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Random Quote: A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child fish. Jim Porter
I was just over at Panbo and Ben Ellison reports that Garmin will release their new touch screen GPS/Map in April. It's the GPSMAP 5212. Apparently lot's of stores are now taking pre-orders?
Out fishing on my cc that screen would soon be a mess. Water spots, fish slime, etc.
I think it'd be a really nice thing for enclosed pilot houses and protected helms on boats used for cruising. Large fishing boats, too, where the captain is not involved in handling bait, tackle, and the catch.
are you guys really that messy?? the new garmin touchscreens have all the same buttons as the non touchscreens so if you have a hand full of crap then you'll just get it all over the buttons. i would love to see pictures of your plotters...the buttons must be covered under layers and layers of sh!t!
i dunno, maybe i will have to live w/it for a while before i realize that i can never use it because my hands are always covered in crud.
Messy? Live bait, taking fish off of hooks, small boats, rinse off limited to dunking hands in the water over the side, anchor handling, splash and spray, etc? Not every boat is as large as the one pictured as your sig. A small cc like mine has virtually no weather protection and the helm is completely exposed except for a small windshield. We fish year round down here and it gets damn chilly if not freezing cold sometimes. I don't always want to rinse my hands off after putting fresh bait on the hook. Usually I just wipe my hands on a handy fishing towel. After landing a fish I pretty much always rinse my hands if I've had to handle the rascal. I do sometimes get through a bottle of water rinsing the screen after running for awhile. Then I wipe it down with the microfiber towel furnished by Lowrance.
Small boat is certainly my choice but a touchscreen display is pretty useless on MY boat as opposed to YOUR boat.
It's all about the target market. I'd bet Garmin didn't plan on a touch screen bwing used by the boater with a CC and fish guts all over his hands. Different products for different needs.
__________________ __________________________ "Jennifer B."
2006 Sea Ray 270 Amberjack
Setauket, NY (Long Island)
It's all about the target market. I'd bet Garmin didn't plan on a touch screen bwing used by the boater with a CC and fish guts all over his hands. Different products for different needs.
completely correct...I'll take one without touch please...the screens are sensitive enuf leaving them alone....
I dunno..think about how grimey wait staff's hands get in restaurants, and most use touch screen check out and food order entry. Those screens seem to stay pretty usable, with very little maintenance.
I was just over at Panbo and Ben Ellison reports that Garmin will release their new touch screen GPS/Map in April. It's the GPSMAP 5212. Apparently lot's of stores are now taking pre-orders?
Garmin is not happy with dealers pre selling and releasing info on this product. I'm happy to see OEM's pushing for more technology in the Marine market.
Butch Davis - 1/2/2007 9:34 AM I was just over at Panbo and Ben Ellison reports that Garmin will release their new touch screen GPS/Map in April. It's the GPSMAP 5212. Apparently lot's of stores are now taking pre-orders?
Garmin is not happy with dealers pre selling and releasing info on this product. I'm happy to see OEM's pushing for more technology in the Marine market.
i think garmin's ability to keep the launch of their new line of equipment a secret has been remarkable. the first i heard of the 4xxx series was off of their website, not one rumor before that. that is completely different than previous launches. i don't understand why the announcement of the 5xxx series is being phased compared to the 4xxx though.
As I sit here wearing my Crocs, I would guess that Garmin is going to launch the 4000 series before the 5000. They will probably use the same base software with the touch panel layer added on. Therefore, they would not want to announce the 5000's until they get more of the interfaces built.
And am really going to have to take my Crocs off? Maybe Garmin can do some touch panel usability testing with Crocs-clad feet....
__________________ __________________________ "Jennifer B."
2006 Sea Ray 270 Amberjack
Setauket, NY (Long Island)
So anyone seen one? How will this compare to Raymarine E80 and E120, Furuno Navnet2 10.4"? From what I've seen looks real nice AND significantly less expensive than the others for a comparable unit......
Very happy with current Garmin, but in the market now and leaning toward Furuno.
What Drew wrote is exactly what I thought when I saw this on Panbo.
It's one thing to use touch screens in good lighting conditions when you don't need to see a lot of detail, but generally that's not the case out on the water in an open boat. In direct sun light all the greasy fingerprints will hinder seeing the small detail of the charts. And its not really even a question of having dirty hands. There's always some grease on the fingers.
No touch screen for me. My 3006c fogs up now, thats all I need, is more of a mess. Hopefully there is some blood and guts on everything. Thats why it takes a couple of hours after each trip to clean the boat. Thank god for my raw water wash down.
__________________ Scout 210 Sportfish Honda-150
The "HOOK & LADDER"
So anyone seen one? How will this compare to Raymarine E80 and E120, Furuno Navnet2 10.4"? From what I've seen looks real nice AND significantly less expensive than the others for a comparable unit......
Very happy with current Garmin, but in the market now and leaning toward Furuno.
No touch screens were at the NY Boat Show. Only the 4000 series units (and the smaller ones, too). Screen was very impressive. Much improved resolution, color, and brightness vs. the 2000 and 3000 series Garmin. Very comparable and perhaps better than the Raymarine E-series.
Actually let's make a spec comparison. I just looked up the screen specs to compare the the E-120 w/ the 4212.
E-120: Screen Size - 12.1 inches; Resolution - 800x600 (SGVA); Colors - 256.
4212: Screen Size - 12.1 inches; Resolution - 1024x768 (XGA); Colors - 4096?
Colors are not listed on-line, but it's in the brochure I have at home. I'll confirm later.
So from a pure spec comparison, the Garmin is superior. And the SRP prices are better for Garmin:
4212: $2666.66. Includes full US Coastal charts and GPS antenna.
E-120: $4,600.00 No charts, no GPS antenna. Raystar 125 List - $365, Platinum Charts List - $299.
I'm NOT picking on Raymarine - just using it as a comarison for specs and price.
Brad
__________________ __________________________ "Jennifer B."
2006 Sea Ray 270 Amberjack
Setauket, NY (Long Island)
b_arrington,
From what I remember there were 2 touch screen units at the show. The 1 for the US with built in charts and the second for overseas applications. I tried to get to use them but there were alot of people circled around waiting. The reps were not to familar with the opperation, he kept bouncing around to try to get from map to the gauge screen and couldnt figure out how to split the 2 or overlay the guages. They were deffinately touch screens though.
Garmin Touch Screen 
