The Latest and Fastest MFDs

Given the networked status of most helms and the central role that multifunction displays play, it’s not surprising that these three marine electronics players recently released faster MFDs.

Furuno’s NavNet TZtouch3 MFD is available in 12-, 16- and 19-inch screen sizes, and boasts more horsepower than its predecessor. TZtouch3s have in-plane-switching displays, providing wider viewing angles, as well as quad-core processors and the ability to present four-way screen splits. TZtouch3s come with raster and vector charts, and they help keep users’ data secure and accessible thanks to Furuno’s TZ Cloud service. For anglers, NavNet TZtouch3s come with two built-in fish finders and the ability to ­network with Furuno-built black-box fish finders and power amplifiers.

Raymarine’s newest MFD—the Axiom+—is the company’s latest Axiom series offering and is available in 7-, 9- and 12-inch screens. Axiom+ MFDs have quad-core processors, IPS-enabled LCD screens that are treated with Raymarine’s nano coating for better touchscreen control, and four built-in sonar channels. Additionally, Axiom+ MFDs have Raymarine’s latest generation GPS/GNSS receivers, which are more accurate than the previous GPS hardware, as well as the ability to support augmented-­reality navigation tools. Finally, Axiom+ MFDs were released with Raymarine’s newest library of LightHouse charts.

Simrad’s NSO evo3S displays come in 16-, 19- and 24-inch screens, and have a six-core processor delivering four ­standard-speed cores and two extra-fast cores. Collectively, the NSO evo3S’s iMX 8 chipset is reportedly two to three times faster than the iMX 6, which was found aboard Simrad’s NSO evo3 (the NSO evo3S’s predecessor). This allows the NSO evo3S’s operating system, application-specific software and networked hardware (e.g., sonar or radar) to perform better, while also delivering future-proofing overhead to help with eventual software updates and yet-to-be-­installed downstream hardware.