Is a 12” mfd too big for my helm?

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Originally Posted by Tim francis

43 Bruce Roberts cc. I’m planning on a 9 inch at the helm but I’ve been given advise on getting a bigger one first. I’ve decided not to put it under the dodger I don’t have. An iPad will work for foul weather and watches. I feel like it would be too big for some reason. Any experience? Thanks for your input.


I’m going with b@g h5000 ap. I’ll add the 1k,weather, radar etc. as money comes in from paychecks. Nmea2000 here’s a pic of the binnacle.

I have a 12in Raymarine MFD on my Irwin43 and its fine for charts, radar and sonar. Spent 6 years cruising the Caribbean and sailed single handed from Canada, 3500 miles. I built a mount for it at the helm which includes the autopilot control head.
with wind gennie and solar panels i've never run short of power.

[BigAl.NZ]

Originally Posted by Shoalcove

I have a 12” Raymarine chart plotter on our boat at the helm and I don’t regret it at all. I was able to get a great deal which made it cheaper than the 8” I was looking for. I’m a coastal cruiser and am not overly concerned about the extra amperage draw over a smaller plotter; the bigger picture is worth it to me.

I got the RM Axiom Pro 9" and wish I had gone for the 12" - especially when trying to view radar and chart in split screen.

With modern LED displays I doubt the power draw difference is much concern. The Axiom draws less than a amp.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by Tim francis

43 Bruce Roberts cc. I’m planning on a 9 inch at the helm but I’ve been given advise on getting a bigger one first. I’ve decided not to put it under the dodger I don’t have. An iPad will work for foul weather and watches. I feel like it would be too big for some reason. Any experience? Thanks for your input.


I’m going with b@g h5000 ap. I’ll add the 1k,weather, radar etc. as money comes in from paychecks. Nmea2000 here’s a pic of the binnacle.

I may be mistaken, but is there any weatherproof Ipad on the market? Most phones and pads will be destroyed by even a little salt water. The 12" plotter display will serve you best at the helm. It is waterproof and the large display is very appropriate for a 43' boat, importantly it should be mounted at the helm or within very close reach.
Not very useful below deck even if you already have radar, wind, depth, etc. in the cockpit. Do you really want to leave the helm so often to go below and check the chart?

No matter where you mount MFD, you will find the 12" display vs. smaller display, well worth the extra money.

[daletournier]

I've just added a 9 inch axiom, it's fine BUT I have no doubt the 12 inch would be better.....just not on your wallet.

[Jules_M]

We have a 32' sloop. We looked at a 12" but ended up going with the 9". At first we were going to go with the B&G Vulcan but after we compared it to the Zeus3 we dug a little deeper and bought the Zeus. No regrets.

Resolution was mentioned earlier and I completely agree, it's important. You want something the sun won't wash out.

Also, the Vulcan is touch screen only and some reported problems when the screen got wet. One guy who had the Vulcan said he has to keep a towel handy in wet situations. He also said when the towel got damp, he couldn't get the screen dry enough for the touch screen to work properly.

We also bought a couple of Triton2 displays. At first we were going to buy two pods, one for the MFD and the other for the two Triton2 displays above the MFD, to keep it narrow enough to get around the helm. But that would make the pedestal guard too tall for our liking so we put the three instruments in one pod. No problem with getting around it.

[TrialRum]

We have a Bruce Roberts 45 Ketch and we have a B & G Zeus 12.
While large, it does not hinder forward view. Mounting it in a location where it's comfortable to look at but not blocking forward was a a challenge. 1500 miles of sailing and still like it, would not go smaller. Removing it at night is annoying but better than having it removed by others. Make a cardboard dummy and see if it fits.

[PuttingDoctor]

Pictured is a B&G Zeus 12T that resided at the helm binnacle of my Irwin 38. The overall real estate it occupied is slightly bigger than the old Ray Marine plotter with its wide bezel.
It ran most everything on my NMEA2k system. It could be divided into multiple screens so only one item needed to run vs multi screen setups.
I like the large touch screen so much that I upgraded to the Zeus2 12T for my Irwin 46. Minor size difference in the NavPod mounted to the binnacle so no noticeable layout change their.
If power consumption is an issue switch to 4G Radar vs older 3g units.

[FlyingScot]

Although on a catamaran, we went with Zeus3 12". Bigger screen makes it possible to have 2, 3 or 4 things all up at the same time. Although still early in our big boat sailing , I like subdividing the screen. Usually at least 2 screens up.

I did a quick spreadsheet using inches for linear measurements. I deleted the pricing info as it was outdated, but I looked at total price, price per pixel, stuff like that.

Model/Screen Size/Width/Height/Screen Width/Screen Height/Screen Sq. In/Pixel W/Pixel H/Total pixels.
Garmin
7607 7 8.75 5.6 6.1 3.4 20.74 800 480 384000
7608 8 9.6 6.3 7 4 28 1024 600 614400
7610 10 11.4 8.1 8.6 5.3 45.58 1280 800 1024000
7612 12 13 8.9 10.3 6.4 65.92 1280 800 1024000
7616 16 16.8 10.8 13.6 7.6 103.36 1366 768 1049088

B&G
Zeus3 7" 7 9.41 5.9 6.05 3.52 21.296 1024 600 614400
Zeus3 9" 9 11.3 6.55 7.85 4.4 34.54 1280 720 921600
Zeus3 12" 12 13.84 8.87 10.17 6.37 64.7829 1280 800 1024000
Zeus3 16" 16 17.19 10.08 13.94 7.85 109.429 1920 1080 2073600

[sailjumanji]

B&G Zeus 3 12 inch monitor. On a swivel base, so can swing it over to view from the saloon, or from the seats aft under the targa bar. This pic was taken from the targa bar seating aft. You can still read the numbers.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

9 inch?
I'm running 2 x 23 inch at the helm.
But I really do feel quite the lightweight compared to some (-;

Tesla's new all electric boat?

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by waterman46

I may be mistaken, but is there any weatherproof Ipad on the market? Most phones and pads will be destroyed by even a little salt water. The 12" plotter display will serve you best at the helm. It is waterproof and the large display is very appropriate for a 43' boat, importantly it should be mounted at the helm or within very close reach.
Not very useful below deck even if you already have radar, wind, depth, etc. in the cockpit. Do you really want to leave the helm so often to go below and check the chart?

No matter where you mount MFD, you will find the 12" display vs. smaller display, well worth the extra money.

Even if there were, the touch screen won't work when it's wet.

[Shoalcove]

Originally Posted by BigAl.NZ

I got the RM Axiom Pro 9" and wish I had gone for the 12" - especially when trying to view radar and chart in split screen.

With modern LED displays I doubt the power draw difference is much concern. The Axiom draws less than a amp.

I don’t find the draw of the es125 to be an issue. We save amps in other areas and are quite satisfied. I don’t find the size to impede any visibility; lots of boats have multiple instruments at the helm that take up similar space.
I picked the plotter based on my experiences and needs. I still manage to look around me from time to time for those who are concerned lol.

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by Tim francis

I’m guessing you have a bracket for it and charge it below when the battery gets low?

I built a wooden binnacle for the instruments on the back of the cockpit table. The iPad sits on a slot and locks in when I want it there. There’s a USB-C cable round the back for charging, but it will last a few hours without that in daylight, far longer than overnight when the brightness is down a bit. There are waterproof covers but I don’t use them, just a clear TPU back cover to protect it somewhat. I have had a little spray on it when beating into a choppy sea in reasonable wind, but otherwise I don’t tend to get water in the cockpit up to 40kts or so. Above that I would probably put it below anyway.

The different with an iPad Pro is that the resolution is several times higher than any mfd display, so reading raster charts is like looking at paper. It also holds all my manuals and so on for boat equipment.

[Shoalcove]

Originally Posted by daletournier

I've just added a 9 inch axiom, it's fine BUT I have no doubt the 12 inch would be better.....just not on your wallet.

Agreed but my dealer had a current model 12” on sale for less than an 8” plotter. I saved money buying the bigger model! Crazy.

[Tim francis]

Thanks for all the info. Looks like I’m buying myself a Christmas and birthday present. I’m going with the twelve inch. I just need to research the pod or swivel bracket. I wish I could upload the pic of my helm to show y’all what I’m working with. On the h5000 ap, I think I’ll mount the display on the starboard bulkhead of the cockpit. Any other secondary displays I’ll do the same I guess. I’m excited but adding time to my departure date south from Maui.