New NN3D user

S

sailor11767

Member
I'm fairly new (July 1) to Furuno. Our boat has a pair of MFD8 units installed, and I'm learning a lot. Quite impressed! A few questions.

* They draw a fair amount of power. I can't find any way to have only one unit turned on. I've tried the Master and the Slave, no luck. Am I missing something?
* The free chart downloads (USA) is a game changer. I think Furuno is the ONLY vendor who doesn't see keeping charts current as an overpriced revenue stream. Good on you!
* My downloaded charts give VERY fuzzy satellite views. Not the high res I expect. By "fuzzy" I mean just green shading. I must be doing something wrong. I'm doing a fresh d/l but not very confident
* Is there a listing somewhere of the mouse operations? I have a cordless mouse on order. but with a corded mouse I am still using the mouse and buttons in concert.
* AIS is a challenge. On my old boat, GPS by "G", the AIS was "all or nothing," a useless combination. You allow filter by speed, a huge improvement (I don't need to see 100 anchored/moored pleasure boats!). I would love to filter by class. I was out on the Chesapeake this weekend, near Annapolis. There was a freighter I wanted to know about. There were a dozen or more class "B" boats in the same direction. It was not easy to find the right target. I do NOT CARE about Class "B" targets. It would be a huge safety improvement if I could turn off Class "B." Laptop-based chart programs allow that. Is it possible on the MFD8? My AIS is the source of my incoming signal so right now I am transmitting like everyone else -- as soon as I figure out how to turn off transmission, I'll do my small part to help the rest of the world. Class B targets can be safely avoided from inside 100 yards -- it's the big boys that require attention.
* Is there a fairly easy way to set an anchor location? Setting it while monitoring the water depth and communicating with the foredeck is not intuitive.

Thanks for any help. I hope I haven't inundated you!

Harry
 
Welcome to Furuno and the Forum!
I can't find any way to have only one unit turned on. I've tried the Master and the Slave, no luck. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
The NN3D system was designed to come up together and go down together via power sync, by design. If you power up the unit you wish to use, all the MFDs should come up. The MFD(s) you didn't power up will boot up and then go into sleep mode where the largest power consumer (the LCD) is shut down. If you wish to use that unit later it is a quick push of its power button to wake it up to instant on. If you are done using an MFD, you can put it back into sleep mode via the selection of the roto-key.

* My downloaded charts give VERY fuzzy satellite views. Not the high res I expect. By "fuzzy" I mean just green shading. I must be doing something wrong. I'm doing a fresh d/l but not very confident
Click to expand...
It depends on your location. The USA has free high resolution charts available for download at www.FurunoUSA.com for the US coastline and river system. You just have to install what you wish.

There is no filtering for Class A or Class B with the NN3D AIS targets, as you noted. In regards to setting the anchor alarm, I don't know of any tricks other than the way noted in the manual. Others who use the system often might have suggestions for you.
 
Johnny,

Thanks for the quick and knowledgeable answers.

The power is as I suspected -- and as I observed. The "Sleep" mode is indeed a huge step. I can still hear the master grinding away (fan? hard drive?) and mechanical noise is a sure sign of power consumption. But nothing in the world is ever "perfect" and "perfect" is even impossible to define! LOL.

Your pointer to the pictures seems to be the answer. I've been using the TimeZero web site for the charts, which seems to indicate the satellite photos are included -- but surely not at the file sizes there! I've got some downloading now, I'll try them this weekend.

The lack of filtering is universal across all chart plotters. It's a long standing complaint of mine. I believe that Class B has all but ruined AIS in busy areas. I can in places see dozens of targets -- so many I can't even read the names because they are all jumbled up. And someplace in there is a tug and tow I want to know about! Truly, the best answer is to turn off the AIS feed and go back to using eyeballs, hand bearing compass, and calling on the VHF for "Freighter northbound below the bridge" The developers ought to be taken out for a sail or two to see what a disaster it is.

Thanks again! I'm really liking the MFD8, and with the wireless trackball I just received, I think I'll like it even more.

I wish you folks were coming to the Annapolis Boat Show -- I'd stop by and say "hello."

Harry
 
I've downloaded and installed the image files. Huge files -- but incredible detail! Thanks for pointing me in that direction, as the TimeZero web site seems to imply that the sat images were included on those downloads.

Still looking for a cheat sheet on how to use a mouse. I've hooked up a wireless track ball, and love it, but it still requires a hybrid approach with mouse and console keys.

Harry
 
From memory, I seem to have problems with zoom, scroll, imitate the rotokey. The mouse is a huge improvement setting a route (point and click), although it is hard to initiate, terminate, and scroll, meaning you need to use a hybrid of the mouse and the keys. Reading the shortcut list, it seems there is a lot of value in a keyboard, even you don't type -- the F-keys, and the arrow/cursor keys look to be exceptionally useful.

Is there a similar shortcut list that addresses the mouse? It seems the clickable scroll wheel should add some sort of benefit.
 
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