EDO virtual instruments for sailors

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by pepusz

Hi everybody,

First of all sorry, for not responding all of the post, but I haven't got any notification from the system. So thanks Dockhead to inform us.


I try to answer all of the questions, and opinions.

NMEA2000: This development is absolutely on our target list, but first we need to spread our product more widely. Until that you can use a converter as mentioned. The Actisense version is parsing almost all of the data what the EDO instruments current version knows. When we will make the N2K version we will make more virtual modules, for example motor yachts.

Demo vs Trial version: You can try all of the functionality of the software with the 30 day trial version, but you can't connect to the boat. If you really want to try this on your boat and ready to write a testimonial and send some photos how to use our app onboard, I can send you a couple of day trial version. Just send me an email(peter at seamantec.com) I hope this is a fair deal

Pricing: We think the price is still reasonable. There is some unique feature what gives our app a higher value: polar editing, performance calculations, speech based alarm system, log file replay. But maybe this feature is not important for everybody, and they just want an easy to use virtual instrument app. If we pull out some of this features and made a more common version for EDO at that time the lower price is reasonable. But before we make this decision we need more feedback.


Bug fixes, feature development: When someone report us an issue we always investigate it, and depend on the severity, we put into our development queue. We move as fast as we can, but still a small company, so sometimes it's take on time, but we are doing this full time.


We are a young company in this industry, and the PR, communication, marketing is not our strongest part, we are focusing much more for our product development. That's the reason why you didn't find too many results from us.

I hope I've answered all of the questions but if you have still any just write a comment, or send me an email (peter at seamantec.com)


ps.: Now find the notification settings at the cruisers forum settings.

Thanks for appearing here. Engaging the community will certainly help your business.

What would also help would be if people wrote about their experiences - if you're selling any if these, you should encourage people to review.

Concerning prices - you would sell 10x as many if the price were $29 or $39, and at that price you could leave off the more exotic features. A pro version with everything might appeal to some people at $99 or even $299 - but it would have to support N2K and be totally robust, for real professional glass bridge use. These are two different markets with very different price points.

Good luck.





Sent from my SGP521 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by colemj

I considered that but held off because I have the iPad app, not the full expensive PC program everyone here has been discussing.

The iPad app is inexpensive.

And because I have the iPad app, the only way to run it is through a wifi gateway, which are pretty much limited to 0183, and not 2000. The apps that take advantage of this are likewise.

Mark

I didn't even know there was in IPad version. Nothing about it on the site, at least that I could see. And lo and behold, there's an Android version, too!

At an entirely reasonable price, sold in three modules -- instruments, alarms, and performance.

I bought it and got it running pretty quickly; the data streamed from GoFree works perfectly.

What spectacularly good graphic representations of instruments!! Best I've ever seen -- just lovely. And looks like all the data we could want for sailing. Rudder angle is not displaying; I'll try to figure out what's wrong with that. I am leaving tomorrow for the last 800 miles back to the UK -- I will use this and report on it when I arrive.

[Schooner Chandlery]

I really don't think this program is expensive given it's features. Amazing the number of sailors who want so much for so little. On the NMEA 2000 front, the big issue is licensing fees. I chatted with a small marine electronics manufacturer last year -- they sell in the hundreds, not thousands of units. The figure of $4,000 sticks in my mind as to what was required for them to license and use NMEA 2000. That's a big chunk of change for something that really should be a open standard with less cost, IMO. It is not open, nor is it low cost.

[blueprint_33]

We installed EDO on my ipad.

Connects well to our (low cost) wifi router on board. However we were not be able to display other data than GPS and heading. We reported this to Peter who was extremely helpful and constantly gave advice to try to rectify the issue.

After lots of checks we realized the app will not be able to display nmea data in V1.5 or any talker that does not send a checksum at the end of each line.

Only after revealing this we realized that e.g. the NKE app does not seem to read V1.5 data (or data without checksum) either nor will FUGAWI V5 read data from nmea talkers sending this old format (actually it is not THAT old) but anyway.

Solution seems to be install an Actisense NDC-4 multiplexer which will add checksums where required.

Lutz
__________________
Ohlson 38

[PeterSailor]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

... Rudder angle is not displaying; I'll try to figure out what's wrong with that. ...

B&G are using the XDR sentence for heel, trim and rudder (my Simrad AC12-RF300 was off at that time) but EDO is looking to RSA sentence :

$IIXDR,C,C,,C,AIRTEMP,A,-2.6,D,HEEL,A,0.4,D,TRIM,P,,B,BARO,A,A,,D,RUDDER*28

When reporting a bus with my LG G3 phone, I asked them if they could add the XDR sentence. I had an answer within 2 days, bug fixed within 2 weeks and told me that the XDR is in the todo list.

[PeterSailor]

I tested the PC software in trial mode with the NMEA0183 data recorded during races by my Zeus Touch. The replay function is very nice, but it lack position on a chart.

[Dockhead]

I bought the Android version and just used it for 1000 miles of sailing back to the UK.

I can share a few impressions.

1. The graphic representations are brilliant -- best I've ever seen. They are beautiful and highly informative. They are aircraft-style, and have excellent features like little arrows to show the highs and lows of history. HOWEVER -- they are not suitable for viewing from a distance -- these are made for viewing up close with your reading glasses on.

2. The "performance" set, showing cumulatively how you are doing in relation to your polars, is brilliantly conceived and really useful. You see at a glance how you are doing, and as data points are accumulated, traces are left on the graph. This is something you can't get on a B&G system without the expensive extra racing computer.

3. The program works very well with the datastream from GoFree, HOWEVER, there are two problems: (a) some data is missing; and (b) you have to reconnect it almost every time.

4. You can use the tablet only in portrait mode; there are no landscape layouts.

5. It directly displays VMG to the wind, which is a fundamental piece of data when you're working to windward. Why don't ordinary marine instruments display this??? I'm spoiled now that I've experienced this.


All in all, I think this is extremely promising. But how do you use it? It would be excellent at the nav table of a large racing boat, and in general, it's right for the nav table, as the displays are not designed for viewing from a distance. I would like to have this at the helm, but how do you get it there? They should offer a device with this installed on it, for which people would pay well, I think. Daylight viewable, waterproof, and hard-wired.

In summary, absolutely great idea, but which is not quite ready for practical application in most normal cruising boats.

For my boat, which is much more wired than average cruising boats, this will be used at the nav table. I will buy an Android tablet especially for this, and mount it semi-permanently. Actually, I started a thread on using surplus tablets for instrument displays in this way, a few years ago. This program now makes this idea a reality.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

1. ... HOWEVER -- they are not suitable for viewing from a distance -- these are made for viewing up close with your reading glasses on.

…….
3. …. (b) you have to reconnect it almost every time.

…….
I would like to have this at the helm, but how do you get it there?

It is a tablet app, so I think that using it up close is part of that definition. It isn't any more difficult to see than your Tritons or 8" Zeus at a distance.

Constantly needing to reconnect it (or needing to connect it at all in the first place) is also a problem when using the Vesper wifi gateway. I have complained about this to the company - if you and others do too, maybe they will see why this behavior should be changed.

There are many, many solutions to having and using a tablet at the helm.

Mark

[blueprint_33]

Originally Posted by blueprint_33

We installed EDO on my ipad.

Connects well to our (low cost) wifi router on board. However we were not be able to display other data than GPS and heading. We reported this to Peter who was extremely helpful and constantly gave advice to try to rectify the issue.

After lots of checks we realized the app will not be able to display nmea data in V1.5 or any talker that does not send a checksum at the end of each line.

Only after revealing this we realized that e.g. the NKE app does not seem to read V1.5 data (or data without checksum) either nor will FUGAWI V5 read data from nmea talkers sending this old format (actually it is not THAT old) but anyway.

Solution seems to be install an Actisense NDC-4 multiplexer which will add checksums where required.

Lutz
__________________
Ohlson 38

So, here is my update.
We meanwhile installed an Actisense NDC-4 multiplexer to connect the various sources (wind and speed/depth/water/temp sensors transmitting in NMEA 0183 V1.x, GPS and compass transmitting in nmea 0183 V2.0).

The latter is important to rectify as EDO does not recognise phrases sent in NMEA 0183 < V 2.0 (like other software as I learned). The whole issue between the two nmea 0183 versions is that the older version does not transmit a checksum at the end of each phrase so the new equipment cannot interpret the data.

The actisense multiplexer delivers all data into nmea 0183 V2.0 data well and we transmit this through a simple rs 232 wifi solution Serial Wifi Server(HLK-WR02)-WIFI Module_Serail WIFI_RS485 WIFI_RS232 WIFI_UART WIFI_WIFI LED_WIFI SWITCH_WIFI LIGHT_ShenZhen Hi-Link Electronic Co.,Ltd
to the ipad.

The EDO instruments suit on the ipad is impressive and I am not aware of any other software for the price of around 20 € that shows all performance data (I did not bother to buy the alarms).

I haven't been able to use the polars for our boat yet as these need to be uploaded to the EDO website to be downloaded to my ipad.

[Rapport]

On my iPad I just get an initialisation error and nothing further happens after one beep. The impression is that it is due to poor internet access, but why do l need that?
Thanks in advance

[SaLe]

Hi my friend,
when a version for the Linux community (Ubuntu or Deb)?
Thanks,
Leo

[cajucito]

Hi I had a look at the trial. Looks great . I bought a brookhouse ImuxST and It just arrived. Any chance or another trial as Mine expired before the brookhouse arrived and the only way to test this is to get muxed data into it and see how it performs. The Imux will combine std 0183, seatalk, and Ais which is 0183 at higher baud of 38400. It will take me a while to get the imux working in bridge mode as I already have existing wifi with 4G from a masthead antenna with booster. It would be great if I could then sign up for what will ineffect be a real trial.

[blueprint_33]

We are very disappointed now.

The product was working in the end but be careful at least for an ipad it requires data in nmea > 2.0 format, any nmea data string w/o a checksum will be ignored. I have to admit, Fugawi 5.0 will do the same.

Peter argued the parser would overflow if the checksum wasn't made mandatory, well may be, but important to know if you operate older nmea sensors (and that's the whole fun of 0183, that its backward compatibility is going way, way back. In our case a wind sensor from 2005 wasn't recognized as it was transmitting without checksum. In case you experience this problem too let me know and I can tell how to get around it.

But worse: The app on the ipad keeps crashing constantly since more than 8 weeks. Peter promised a software update was underway but held up by apple's app store, however this was some 8 weeks ago and even for apple standards this is too long. No further information by the company, nothing!

So my take is the product is dead unless someone confirms it isn't. So what else is in the pipeline, iregatta?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by blueprint_33

We are very disappointed now.

The product was working in the end but be careful at least for an ipad it requires data in nmea > 2.0 format, any nmea data string w/o a checksum will be ignored. I have to admit, Fugawi 5.0 will do the same.

Peter argued the parser would overflow if the checksum wasn't made mandatory, well may be, but important to know if you operate older nmea sensors (and that's the whole fun of 0183, that its backward compatibility is going way, way back. In our case a wind sensor from 2005 wasn't recognized as it was transmitting without checksum. In case you experience this problem too let me know and I can tell how to get around it.

But worse: The app on the ipad keeps crashing constantly since more than 8 weeks. Peter promised a software update was underway but held up by apple's app store, however this was some 8 weeks ago and even for apple standards this is too long. No further information by the company, nothing!

So my take is the product is dead unless someone confirms it isn't. So what else is in the pipeline, iregatta?

EDO is stable on my Android tablet, and is perfectly compatible with the 0183 data stream coming from my GoFree router.

[colemj]

EDO is stable on my iPad, but it does not handle the data steam from our Vesper wifi bridge very well. Many of the common data don't show up (depth, for example). I put in a bug report ages ago and got a reply that they knew what was wrong and would fix it in the next update.

There has never been another update, and like I said, it was ages ago (a year now?). I have written follow up emails, but they go unanswered.

I consider them a dead company now.

Mark