Maretron DSM250, nice screen config details
I was pleased to find this fine set of gauge configuration options on the Maretron DSM250. Note how you can set the RPM dial’s range, tick marks, and warning colors. Nice! Note too the live demo of the gauge you’re building (there are RPMs and other engine PGNs on the Panbo network now, thanks to a Lowrance simulator). Display customization is one reason why virtual gauges can be superior to real ones, but so far few of the N2K instruments I’m testing take much advantage of the possibilities. You can’t even set the range on either the GMI 10 or ST70 speed dials, which means you’ll constantly be reminded of how fast you can’t go. And, good as the DSM250 is, it doesn’t even have a speed gauge yet, or a depth graph.
Below is the setup screen prior to the one above, and it shows some more good Maretron work. The DSM250 has twelve “Favorite Screens”, which is four more than the ST70 and eight more than the GMI 10 ‘custom’ screen family (though Garmin’s concept of multiple screen families has great potential if made more flexible). The DSM also has the most powerful screen mode abilities. There are four choices under that highlighted choice below. Manual means this screen will only show when I’m in Manual and flipping through screens myself. It could also be seen only in Auto mode—with it’s own custom interval period—or in both Manual and Auto modes. Or I can shut it off altogether, but not lose the screen. By contrast, the ST70 has an auto or rolling screen mode, but it’s all or none with a single setable time interval, and Garmin doesn’t roll at all. At any rate I hope all these developers are checking out each other's work intently, because I want to see an instrument with configuration details like this, the iconic—and fun—operating system of the ST70, and the very sleek graphics seen on some GMI 10 screens!
Very nice. But to keep it in context, this display is 2x the cost of the Furuno, even the b/w DSM200 is 40% more expensive. The Maretron also consumes 13x more power and is physically larger. I think it's an interesting data point of what is possible with a bit mapped display and an investment in s/w, but with it's greater cost, higher power consumption and larger physical size, it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison with even the Raymarine or Garmin displays, and certainly not with the Furuno or Simrad.
However, this does give me an opportunity to pitch one of my favorite ideas for displays.
The Maretron display is very configurable, but the menu structure and size of the display is still a limitation. There are a lot of screens to crawl through to set up the entire instrument. I suggest there is a better way.
Create a configuration program that runs on a PC and do 90% of the configuration there with a much larger screen and more more powerful UI that does not have to be invented from scratch by the mfg. Connect the computer to the network and download the configuration to the display. Most of us have a computer permanently mounted in the boat, why struggle with small screens and large menu heirarchies? It's easier for the mfg and for the user to do the configuration on a PC.
There are probably some tweeks that we'd like to do on the fly directly on the instrument, but the kind of configuring that Ben is showing is not going to be done on a daily basis.