B&G Zeus3 vs Zeus3S Performance

[BillKny]

Unusually, B&G did a hardware upgrade in the Zeus line of chartplotters in mid-model cycle. The older Zeus3 is still available at a significant discount over the newer Zeus3S with a faster processor.

Does anyone have hands on experience to comment on the difference? Anybody with a Zeus3 who is frustrated by slow page loads or other performance issues? Or maybe a Zeus3 user who can't imagine why an upgrade would be needed?Anybody actually upgrade from one to the other?

My reading of the tea leaves is that there is no functionality or software differences between these, it is all about adding cores to the processor.

[FlyingScot]

I have a Z3 12". It takes 1-3 seconds to transition from one page to another. The finger pinch and zoom is very smooth. Much faster than I thought it would be.
At this time I would not pay the premium for an Z3S. Having said that I have never used the newest model.

[BillKny]

FlyingScot,

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of information I am looking for.

We have a 12" first generation Zeus Touch, and it meets our needs now and for the foreseeable future, but when we last updated the Navionics cards, they ALL stopped working. Navionics is trying to figure it out, and I hope they do, the kind of cash spend for a new 12" MFD isn't in our budget this year...

It's always good to have a backup plan. Maybe we can find a boat show discount

[slacker]

Where are are you finding Zeus 3? All I can find are the new S models.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by slacker

Where are are you finding Zeus 3? All I can find are the new S models.

The B&G online store has the Zeus3 models at about a 25% discount over the 3S.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by slacker

Where are are you finding Zeus 3? All I can find are the new S models.

https://www.bandg.com/bg/type/chartp...3-9-mfdinsight

[John Williams]

We have a Zeus3. To be honest I have not noticed it being slow. I am trying to navigate a sailing yacht at up to 6 kts, not an aircraft. It would never cross my mind to buy a newer version just to get more speed.

[BillKny]

My guess is that in the disrupted world of today, the original chips they were using in the Zeus3 became difficult or impossible to source, and the “upgrade” was forced on them. Since they had to put a more powerful processor in than the original, they make a virtue of necessity and trumpet it as “new and improved” even if the actual performance difference is negligible.

[noelex 77]

I understand the 3s has a new, faster processor.

Quicker is always good, but also important is power consumption and heat (the 3 runs reasonably hot).

It would be worth a significant price premium if the power consumption and heat generation are less in addition to better speed. On the other hand, if the new processor has higher consumption and more heat it may be worth finding the older model.

I have the older 3 model.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I understand the 3s has a new, faster processor.

Quicker is always good, but also important is power consumption and heat (the 3 runs reasonably hot).

It would be worth a significant price premium if the power consumption and heat generation are less in addition to better speed. On the other hand, if the new processor has higher consumption and more heat it may be worth finding the older model.

I have the older 3 model.

Looking at 12" models, the new one (Z3s) lists 28w as max power and the older one (Z3) as 30w max.

So it appears that the newer one uses less power overall, not specifically from the chip. 2w isn't a big deal but more powerful with less power consumption is always good. But I still wouldn't pay 25% more for it.

Both displays are supposed to be 1200 nits brightness.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Looking at 12" models, the new one (Z3s) lists 28w as max power and the older one (Z3) as 30w max.

Thanks for the information.

A 7% power saving is helpful. Presumably, a faster processor would also use its maximum speed for a shorter period of time, reducing the average consumption, as well as the heat generation, further than the peak output numbers would suggest.

While I would not upgrade my existing unit, the advantages of faster speed with lower power consumption would be worth a significant price difference if buying new.

However, I would caution that manufacturers specifications are often not realistic so it would be nice to have an independent test to verify the gains. Surprisingly, magazine test reports fail to test basic parameters such as the power consumption.