Screens for gamers (and nav systems)

[trawlercap]

https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-computer-monitors

I drove a 123’ Alaska fish boat forever. We would come to Ballard (Seattle) every two years for shipyard. I insisted on at least one new electronic upgrade every time down. I learned how critical my screens were. A sub par screen makes it so much harder to operate. Your next upgrade consider a gamer screen. Game players want the fastest refresh and clarity. Visiting Captains always mentioned the sharp images on my screens, radars screens, dual plotters, big fish finders, current dopplers, forward and side scan sonar, net sonar, engine systems etc. your eyes will love you for sharp fast refresh. Check my link for examples.

 

[jungpeter]

Hi Trawlercap,

Yes, a good monitor for ANY display vastly improves situational awareness at the helm. However, with all due respect, a few caveats to your suggestion that a "gamer" monitor makes a suitable marine navigational display:

a. "clarity" is primarily a function of screen resolution. These days, many desktop monitors (or flat panel displays, for that matter) are available with 1080p resolution (1920x1280 pixels), with screen sizes well-suited for onboard use. This resolution allows charts to be zoomed in to a level that simply pixelates digital raster charts. Ditto to the maximum extent of the digital data available in a vector chart. Thus, searching out ultra-high resolution for a multi-function display on a powerboat is useless. And desktop monitors with this resolution can be had for only a few hundred dollars.

b. "refresh rate" is a measure of how fast the screen refreshes itself if the image changes. Given most of us operate our powerboats at less-than supersonic speeds, refresh rates in excess of 60Hz are, again, useless. Even ATC radar refresh rates are on the order of 0.2 Hz. At 10 knots, a boat moves only a few feet per second, so a refresh rate sufficient to resolve that movement is a fraction of a Hz. And while depth sounders operate at Khz rates, does a boater really need to resolve depth changes at similar refresh rates?

c. Your suggestion overlooks one hugely important specification for marine navigation, and that is display brightness. While monitors (either discrete, or via a multi-function display) located in a relatively shaded environment (inside a pilothouse, for instance) are easily visible in daylight with brightness levels of ~300 cd/m2 (nits), these monitors are useless even under a bimini on a flying bridge. Thus, "business-class", or "gamer" monitors, with anything less than a brightness specification of ~1000 nits, used on a sunny day on a flying bridge, may as well stay at home on the desktop where they are designed to be used.

Unfortunately "high-bright" display monitors are EXPENSIVE. The best bang-for-the-buck marine display monitors I have found are industrial monitors, such as those at https://tru-vumonitors.com/. And one can pay several times as much for "marinized" versions at places like Furuno. Real, functional MFDs for use in any location other than a pilothouse ain't cheap.

Regards,

Pete

 

[Alaskaflyer]

Sunlight readable!!!

In aviation many have switched to the iPad or other consumer tablets running aviation apps to replace off the shelf mapping/data devices, but their biggest pitfall is poor visibility in sunlight, even with polarizing screen protectors. When I see boats running black box nav systems using consumer computer displays I often wonder how visible they are on a sunny afternoon.

 

[MYTraveler]

Proper polarization is as important to flybridge (outdoor) use as brightness. Polarized sunglasses are almost universally polarized vertically. Lots of computer terminals, if polarized, are polarized horizontally, with the result the screen appears black unless you tilt your head sideways. I learned this the expensive way.

 

[trawlercap]

I can never use screens with my polarized glasses, but I never really knew why. Thanks?

 

[trawlercap]

Reference to brightness, I never had a flying bridge. But some screens would not dim down enough to run in the dark. We had to send a few back for this fault.