Thoughts invited. Would you have 1 x 16" or 2 x 12" displays in your wheelhouse? I'm leaning towards 2 x Garmin 8412's side-by-side, that way can dedicate one screen to a particular function and still fiddle with the other? Or would we be better with the larger 16" screen overall?
2 x 12" or 1 x 16" display?
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Comodave
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I have a 9” and a 12” since 2 12s wouldn’t fit. I like having the redundancy of 2 displays in case one dies. Also like to display the depth sounder in Realvision 3D on the 9”.
Lostsailor13
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I use 3 9 inch displays,one for chart plotter one for radar and one for RealVision
O C Diver
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I have one 15" and two 8" displays for MFDs. I like having at least one large display that can either be the plotter or the radar depending on which is more important at the current time. The two smaller displays usually have the radar and video depth sounder running. Added a 24" PC display this spring to run Coastal Explorer. Really happy with that decision.
Ted
Ted
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Tough call, and pretty personal based on usage. The vast majority of recreational boaters rarely (if ever) rely on their radar. They avoid inclement weather, darkness, and/or boat in relatively confined areas, or the areas are so crowded that a radar screen lights up like a Jackson Pollock painting. Most boaters rely heavily on their chartplotter and seem to like dual-zoom: close in highway view and a broader scale (I'm not keen on this as the highway view is invariably over-zoomed, but that's a different topic). So devoting MFD real estate to radar may not make sense depending on your boating style. And there are other examples of use-dependent decisions such as fishermen wanting large scale bottom view. Also depends on whether you are running your A/P on a separate control or via your MFD. Same with other monitoring functions such as engine sensors. You can display a LOT of info on an MFD, question is what's valuable to you for your style of boating?
I'm severely limited in MFD real estate. I went with a single screen but would have gone dual if I had room. A/P is a dedicated control head and I added three 4" digital displays. One always shows SOG, one depth, one DTG/XTE nav info. All of these can be displayed in the margin of the MFD, but somehow gets lost or rearranged. I prefer to keep the MFD display as clean as possible. What is displayed on MFD varies depending on what's needed at the time. When anchoring or in shallow waters, forward scan bottom sounder is primary, chart plotter secondary. Standard running on a crowded day, chart plotter at a zoom-out level so I can navigate via visual ATONs. Limited visibility - radar gets center stage, chart plotter second. Docking, wind instrument and maybe rudder angle indicator You get the idea.
I place a high value on the instruments being easily understood by my wife (and crew of aboard), or at least the core information which is why I went with 4" displays dedicated to certain data. Plus they are relatively inexpensive.
Peter
I'm severely limited in MFD real estate. I went with a single screen but would have gone dual if I had room. A/P is a dedicated control head and I added three 4" digital displays. One always shows SOG, one depth, one DTG/XTE nav info. All of these can be displayed in the margin of the MFD, but somehow gets lost or rearranged. I prefer to keep the MFD display as clean as possible. What is displayed on MFD varies depending on what's needed at the time. When anchoring or in shallow waters, forward scan bottom sounder is primary, chart plotter secondary. Standard running on a crowded day, chart plotter at a zoom-out level so I can navigate via visual ATONs. Limited visibility - radar gets center stage, chart plotter second. Docking, wind instrument and maybe rudder angle indicator You get the idea.
I place a high value on the instruments being easily understood by my wife (and crew of aboard), or at least the core information which is why I went with 4" displays dedicated to certain data. Plus they are relatively inexpensive.
Peter
magna 6882
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I have two 8612 and usually split screen one so chart on one and sonar and cameras on the other.There are times i which i had three so i could get wind or radar. I might use an ipad and mount permanently for some funtions.
On the RCMSAR boat the screen was a Raymarine MFD, maybe 9", and set up as a split screen. On my own boat I use a laptop, 16"screen for charting, with separate GPS, Radar and Sounder smaller screens, 6" to 9" on each. I MUCH prefer the single view 16" chart to the 9" even when used as a single screen, and found the split screen size hopeless. In the fast boat, more screen size was necessary, but there just wasn't anywhere to mount it.
If I was starting over on my own boat, I would go as big as possible for charting on one screen, maybe overlay AIS, but with the option of putting AIS on a separate screen, maybe with Radar. Depth isn't very important to me, until in an anchorage, so separate and smaller is adequate.
If I was starting over on my own boat, I would go as big as possible for charting on one screen, maybe overlay AIS, but with the option of putting AIS on a separate screen, maybe with Radar. Depth isn't very important to me, until in an anchorage, so separate and smaller is adequate.
AlanT
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My current boat is the first that came with two displays. I love the flexibility.
Cruising while towing a tender I have the rear camera display up on one screen and the other dedicated to chart navigation.
When not towing and coastal, (Puget Sound) I have one display zoomed in and the other zoomed out. AIS enabled on both. radar overlay available if needed (rarely).
Redundancy mentioned by others is another advantage.
Definitely my advice is the two screens.
~A
Cruising while towing a tender I have the rear camera display up on one screen and the other dedicated to chart navigation.
When not towing and coastal, (Puget Sound) I have one display zoomed in and the other zoomed out. AIS enabled on both. radar overlay available if needed (rarely).
Redundancy mentioned by others is another advantage.
Definitely my advice is the two screens.
~A
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