MFD simulators or "live" demos anywhere?

[CompuNerd]

I'd love to test chartplotter or MFD interfaces to get a feel for how they work. Anyone know of a way to do this short of driving into a hive of scum and villainy (e.g., a retail store)?

When I was developing software and product demos we did our darndest to make a semi-functional system available over the internet so users could get a feel for how it all worked, especially as one of our key selling points was usability. In the chartplotter and MFD world, the vendors I'm looking at (Garmin, Raymarine, Furuno) seem to rely on retail kiosks and happy-clappy Youtube videos.***

If you have pointers to anything that doesn't involve a salesdroid, care to share?



*** "It only takes seven keystrokes to add a stock ticker to the bottom of our fish finder! The competition CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!" Wow, Jim, that's incredible!"

 

[danderer]

Garmin used to do this in the aviation world -- I really appreciated it, both to try their products before purchase and to practice with them at home.

 

[Greg Salish Cruiser]

Garmin used to do this in the aviation world -- I really appreciated it, both to try their products before purchase and to practice with them at home.

Following with massive attention - great topic.

 

[caltexflanc]

In addition to YouTubes, you can always download the operating manuals and various tutorials.

You can also get references on good retailers; really they are out there but don't bother them if you have no intention of buying from them.

 

[CompuNerd]

@Danderer, yeah -- didn't see this kind of critter on any of the sites. I can understand the sales/ marketing aspect of not having demos available; they want to get you into a retailer/ installer to discuss advantages and disadvantages of competitors, and sell installation and service/ maintenance. With this kind of big-ticket item and all the potential pitfalls, I get it.

Sure would be nice though to play around with at least a few of the buttons and blinkenlights and come up with a list of questions for the retailer later.

@Caltex: Videos and manuals can only go so far; most manuals are designed to be used with the product at hand, while videos don't allow product interaction. I can do some interpolation with static references but out on the water I won't be interpolating, I'll be trying to use the darn thing.

Lastly, I definitely support local retailers. I don't go to Boat Barn, kick the tires, bug the salesdroid, and then go buy from the cheapest online source. There are people like that out there (the industry term for them is "cheap bastards") but I'm not one of them. If I take advantage of a retailer and the salesperson's time, then if I like the product it's only fair they should be rewarded with a sale.

 

[jhall767]

Standard Horizon used to have a nice one. But that chartplotter didn't support NMEA 2000. Now I think they are out of the chart plotter businses.

 

[Comodave]

I would buy a system that will have all the devices you want/need. Then accept the way they do things and learn how to work them. It is better to learn a system’s quirks than have a system that will not support the devices you want. I would buy a system that is made by one manufacturer so that when you have a problem the vendors are not pointing at each other as to who’s problem it is.

 

[CompuNerd]

Yeah, that's the plan anyway. Just looking to minimize the quirks I get to put up with before the actual purchase.

 

[Comodave]

Well, something you may see as a quirk I may see as a feature. Basically just learn the system thoroughly and whatever it is will be fine. I still say get a system that has a full range of devices and just learn it. It will become second nature and feel just fine.

 

[rsn48]

Here's a tutorial on the Garmin 8612, I have the same thing only bigger - the 8616. There are no buttons to twist, its a touch screen. You can however buy a touch pad, kind of like a tv remote to interphase with the 86XX series. I thought I would want a touchpad but after using my Garmin MFD, I don't see the need for it. Its a separate stand alone purchase.

Tutorial:

Propaganda on using Garmin: {A Jeff Cote presentation at the 2019 Vancouver Boat Show. He discusses Garmin reliability and backwards usability.}

Another Garmin 86XX series tutorial:

 

[sbman]

I think it would be really difficult to get familiar enough with a platform until you actually use it on a boat in real situations. I've spent a lot of time configuring Simrad MFDs, autopilots, AIS and other Simrad equipment and the result is that I would never buy any of it.

I find the Simrad system to be hodge-podge in setup, odd menus that are spread across multiple screens, functions that are related not found in related menus, etc... Then there's the issue that when you update to a new version of the MFD software, it can completely reconfigure your view to the 'new' format without any warning or choice to opt out, or updates to the manuals and you get to learn how to use it again, and it sometimes resets portions of the configuration as well.

That's beside the fact that neither the manual or their support staff seem to know exactly how the thing works. I found that some settings are shared with other MFDs on the same network, automatically. Simrad support told me that it doesn't do that, but I could see it with my own eyes. Change something on one MFD and see the other one update, not all settings, just some, and no documentation covers what is shared and what is not.

For an example of a setup issue: When attempting to setup the autopilot (A Simrad unit), there was no way to enable it from the MFD. There was a button to do so on the screen but it was 'greyed out'. I talked to Simrad support and they told me that you have to have an autopilot control wand to use the autopilot at all, that the on screen controls don't work until you have the wand. I read the manual and they never mention that as a requirement. I then found (on my own) if you jump through a couple of odd hoops (the details of which escape me at the moment) in the menus, the on screen controls become enabled without the wand. (that install does not have the wand). In the end I got it working without the wand, but being told it wasn't possible and then finding out how to do it on my own doesn't inspire confidence in the system or it's support.

Given all of that, 95% of my usage has been setup and deployment. I have very little helm time using the system as a user. Possibly after it's all setup and ready it's a joy to use; however I have had to set the same system up now several times because it has updated itself to new software version (granted the users did approve the 'upgrade' by clicking a button to allow it to do so) and the upgrade reset portions of the configuration without warning.

I've also found that the MFDs don't seem to integrate very well with other brands of equipment, sometimes deciding to suddenly ignore other non Simrad N2K devices (while underway) until you reset the MFD and then it magically talks to those N2K devices again.