TZT9F for sailing?

[VelaNS33]

I have a coastal cruiser type sailboat and am looking to buy a MFD and radar. I do not like things that fail prematurely and Furuno has a good reputation for reliability. Problem is, Furuno also has a good reputation for fishing, but none for sailing that I'm aware of. So I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who uses this display on a sailboat. Please note: if your reply uses the words "fish" or "sonar" it probably isn't applicable, though you are welcome to post it, anyway.

I'm specifically interested in the following, which I think are pretty simple uses for these things:

I'd like to be able to split the screen such that a chart is to one side (preferably the left) and a wind/relative-wind type instrument (from a Raymarine i60) is displayed on the other side along with other useful data such as depth, speed, etc. I doubt that the TZT9F will interface with my creaking old autopilot, but if I could have a "maintain current course" button for it on this side that would be good, too. I have no need for fancy autopilot stuff.

I would like the split to be off-center so that the chart is large and the other info is smaller, though not tiny. In otherwords, I'd like to be able to decide where the split occurs.

I'd like to be able to selectively overlay radar, AIS, neither, or both onto the chart.

I don't care about much else. I know these are extremely capable and expandable units and who knows, I might add other stuff at some point. But the few things I mentioned plus reliability are really what I'm really interested in.

Thank you!

 

[madmike]

Vela, we have a TZT9F and DRS2D-NXT on our Tartan 37 (also NavPilot 711c). We like it. The boat came with old Raymarine ST60 instruments and an older NMEA0183 AIS. I installed a Yacht Devices YDNR-02 which converts data between Seatalk, NMEA0183, and NMEA2000. So the TZT9F gets instrument data and AIS data over the NMEA2000 connection.

To answer your specific questions:
1. Yes, you can view charts and instrument data (including depth and a graphic wind readout) at the same time. If you use the split screen layout with chart on one side and instruments on the other, you can put charts on either the right or the left, but you're limited to a 50/50 split. We use the full-screen chart display and put the instrument data on the left-hand data area, which uses about 20% of the screen and can only be on the left.

2. I haven't tried using the TZT9F to control our old (which is now the backup) Raymarine X5 wheel pilot, but it should be possible since the TZT9F can send nav commands over NMEA2000, which the YDNR-02 will convert to NMEA0183 and send to the X5.

3. As I mentioned above, you can't choose the screen split ratio. It's either going to be 50% or 20% for instruments. This limitation doesn't bother us, although we still have the Raymarine ST60 displays mounted next to the companionway.

4. Radar and AIS overlays are great. We also like the chartplotter and Radar split screen mode. It's nice that we can independently put either or both displays in Head Up or North Up mode. Radar MARPA targets show on the chartplotter display, and chartplotter waypoints show on the radar display, both of which help in identifying what's what in the dark.

5. Reliability and support have been great.

One of the key criteria that drove us to choose the TZT9F is the ability to turn off the touch screen and just use the physical controls. When it's raining and we've got spray blowing into the cockpit, the touchscreen becomes useless. Most of the other small chartplotters are touchscreen only, which was a showstopper for us.

You can download the Operator's Manual from the Furuno website. It's pretty thorough in showing what the machine can do.

PS. You might not care, but we installed an in-hull fishfinder transducer. That was easy to do, and it's been a lot of fun to see what's happening under the boat. Using the fishfinder wasn't part of our plans when we bought the TZT9F, but we use it all the time now.

 

[VelaNS33]

Thanks, Madmike! That is very helpful. I looked up the manual as you suggested and alongside it's link was a brochure that gave dimensions. It's wider than the touchscreen only MFDs so I think I'll make a cardboard mockup to see how it fits on my binnacle.