psneeld
Guru
I hope to re-do the electronics on my boat in the next year or two.
One huge factor would be charts. I'm really tired of paying every year for updated charts that I can download from NOAA for free every week. If I am forced to stick with a proprietary format, I'd probably stay with C-Map only because I'm already set up to use them from my previous boat.
Any company that made a MFD that could use downloaded charts would immediately gain me as a customer.
The second factor would be how it connects to different input devices.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to move one MFD between the upper & lower helm. In theory I could buy one twice as nice if I didn't need to buy 2. That makes me wonder if Ethernet-based radar is really available yet or if that's still just talk.
Not positive....but I thought the Simrad/Lowrance 3G/4G radat used eiternet cable with their RADAR...if so running an extension cable shouldn't be a big deal.