Anyone with MaxSea TimeZero Explorer Yet?

[s/v Jedi]

I am about to order this for integrating it with the NN3D system that's gonna be in the same order and find it surprising there's no discussion about it yet!

How about that radar overlay support, chart license sharing and even chart-server features!??

ciao!
Nick.

[CanCanCase]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I am about to order this for integrating it with the NN3D system that's gonna be in the same order and find it surprising there's no discussion about it yet!

How about that radar overlay support, chart license sharing and even chart-server features!??

ciao!
Nick.

I've been promised TimeZero for the last two boat shows... The company that makes MaxSea just bought Nobeltec from Jeppeson, so it might be time to pop some popcorn, open a cold frosty beverage and wait and see what happens with Nobeltec, MaxSea and TimeZero... I sure wouldn't want to buy any new Furuno plotting gear until we get some hint of what's coming and what will be legacy compatible.

-Case

[Agility]

I saw MaxSea Time zero at the boat show">Annapolis boat show and it looked ready for prime time. Anybody using it yet?

[barnakiel]

I had it for a moment but turned out completely useless compared to my hand bearing compass and the sextant.

Q - Does it use the wave info in weather routing? I know they tried this out on Foncia.

;-)))
barnie

[s/v Jedi]

Barnie: it just released days ago so I think you're mixing things up ;-)

The wave info in weather routing: yes, I have that since MaxSea v10.1 It works fine but you must set enough wavepoints... I once let it calc me a route from Curacao to Margerita (nasty little trip) and it wanted to steer me right over land in Bonaire and the reefs of the Aves... because wave height was nice and low over there ;-) An extra waypoint south of Bonaire was all what was needed to steer clear.

I just saw praise for MaxSea TimeZero on the Panbo blog... it should be available now! Imagine, wifi-notebook to run around the boat with but with real-time nav, AIS and radar right on the screen!!!

cheers,
Nick.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

...it just released days ago so I think you're mixing things up ;-)...

...The wave info in weather routing: yes, I have that since MaxSea v10.1 ...

... Imagine, wifi-notebook to run around the boat ...

Released - well, here in the United European Emirates ... it has been around like for ages. Actually, it is a bit passe ...

Wave routing - I mean wave routing - the software to adjust course for wave forecast - sort of like using a 'wave polar diagram' of the boat. For a racer it is for speed, but maybe I could use it on my boat to steer the course to go thru minimum of waves at optimum of angles ! (Why's explained below).

Yes, I have imagined. A Deerfoot, me, and the wifi netbook. Now, dear Nick, imagine my 26 footer. Now you know why I would love to be able to have the wave routing tool in MaxSea ;-)

Cheers,
b.

[s/v Jedi]

Barnie,

You are really mixing things up. They just got TimeZero working properly on the Furuno plotters, you can't have it for ages in the EU. You must be talking about previous versions of MaxSea.

Your info on wave-routing is correct, but it is part of the weather routing. It uses everything: a route to see where you want to go, your boat's polar diagram to determine what the boat can do, grib files to determine wind direction, wind-speed and wave height (well, at least anticipate on trends from the forecast in the gribs) and the wind-instruments on the boat to determine actual conditions and trying to find a trend that is somewhat like forecast but might be shifted in time. You then instruct it on how you want to do the passage: fastest time or most comfort. Fastest time won't be scared of waves but only if it means actually getting there faster. Most comfort is the ride you're looking for. It will project every possible tack with lay lines and choose the best. It will adapt if it finds actual conditions different from the gribs. It is sophisticated.... but not perfect, like I wrote: it doesn't look at the chart to see if the route it calculates has enough water for your boat, even steering onto land. So you need to provide brain-power assistance by smartly putting the waypoints to help the algorithm.

This stuff is in what they call the "performance module" of maxsea.

You do need the NMEA interface with the wind instruments and a way to get the grib files. It's also only sensible for upwind sails of course.

Racers feed it with much more data, like heel and leeway (from B&G computer). After determining a tack, they switch to the "skipper display": one big number showing the percentage of the boats calculated performance. If it ain't 100%, the skipper can curse the crew into doing better ;-)
But racers have hundreds of sets of polars for the same boat in differing sea and wind conditions. They develop these during training and actual races (the performance and conditions are recorded, evaluated and that might lead to a new or modified polar) and it's an ever lasting exercise. So, for cruisers it'll always be a rough estimate.

cheers,
Nick.

[Paul Elliott]

Ben Ellison (Panbo: Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog: MaxSea Time Zero, live at last) has just got his copy of Time Zero. I guess it's finally shipping. I wasn't planning to get it, but I suppose I'll look at it anyway.

[chala]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Now, dear Nick, imagine my 26 footer.

Is this the boat with all the seacocks?

Originally Posted by barnakiel

But god did I have a swell conversation with the inspector that came to fill my seacocks with his washing liquid. And he had a swell time, I guess, trying to get to all 33 seacocks that I have very well hidden in my little shooter ;-))

;-)))

b.

[barnakiel]

Jedi - OK, I admit - I was just trying to impress some ignorants. My ver is 10.1 or thereabout. The new one as soon as I find someone innocent enough to get it in their boat. I will love to test the wave routing incorporated - my ver only does the winds magic - no allowance for 'by speed' nor 'by comfort' options.

Chala - 26 footer that's me, 33 seacocks - that's also me, that is the number I gave to the AUS in Darwin when he asked me to grant him access to ALL seacocks in my boat so that he could fill them up with dish washing liquid. I meant to say 100 - but decided he would have considered it a joke.

PS The Aus guy gave up after he got thru the cockpit drains, engine intake and head outlet ....

barnie

[s/v Jedi]

Barnie: I think your routing module will do waves too.... when the grib has that info and MaxSea understands it. There's a lot of gribs out there that don't have the wave heights or are messed up.

cheers,
Nick.

[Christian Van H]

Nick, say I wanted charting, depth, RADAR, and routing on my laptop with this software and all the necessary hardware...How much in US$ are we roughly talking? BTW, isn't your native language English?

EDIT: DOH!!! No, your blog is Dutch, I believe. Although my name is Van Horn, I cant read a word of it, which really bums me out because you are one of the most knowledgeable people on this forum. Damn. Is there a button I can push to translate it all into English?

[barnakiel]

Jedi - THX - I will fool around with the toggles and the help file - perhaps I overlooked sth. Indeed the GRIBs I use most often are waveless (grib.us).

b.

[s/v Jedi]

I think it's $1,275 for the complete thing but I don't have a clue what's all in there until I get it ;-)

I want to see how this works over wifi instead of wired Ethernet. I also want to see if it will run on the netbooks although they don't meet the requirements as listed by MaxSea. But Apple has 10" notebooks with the correct CPU so there's more options available.

My native language is Dutch. I also speak a bit English, German, French, Spanish and Papiamento ;-)

cheers,
Nick.

[jglauds]

I've just had this installed on my laptop (Ethrnet) and have found it intuitive and interactive in ways not easily replicated at the MFD. I'm brand new to marine electronics, having skipped from sextants, RDFs, and the rare Loran, to today's world. The new MaxSea Time Zero took me 5 minutes to navigate through, with a nice sense of customization. Maybe this is par for the course, as I have no real reference, but as a lifelong Mac user, it's nice to see an intuitive interface. We just took our 44' catamaran 'ile de Grace' on a 145 miles overnight down the Bay to Norfolk, on our way south for a 2-3 year circumnavigation. (I'm also carrying paper charts).

So far, so good.

/jon