Raymarine's new multifunction displays

Wednesday, February 16: You know you're in the midst of technical revolution when the assembled press gang is swiping their iPhones and iPads, downloading an app, and tapping into a suite of new electronics via their inbuilt WiFi. Such is the new world of big and small-boat navigation and networking from Raymarine.

But connectivity wasn’t the only buzzword at the Sydney launch of the impressive new Raymarine “c” and “e” series multifunction displays (MFDs). Here, you have the future in your hands and, via flush or bracket mounting on the dash, control at your fingertips.

Hybrid touch — a combination of touchscreen and knob and button control — is the big deal on the “e” series. Raymarine rightly says touchscreen alone isn’t the answer on a rocking boat or when your hands are wet. In fact, its complementary "c" series has button-only controls.

Replacing a cluster of stand-alone devices, the new mid-sized 9in and large 12in MFDs follow on from the acclaimed 7in "e7" that was released at Sydney International Boat show in August last year.

Whatever size unit you choose, the new “c” and “e” series certainly flaunt sexy, tablet-style fascias, with bevelled or round-edges. The rectangular styling hails straight from the Steve Jobs’ school of design (if you’ve read the biography you’ll know what I mean).

The screens are also weather and hose proof but, best of all, they’re viewable from behind polarised sunglasses. Not more of those annoying ‘black outs’. Viewing angles are so wide that co-pilots can monitor the action, too.

As with all Raymarine products, the new “c” and “e” series pretty much drive themselves. Navigating through the functions is intuitive thanks to a user interface dubbed Lighthouse. It reflects the screen-swiping action needed to access all the available pages.

On-screen icons at the home page — immediately available by pressing the button marked "home" — let you to tap into the displays. These include chart, fishfinder, radar, (engine) data, dual chart (split-screen combos), even video, and then customise for making your preferred combo windows. You can name your custom windows things like: offshore fishing, night cruising, and so on.

With Bluetooth connectivity and the optional remote control unit — the RCU-3 — which mounts on the steering wheel or sits in the palm as a handheld device, you can range in and out, add a waypoint, access your MP3 audio player, and other key functions without being chained to the mother unit.

Fit cameras for docking, monitoring the engine room, overlooking the cockpit, and/or underwater mounts, download the Raymarine Viewer App (free), and you can use the “c” and “e” series to stream live video in real time direct to your iPad and iPhone. This way the crew can lounge about indoors while staying connected to the outdoors.

Download the Navionics Mobile App and, using the inbuilt WiFi, you can wirelessly sync your iPad and iPhone to the new MFDs and save waypoints and fishing hotspots. It’s then possible to route plan on your personal devices while at home. Upload the data when back aboard and off you go.

The “c” and “e” series come preloaded with Navionics Silver electronic charts, which are perfectly fine for safe navigation since they include all hazards, landfalls and basic depth contours. But upgrade to the 2D Gold charts and you’ll enjoy greater detail including tides and currents, port plans, user-selectable safety depth contour, marine services with phone numbers, navigation aids and more. The top-shelf Platinum charts offer 3D viewing of the seabed and satellite photos that can be overlayed.

Raymarine is aggressively chasing market share, not only in the new-boat market — a complete integrated big-boat suite with two screens, radar, depth sounder, and more costs less than $20,000, we’re told — but also by facilitating easy upgrades and retrofitting aboard older boats.

Custom-made easy-fit bezels let you remove existing Raymarine units, like the popular but now-retired E120 that sold by the thousands, and slot the new “c” and “e” series MFDs into the dash. This eliminates the need to jigsaw fibreglass or apply gelcoat.

Ben Bowley, the MD for Raymarine Australia, who spent 14 previous years working with Apple, said he’s "hoping for a big future in the retrofit market". He also said: "The beauty of the new hardware is it’s a product platform for the future." Exciting new software launches will follow in late-March, June and then later in the year. Remote diagnostics might be in the pipeline.

Meantime, Raymarine ushered us down to two loaded demo boats: a Newport 40 flybridge cruiser (locally built and based on the Dominator 38), which we boarded, and a Surtees 5.8 aluminium cuddy hailing from NZ.

The Newport had upper and lower helm stations each sporting two 12in E125 screens with HD colour radar, the latest high-definition depth-sounding technology (separate review posted hereabouts), and all the aforementioned built-in connectivity separated by the latest push-button and rotary-knob controlled p70R autopilot.

In other words, just three screens controlled all the electronic options. Thanks to previous downloads of the Raymarine APP, we also mirrored and viewed these same screens on our iPhones and iPads. These images can be seen in the spread of photos hereabouts.

As we put to sea or, rather, the calms of Pittwater, Raymarine Australia told Boatpoint and Boatsales that new technology promises: greater signal processing, longer (depth sounding) range, cleaner and cleverer displays, and more detail than ever before.

As our trials progressed, we quickly formed the view that game and sports fishers will absolutely jump on this new “c” and “e” series technology, as should cruising buffs.

Not only did we find the gear dead easy to navigate, but the energy-saving LCD screens were bright and bold with or without polarised sunnies. Reflected glare wasn’t an issue and, we’re told, the screens need just a spray with freshwater and a wipe with a soft cloth to keep clean.

As for the radar, well, if you haven’t used high-definition colour radar you’re missing out. Compared with my seven-year old Raymarine analogue unit, much used and loved for offshore boating, target discrimination was just w-a-y superior. Even a RIB towing a yacht close astern was conveyed as two separate targets. And the litter of boats swinging on moorings that blanket large tracts of Pittwater was dissected and each boat conveyed as a separate blob.

Sharp edges and bright red-and-yellow colouring add to the ease with which you can identify targets. Another nice thing is Bird Mode for tracking flocks of seabirds, which usually follow fish.

The depth-sounding capability was also beyond anything I’d seen before, with incredible target separation and many beautiful arches (fish outlines). Unfortunately, our test scooped the official release of the new gear at the Miami Boat Show from February 16-20. The review of this CHIRP sonar equipment is now published separately on Boatpoint/Boatsales, after the local embargo.

Finally, we just messed around with a whole bunch of different combo screens. Providing you split the screen with your chart and then run two smaller windows alongside, everything remains viewable and legible.

Of course, Raymarine was acquired by Nasdaq-listed FLIR for US$180 million in 2010. FLIR makes thermal-imaging devices for marine applications. Connect a night vision camera to the “c” and “e” series and you can scan see what lies ahead in the dark.

Three processors make the “c” and “e” series powerful multi-taskers, says Raymarine, with a dual core main processor and a third dedicated graphics processor for 3D graphics, brilliant video and instantaneous chart redraws.

More from Raymarine Asia, Suite 301, 2 Marina Close, Belrose, NSW, 2085. Phone (02) 9479 4800. See www.raymarine.com.au.

But as you can see, prices for marine electronics have most definitely come back down to earth. With Bluetooth connectivity to your iPad or iPhone, manufacturers are looking at volume and turnover rather than selling additional display screens these days.

- Raymarine e7 MFD with Silver Navionics cartography and digital fishfinder $2295.
- Raymarine e97/c97 MFD $4095/$2795.
- Raymarine e127/c127 MFD $4795/$3295.
- Radar 4KW 24in HD Colour Radome $3440.
- Optional remote RCU-3 $165.
- Raymarine CP450C sonar with Clearpulse CHIRP and transducer – to be advised.
- Raymarine p70R autopilot $895.
- Raymarine easy-fit bezel – to be advised.