Garmin Touchscreen chartplotter: A word of caution!

[jow]

Hi All,

after getting delivery of my new Sadler 290, I had the chance to test the installed equipment extensively on our maiden voyage on the english south coast for the last two weeks.
We got caught in heavy weather around St. Albans ledge last week in a force 5 - 7 plus heavy rain and needed to beat against the wind for 8 hours.
While the boat took the shaking remarkebly well, the Garmin 5008 Chartplotter did not.
And here is what happened and I have no clue if it is a problem with my unit or if all new touchscreen chartplotters have the same issue:
When a wave broke over the boat, we got drenched, the GPS got drenched and the touchscreen thought that someone touches it franticly. So with every water drop it thought we wanted to pan, mark places, press functions etc. After a while the unit crashed and I had to switch it off and on again.
While this might be annoying on a normal cruise in good weather, under the above circumstances I thought this is dangerous as we could not see very well and the integrated AIS showed an approching cargo ship on a collision course and I could not follow it, neither on Radar nor on AIS because the unit simply packed up.
We new where we were, so we tacked in direction to the shore but we could smell the diesel fumes of the ship while we could not see it.

Does anyone had the same experience with the touchscreen units or is mine faulty?
I am not very happy about this problem, as exactly when you need it the technology fails!
I will write a support request to Garmin as well and see what they have to say.

Regards,
jow

 

[doug748]

Thanks for that jow.
I have been considering updating to a colour chartplotter. Thats touchscreen models ruled out.

 

[seapro]

I would hope that to be faulty unit, get it checked asap and report back!

 

[Sans Bateau]

Sorry to hear this has happened to you. Last winter I installed a 4008, I just was not comfortable with the touch screen.It would be good to hear how Graham Snooks got on with his touch screen on his trip to Scotland and back.

 

[pvb]

The Garmin 5008 uses a capacitive touchscreen, which is supposed to overcome problems with rain, etc. Maybe it just can't cope with big dollops of water!

Incidentally, there's a question mark over how well these screens will work if you're wearing gloves. I'd think that's a major drawback in our climate. And perhaps that's why Raymarine's E-Series has both touchscreen and buttons??

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

I have a 5008 in the cockpit but have never noticed the problem.

Then again, we go below whenever it is rainy or rough.

 

[snooks]

Simple solution would be:

Don't let waves break over the cockpit

Through the two seasons we've used the touch screen 5008, we've only taken two waves into and over the cockpit, and I don't make a habit of doing it, firstly cos I get wet and secondly I scare myself and my fiancée in the process.

What you report has happened to a lesser extent, it beeps, pans but mine sorts it's self out quickly. A quick wipe with a glove and it's fine. It's only happened in big seas when a breaking wave has caught the beam and doused us, then I'm more worried about what has happened to the boat than where I am.

It happened off Jersey last year and sailing up to the Point of Stoer this year. I remember where it was for the breaking wave rather than the chart plotter going a bit squiffy

I've just come back from sailing for 3 month from Gosport to Orkney and back down to Largs, and I'd happily fit another touch screen plotter to any boat I own. I've sailed with pads cursors, wheel dials and buttons, but nothing is as easy to use as touch screen. I've used my 5008 in fog, heavy rain and done over 2,500 miles with one and I don't have any worries about it.

I'd recommend one to anyone

 

[snooks]

Incidentally, there's a question mark over how well these screens will work if you're wearing gloves. I'd think that's a major drawback in our climate. And perhaps that's why Raymarine's E-Series has both touchscreen and buttons??

If your glove is wet it works fine, if not lick your finger and try again. Or you can get a wifi remote for the Garmin touch screen plotters (around £70 IIRC), very handy if you're sitting away from the plotter and want to zoom out

 

[pvb]

Or you can get a wifi remote for the Garmin touch screen plotters (around £70 IIRC), very handy if you're sitting away from the plotter and want to zoom out

Not sure I could fit one of those reclining home cinema chairs in my cockpit!

 

[snooks]

Not sure I could fit one of those reclining home cinema chairs in my cockpit!

We can rig up video to come out of the laptop and into the chart plotter and then wire the audio to come out of the cockpit speakers, all we needed was the weather and we have a open air sailing cinema!

 

[Resolution]

I fitted a Garmin touchscreen in the cockpit this year. 2000 miles later I can honestly say it has been a tremendous success with all the various crew who have taken the wheel. There is a slight problem with pixellation (??) of the picture when water droplets fall on the screen, but a quick wipe with the glove as Snooks suggests, then a dab at the "Stop panning" tab and all's well again.

The other problem was to persuade the IT consultant to tear his eyes OFF the screen every now and then, to have a look at the real world up ahead!

I would be interested to hear what Garmin say about the crashing.

 

[johnphilip]

Garmin 750 nerd

I am only able to speak about the Garmin 750 we have fitted and in comparison to the Navman we had before. The touch screen has never had any issues when wet. The almost instant way you put in routes or "go to" points is brilliant and reduces the time you are distracted from the helm. Scrolling across to a destination off to one side of the screen is much easier than with buttons, the screen scrolls exactly in the direction you want. The whole set-up is user friendly and pretty instinctive to use.
Passage planning with Homeport is another plus, load it onto a card and it loads itself straight back into the plotter.
Yes I am biased, but it is great, its update and drawing is pretty instant, better than the software on the older, bigger 5008. As someone mentioned, add the cost of the charts for the cheaper makes and the difference shrinks. The in-built charts can still be updated for half the cost of new charts, same as if you had separate cards.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

A software update was done to resolve this issue. Are you on the latest version?
I certainly resolved the issue for me a couple of years ago.

Incidentally, you can by gloves especially for touchscreens. Sealskinz work as well.

 

[johnalison]

I don't know about the Garmin but my Raymarine plotter specifically advises users to switch off the touch screen mode in rough conditions. As mine is mounted inside I don't expect this to be necessary often.

 

[samwise]

We are very happy with our 750s touchscreen. I have arranged the installation so that it can be plugged in to the nav station downstairs or moved to a second bracket located under the sprayhood. While upstairs it has had a few dousings but has recovered quickly after a quick wipe. Excellent bit of kit.
Because we are tiller steered, we have never experienced the luxury of a binnacle set up and even if we could afford to buy two units, there is not enough space on the forward cockpit bulkheads.

 

[gjgm]

If your glove is wet it works fine, if not lick your finger and try again. Or you can get a wifi remote for the Garmin touch screen plotters (around £70 IIRC), very handy if you're sitting away from the plotter and want to zoom out

North Face and Rohan make gloves with a small sensitive pad on the finger for touhs creens- about £20-25.

 

[sailorman]

if fitted at the chart table it would have been ok.
you are sailing not driving a virtual games machine

 

[maby]

It is certainly not an unknown problem - I've seen it reported many times before and it influenced our choice of plotters. As has been reported above, there is a Garmin software update that purports to fix it, but I cannot comment on its effectiveness. We made the decision to avoid plotters that only offered a touch screen interface. Raymarine give you the best of both worlds - a touch screen and sufficient mechanical buttons to access all important functions - plus the ability to disable the touch screen in bad weather.

 

[Cookee]

I raced on board a boat that had the same issues a couple of years ago in the Cowes Torquay Cowes race - navigating a powerboat at over 60mph with a touchscreen that has a mind of its own is a challenge. We have two Raymarine units in our current race boat and whilst it's inside and not prone to a soaking the ability to use the buttons only for pretty much every function is very useful.

 

[snooks]

@cookee You could have got a 4000 series which has buttons or a wifi remote so you can operate it with your hand in your pocket