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The new
972 is designed to further bridge the gap between the familiar and
the modern. Paper-like raster charts are still very much supported, but
the user can also try Nobeltec’s highly
evolved vector charts, including the ability to blend in photo maps so
useful in the Bahamas and other clear waters (where available). The 972
also shows 3-D bottom contours, once thought frivolous but now a common
PC tool on high-end commercial and sportfishing boats. “It just
makes looking for fishy structure so much more intuitive,” says
Rickets. In fact, the imagery and even some of the soft-key interface
on the 972 are reminiscent of Nobeltec software, indicative of the “close
relationship” the companies have had starting with the original
961. The 972 also has a look and button layout—not to mention radar
and sounder options—darn similar to Northstar’s own embedded
6000i multifunction display, emblematic of how these different architectures
are smudging together.
As noted, the 972
could incorporate other marine software functions, and while the company
had no comment on the subject at presstime, there may be competitive pressure
to do so. The Waypoint dedicated PC system,
for instance, can optionally include XM satellite marine weather. The
i3 offers WSI’s The Weather Channel Marine plus a touch-screen version
of SkyMate satellite e-mail and monitoring. I got to test this last summer,
thumbing the virtual keyboard on the i3’s screen like a giant Blackberry,
and think a lot of boaters will appreciate this novel capability. Now
i3 is getting another unique option that puts fish, even ones targeted
yesterday, into a 3-D contour image, which will surely be drawing interest
at boat shows.
Meanwhile, all these
specialized marine computers suffer from high prices; apparently the low
cost of their mass-market PC components is trivial compared to the custom
engineering and hardware involved. Thus some bang-for-the-buck users will
continue to take their chances on (and enjoy the flexibility of) regular
PCs or less-ambitious marine models, like the Nauticomp
that simply puts Dell innards into a rugged case. And while the relationship
between Northstar and Nobeltec was truly “outside the box”
in 1999, that era is over. Furuno’s new affiliation with MaxSea
is sure to bring both embedded and PC benefits. Raymarine’s new
network design promises smooth, powerful PC/hardware relations. Finally,
both C-Map and Navionics are about to introduce new chartplotter capabilities
that duplicate—at least to some extent—the very features that
attracted some navigators to PCs. The 972 enters a complicated market
but is still heir to a line so innovative it confused even some pros.
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