HDS Touch Screens

Taking the dogs for their daily walk, I got to thinking about the new Lowrance HDS touch screen GPSs that people have been inquiring about.
Wondering how they function in the cold? Two concerns. One, the touch screen on my smart phone gets funky when exposed to the extreme cold. Secondly, the digital gauges for my E-tec (made by Lowrance) do not function below freezing. At least until the light bulb heats them up for 15 minutes or so. In speaking to BRP about the gauges, they never expected anyone to operate the outboard in below freezing temperatures.

Wonder if they took this into account when switching to touch screen technology? I would certainly want this answered before I jumped on board.

I'd like to know how they cope with rain and wet fingers. My phone screen doesn't work at all if my fingers are wet. I imagine they'd be fantastic in a boat with a cabin, but remain unconvinced about them out in the open.

Guess you can't use your smart phone at the drive in. Eh Timmy???????

No chance. LOL

Without a doubt someone in the Bassmaster Classic last weekend at Grand Lake of the Cherokee would like to reply to the post. It was cold and wet all last week and most of them use Lowrance's newest units.

We should ask Mr Magoo Pace for an animated answer......

they make "smart gloves" now to go with your "smart phones" and whatnot...have a special pad on the fingertip so that you can use the touchscreens without taking them off when it's cold.

of course, i've never found buttons to be so horribly inconvenient. i'd rather pour the extra money into a H'bird and iPilot Link than the slightly larger screen offered on the touch screen Lowrances. i imagine eventually that both brands will do both things though.

Got this reply on another board:


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i took my new hds 12 out in 5 degree weather last weekend and was very impressed. i ran it for about 8 hours both days and the max temp was 20 degrees.
i had thick gloves on and was still able to use the general functions of the unit and never had an issue with locking up, slow screens or problems with the touch screen not working correctly. it is a little tough with gloves to use the slide functions but if you have all that setup you shouldnt need to do that much on the water. i would personally not reccomend buying a 7 or 9 if your going to be running in cold weather or if you have fat fingers like myself, i hate using touch screen phones due to the size of my fingers but the hds 12 gave me alot better opinion of the touch screens!!

"Smart"defined=sharp,stinging pain or irritation.

And another:



The Lowrance color screens will generate heat that is just the way they work. I had my HDS 7 touch out in a light snow and the snow flakes would melt on the screen at 10 deg. Your gauges in boat are mono color and they don't heat up like color screens, wish they would make color gauges they would be easier to read too.

Probably the LED backlights giving off a gentle heat. That's probably why people don't ever seem to get condensation in their finders anymore. I'm still in the black and white sounder world and all my units have always fogged up. Might try putting the backlight on to see it it helps.

In working with new touch screens on instruments at work that are similar to these, a more common issue is actually with them shutting down or burning up in direct sunlight at high temps. Because they do get hot from normal operation if you put them in 50*C to 60*C and under direct sunlight they can develop dark or blackout spots even before their control systems will shut them down. These are also temps rarely seen on water I'd ever be out fishing, but at the same time not that difficult to acheive on localized dashboard type surfaces. Also, if you had the screen exposed to winter conditions of say -30*F to -40*F for many hours and then tried to power them on you could run into difficulties, but I'd guess not.

Taken from one of their user manuals:
"Lowrance displays are designed to operate in temperatures from -15*C to +55*C (+5*F to 131*F)"

Maybe extreme low fall temps, let alone winter, will cause some issues, but I'd guess if you can get it on you'll be fine as it will heat itself.

One issue I'd see with them is increased power draw, and running starting batteries down quicker than most guys would be used to. Granted saying all that I still think they look amazing and will keep them on my wishlist.

Ryan