totally redesigned the user interface to make the new E wide series even easier to use by including features such as the ‘home screen’ button and providing access to onboard tutorials'
The E Series Widescreen retails from $5269 (Inc GST). For more information, please contact Raymarine Asia Pty Ltd on (02) 9479 4800, visit www.raymarine.com.au or see www.HybridTouch.com.
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