Need: Cheap, Daylight-Viewable Monitor

[stensmo]

That screen will probably not survive on the flybrige. I think the DELL ATG:s ingress protection is IP 54. IP 67 is preferred.

One problem is that it is very difficult to build an enclosure. The display will not be sunlight readable if you put it behind standard glass or similar.

It is quite difficult to build a screen that is both waterproof and sunlight readable. Garmin has mastered the arts, but they charge a lot for it.

Originally Posted by ktcanuck

I am looking for one for my to-be-updated fly-bridge helm. I used a DELL ATG with a display of about 750nits. It was bright enough in almost all cases. I have come across this monitor from Orion as a possible replacement at $770 and 1000nits. Anyone have any experience? It is not ruggedised or waterproof in any way of course but it is "commercial".

[ktcanuck]

Originally Posted by stensmo

That screen will probably not survive on the flybrige. I think the DELL ATG:s ingress protection is IP 54. IP 67 is preferred.

One problem is that it is very difficult to build an enclosure. The display will not be sunlight readable if you put it behind standard glass or similar.

It is quite difficult to build a screen that is both waterproof and sunlight readable. Garmin has mastered the arts, but they charge a lot for it.

Agree. I thought I made that observation already.

[dave777]

Originally Posted by sailias

As far as I know it would be impossible to feed a display via a usb port on these devices as thy are hardwired on the motherboard as com ports. A screen input requires a vga port or similar. Its not a matter of what ports are available rather what the ports are connected too on the motherboard.

Now I suppose you could take it apart and determine where the screen is tethered in and work it back words and add an appropriate adaptor but no we are talking serioouse surgery not for the faint of heart.

/ch

Actually, there are many USB displays for PCs. They get both their power and the VGA resolution display signal from over the USB cable. Even more surprising, some of these displays also function as touchscreens and send the "mouse" data back to the PC over the same USB cable. Cost hovers around $100 and even less on eBay.

The only obstacles are size (they tend to be smaller), sunlight performance, and waterproof ruggedness. For an enclosed cockpit, they may be no obstacles.

It's just a matter of time for the ruggedness to improve. It's more of that crazy boat $$ math when you see enclosures / pod housings costing more than these monitors themselves.

DoubleSight DS-70U - 7" - widescreen TFT active matrix LCD display

MIMO UM-710S USB Powered 7" Swivel LCD Screen Mini Display

[hellosailor]

Daylight viewable milspec waterproof Panasonic Android ToughTablet. 10" screen, $1300. 7" version coming "soon" for less.

Get over it, rob a 7-11 and just buy the damned thing.

This is reality.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by stensmo

I thought about that one but discarded it. How is it working for you? According to the specs, the screen is only 460 nits. It is preferred (in my opinion) that the screen has over 1000 nits for marine applications. What battery life do you get?

I own an iPad, and my first thought was to use that. You can even get a waterproof case cheaply. But the iPad is unusable when it is sunny.

I thought about getting a Toughbook CF-19, but it is very expensive. Decided to use a separate screen and keep a standard laptop inside. Works well.

We use one of these also. They are readable in sunlight and very bright out of direct light. They are designed for outdoor use. Many professional racing teams use them on boats. Ours mounts under a white bimini, where the readability is the same as a chartplotter.

Ours is 6 years old and we still get 6hrs of battery life out of it. A lot more (10hrs?) if we let it blank its screen a minute or so after every use (wakeup is instantaneous with a tap on the screen).

Mark

[TassieBloke]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Daylight viewable milspec waterproof Panasonic Android ToughTablet. 10" screen, $1300. 7" version coming "soon" for less.

Get over it, rob a 7-11 and just buy the damned thing.

This is reality.

Thanks Hello, you just had to do that huh?
Sheesh...there goes another $1300

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by colemj

We use one of these also. They are readable in sunlight and very bright out of direct light. They are designed for outdoor use. Many professional racing teams use them on boats. Ours mounts under a white bimini, where the readability is the same as a chartplotter.

Ours is 6 years old and we still get 6hrs of battery life out of it. A lot more (10hrs?) if we let it blank its screen a minute or so after every use (wakeup is instantaneous with a tap on the screen).

Mark

One of what, the external screen connected to a laptop or the Toughpad?

Fabbian

[colemj]

The Toughbook CF-08 in SailFastTri's post.

Mark

[hellosailor]

Tassie, I suppose is Helvetia and Oz there are no 7-11s, so raising the funds must be a bit harder? :-)

[kaimusailing]

After reading posts on this thread and the 12VDC Computer thread I bought a Panasonic CF-VDL02 on eBay and it arrived today and I've been fooling around with it. Not on the boat yet. The screen is very bright and I've been able to use it with all my laptops. My oldest is a Gateway Solo that is more than 10 years old, but still works fine. In my boat there is a small chartroom in the porthull just 2 steps away from the on deck helm station. It has only one small portlight, so it is dark enough to run a laptop for navigation. There is also a tabloid printer there to print out hard copy of charts or parts of charts (11X17). On the other side in the starboard hull is a pilothouse with an inside steering position, but it is too bright in there to view a laptop in daytime. That's where I'll use the Panasonic. It uses a lot of juice, so it will be for use when the windmill is working, or when motoring. The monitor would suck up 1/2 of my solar on that side.

[StanL]

Originally Posted by skipmac

I also looked long and hard for a reasonably priced (gave up on cheap, just reasonable), daylight viewable monitor and struck out. FINALLY, found used Panasonic toughbook screens on eBay. Actually someone on the forum found them and mentioned it in one of the threads and whoever that was, thank you, thank you.

Model CF-VDL02. Think it was abotu 12". Set it up in direct sunlight and could read it just fine. Uses a standard VGA connection so a long VGA cord to the PC is all you need. Power calls for 19V but I got it to run find on 12V except it would shut down if I tried to use the max brightness setting which I didn't need anyway.

Paid $40 for mine. Find of the year when compared to the new marine grade screens.

I applaud your resourcefulness!

Did you separate the toughbook screen from the PC, or are you booting the PC? I'm curious how you hooked up 12V to just the screen, or the entire PC. Also interested in how an external VGA cable would be displayed on the laptop, it's usually vice versa.

[kaimusailing]

An update. I ran the CF-VDL02 on board in the pilothouse and I found my old nav software wouldn't show AIS, so I used a newer laptop. The Panasonic display runs on the same power cable as a Toughbook. The connection to the display from the laptop is ordinary VGA cable. There is a menu brightness control and a thumbwheel brightness control. It can be made very bright, bright enough for daylight display. I can't even see the laptop screen, but the Panasonic display is bright. It is set for 1028X768. It is also a touchscreen, but I haven't been able to get that function to work, but I didn't buy it for that, so, no problem. I think it would be best to protect it from errant spray or spilled beverages.

[Neptune's Gear]

Hi Guys, look here Electronics – Neptune's Gear Ltd
We use the 15" one in our boat. Works great!

[hellosailor]

So you'd call $1750NZD "cheap" for a 15" monitor?

[Neptune's Gear]

That depends... If you want an ip67 sunlight viewable monitor, then yes. It has a cast alloy case, toughened glass screen etc. You can't compare it to a standard office monitor. It can (ours is) be installed in an open cockpit. Perhaps that's not what you are after....
It compares vary favorably with a 15" marine plotter that is IP67!!