Testing Electronics on Board a Classic Grand Banks, (continued)
Comfort Zone
Raymarine eS128
starting at $3,399.99; www.raymarine.com
The Raymarine eS Series is a very sturdily built multifunction display with a great feel to it. If you pay a visit to a boat show or marine electronics showroom have a look. The rugged case, bright screen, and multiple control methods of its HybridTouch system (both physical controls and dual-touch-control touchscreen) become second nature and intuitive by virtue of the fact that no choice is wrong. If you can access a function with the touchscreen, you can get to it with the physical controls as well. As with all our test items we had to figure out nonpermanent mounting, and so we did. I’m not sure if it’s the late-adopter in me or the insubstantial mounting, but I liked using the knob control. It just seemed to offer more precise control than my fingertips, though it was noteworthy that the device didn’t really punish touchscreen miscues. Zooming in meant more and more detail on the Navionics+ chart, a great help finding a channel in unfamiliar waters.
We actually brought the new Quantum solid-state radar along for a test, a great candidate for this type of setup because it only needs a power cord to connect the radome. This solid-state radar offers performance at short and long ranges, and connects to the MFD via Wi-Fi, and is lightweight and energy efficient. Admittedly I got anxious to hook it up in close proximity to other antennas, since I was concerned about cooking multiple systems by putting their transmitters on the same plane. (Learn more about the system here.)
