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Old 05-10-2015, 08:23   #31
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

I have a Zeus2, actually, two of the MFDs, but they are still in their boxes, along with a bunch of other related toys. I'm still overhauling the boat for a cruise next summer, but I just completed an install of two Simrad Evo2 displays (and all the toys) on a friend's boat. All computers (which MFDs really are) take time to boot up. The Zeus2, and other brands of a more recent fabrication, are still faster than their predecessors. If the Simrad products don't meet your needs, then go spend a bunch more money on a Furuno system. I hope you like them better, though, because otherwise you will never appreciate these more modern devices. I am so ready to go cruising again with this instrumentation.
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Old 05-10-2015, 14:44   #32
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Our Furuno NN3D takes over 2 minutes to boot. Maybe 3-5 minutes - it is insufferable. Ten's of seconds would be great - unless the OP was talking over 12 ten's of seconds…

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Old 05-10-2015, 18:32   #33
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

All MFDs take time to boot - some more than others. I agree that the NN3D systems are horrible in this respect. Simrad/B&G/Navico are among the faster that I have seen.

If you are in unsettled weather and concerned about dragging, I think you just need to leave the device on. That makes normal power draw important, which it is anyway.

I have found that dimming the display on whatever device you are dealing with will significantly reduce power consumption. I've taken to leaving my 4KW Furuno radar on while at anchor if I'm concerned about dragging. It draws very little power with the display dimmed all the way down. I also leave Coastal Explorer running 24x7 and use boundary circles as an anchor alarm. Again, dimming the monitor down all the way reduces power consumption to around 10W.

This brings up an important consideration when designing an electronics suite, namely what parts remain powered all the time, or at least while at anchor. To me the critical elements are

1) GPS

2) Weather

3) Chart plotter

Next in line is Radar.

I leave my N2K network on all the time. That gets me GPS and the weather station, plus some other stuff. And I leave Coastal Explorer running all the time so I know where I am and have an anchor alarm and can get out of Dodge if required. Next in line is radar since that shows you with no uncertainty what's around you including distance to shore, other boats, crab traps, etc. But I only run the radar overnight if the weather is unsettled or I have a poor anchor set.
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Old 05-10-2015, 18:33   #34
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

On my T7 (1st Gen) the only thing that takes "10's of seconds" is a GPS fix form a cold start. This seems pretty normal to me. Every GPS unit I've ever had takes 30 seconds or so to get enough satellites to put out something of a fix.
When I hit the breaker and then get to the helm the T7 is already on the warning screen waiting for my "OK". I hit that and I'm pretty sure it puts me at the last place it remembers me being without much of a delay at all. The next thing that takes a bit is the GPS fix. While its getting the satellites figured out all the other functions seem to be ready to go.
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Old 05-10-2015, 18:44   #35
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanglewood View Post
All MFDs take time to boot - some more than others. I agree that the NN3D systems are horrible in this respect. Simrad/B&G/Navico are among the faster that I have seen.

If you are in unsettled weather and concerned about dragging, I think you just need to leave the device on. That makes normal power draw important, which it is anyway.

I have found that dimming the display on whatever device you are dealing with will significantly reduce power consumption. I've taken to leaving my 4KW Furuno radar on while at anchor if I'm concerned about dragging. It draws very little power with the display dimmed all the way down. I also leave Coastal Explorer running 24x7 and use boundary circles as an anchor alarm. Again, dimming the monitor down all the way reduces power consumption to around 10W.

This brings up an important consideration when designing an electronics suite, namely what parts remain powered all the time, or at least while at anchor. To me the critical elements are

1) GPS

2) Weather

3) Chart plotter

Next in line is Radar.

I leave my N2K network on all the time. That gets me GPS and the weather station, plus some other stuff. And I leave Coastal Explorer running all the time so I know where I am and have an anchor alarm and can get out of Dodge if required. Next in line is radar since that shows you with no uncertainty what's around you including distance to shore, other boats, crab traps, etc. But I only run the radar overnight if the weather is unsettled or I have a poor anchor set.
Phones and tablets have pretty much taken over the at anchor bit at night for us. Position, charts, weather, boundary circles, alarms, etc are all there right at the berth and on the saloon table. They draw almost nothing when already charged. I don't see any point of leaving the radar on unless one is in a really tight and dodgy place - but not being in that type of place seems easier to me. Maybe it would be good to see if someone is dragging into you in low visibility.

In reality, though, we tend to pick our anchorages and anchoring gear so that there will little reason to need to leave - therefore it is very rare that we have any type of alarm set or need to look at nav data.

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Old 05-10-2015, 20:28   #36
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Get a Vesper Marine 850 AIS which has an anchor watch. Not loud enough? Hook it to a louder alarm. 3 watts.

I used my Z2 this weekend without any issue. Connected to the Seatalk to STNG, and an Actisense box, as well as a 850 to the video port. Everything works as advertised.
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Old 06-10-2015, 05:03   #37
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

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Originally Posted by colemj View Post
I don't see any point of leaving the radar on unless one is in a really tight and dodgy place - but not being in that type of place seems easier to me. Maybe it would be good to see if someone is dragging into you in low visibility.

In reality, though, we tend to pick our anchorages and anchoring gear so that there will little reason to need to leave - therefore it is very rare that we have any type of alarm set or need to look at nav data.

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Old 08-10-2015, 08:53   #38
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Active Captain sent out a very interesting email yesterday. Defender Marine are offering a B&G Zeus Touch T12 MFD with 4G Radar bundle at $2519.00 already discounted from the list of $5149.00 But the Boat Show season is upon us and another $400 mail in rebate on the B&G 4G radar reduces the bundle to an astonishing $2119.!!! ActiveCaptain Product of the Week

This just might be the ticket. Let the fun begin....
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Old 08-10-2015, 09:24   #39
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

I have the Zeus 2 9" on my boat. Once I am on the boat I turn on everything and leave it on. The Zeus 2 can go into standy mode easily. Just swipe your finger from the top of screen down and a full menu will appear. Just select standby and you will get instant information when you need it.

I also leave my AIS B on all the time (when not on the hard.) Why not? It uses very little power and would alert others of your position if coming into the anchorage at night, for example. Or if you leave the boat for any reason you can make sure it is where you left it using MarineAIS. It may be a few minutes old but will let you know if it is headed out to sea.

Autopilots too can be put on standby and use virtually no energy if not steering the boat.

Personally I like to keep the electronics warm and dry by keeping them on and of course I have solar panels to keep the batteries charged up but the loss is minimumal with modern solid state electronics.
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Old 08-10-2015, 09:41   #40
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by northwestsailor View Post
.

Personally I like to keep the electronics warm and dry by keeping them on and of course I have solar panels to keep the batteries charged up but the loss is minimumal with modern solid state electronics.
Each to their own... but coming from an EE background, I can point out a flaw in this logic.

The most common failure among modern electronics is the electrolytic caps. Even when other chips fry, the initial fault can usually be traced back to the caps. Unfortuantely electrolytic caps are a necessary evil as they are required for a multitude of reasons, but have a finite life. The higher the temperature, the shorter the life. Every hour they are powered up, their life is shortened, and thus the life of the electronic they are in is shortened.

Another common misconception is that caps will bulge or leak electrolyte (thanks Dell), when they fail. Although this is true for extreme failures, most of the time they simply loose capacitance. Physically everything appears fine, but put a multimeter accross the cap (usually has to be removed) and the story is different.

Personally I keep my cruicial electronics turned off when not needed. Turned off at the panel switch, not the "soft off".
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Old 10-10-2015, 09:04   #41
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

The deal from Active Captain is really tempting. After rebate price on the 4G system isnt that much more than WM for just the antenna.
Thinking very seriously.
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Old 14-10-2015, 04:05   #42
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Well Slacker, (and PuttingDoctor) your post and another earlier one prompted a visit to Defender. This morning I have two large boxes downstairs awaiting investigation. I am finding myself a little apprehensive about how this might change the boat. The T12 screen is nice and big and will be good for older eyes, but its location could be a little difficult:
I always steer from forward of the helm, but when motoring I stand behind the wheel. The multifunction 10"x14" T12 could be mounted under the dodger similar to where our tablet mounts, or in a cutout (which I have avoided) in the statboard cabin bulkhead, above the seat.
The radar is about 1.75" larger diameter and 4" higher, and 4 lbs heavier than our 23 yr old Autohelm. Fitting it on the waltz backstay mount my be a challenge. I suppose I could change to mast mount. It will be interesting to see what we end up doing. I hope all this geer does not dominate the boat!
One plus is we loose the old radar screen mounted on the side of the helm.
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Old 14-10-2015, 05:12   #43
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Well I did pull the trigger on the Active Captain / Defender special and it's on it's way.
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Old 14-10-2015, 05:54   #44
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

Slacker pulled the trigger as well. Our cart plotter mounts on a swing arm in the companionway so you can use it in the cockpit or at the nav station. Overall the B&G unit is 4" wider than our current plotter so I may have to remount the arm. Our antenna mounts on a custom backstay mount which will have to come down for re drilling of the mounting holes.

All and all the timing was great as our Furuno lcd screen died just last week!
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Old 14-10-2015, 06:52   #45
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Re: B&G Zeus MFD - Has Anyone Tried it ?

For quite a while I have used a little Garmin IQ3600 which is a PDA with a color screen,m blue charts and a GPS. It served my needs at showing where the boat was on a chart from in the cockpit. The other GPS in the Ray MFD was below in the nav station with repeaters above the companionway. When I programmed a waypoint and could see all the computed data.... but not the pretty picture!

I picked up a ZeusT7 a few yrs ago and decided to use it in the cockpit in place of the little IQ3600. It's a portable installation and mounts to into an under the dodger little used reefing winch. It's only used when sailing and when not stored below.

++++

I was not happy with the pre loaded installed charts. They seemed to be missing some "features" I was used to on the navionics and so I purchased navionics and have the current version and can switch between the two. But why?????

I think the touch screen feature is not a real improvement but IS handing some times for zooming and panning. The rotary knob is fine and I use it more. The display is good, very bright... too bright for night unless dimmed. I don't care for their menu structure... But it's a matter of learning it I suppose. Nothing new for me I can never find the commands which seemed to be buried down in the file structure.... on ANY of these complex systems... including my desktop Win7pro device.

The T7 is not connected to any transducers.... uses the built in GPS antenna which works fine. As I don't do "routes" and program one waypoint at a time... my use is pretty basic... and the T7 works fine. I like having redundant stand alone systems... as opposed to everything integrated. This small T7 works for me.

The edge trims don't stay on very well... poorly detailed.

I wish the user had more control over the graphics lie FONT and FONT size. and the ability to select the detail level or pop put a selected depth contour.
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