10 Things I Love About the SIMRAD NSS EVO 3S
By Capt. Steve
If you took a poll of a cross-section of captains at any dock at any marina as to what their favorite electronic manufacturer is, you’ll surely get an endless debate that will probably lead to arguments. It’s the typical powerboat/sailboat dilemma all over again. Well, I was part of just such a poll recently but as it just so happens I have an edge over all those guys in that I have a louder voice thanks to the worldwide BoatTEST audience.
I’ve been working with SIMRAD MFDs for years now. When you find something that works well for you, you just stick with it. Now, this isn’t to say that others don’t do a good job, they do. But they do it differently and I just find that the things I need to do are harder with other units. Probably after spending a good deal of time with other units, I might feel differently. For now, and for several years, in fact, I’m a SIMRAD fan. So in no particular order, here are 10 things I love about SIMRAD's NSS EVO3S.
1. Look Ahead. This nifty feature moves the vessel icon from the middle of the screen to the lower or top third, depending on whether you use north up or course up. The point being, it gives you a further “look ahead” on the screen and a better orientation of how much more distance you have to cover to meet your next waypoint.
2. Range rings. Having range rings around the vessel icon is incredibly useful for a myriad of reasons. For me, I like to have a quick visual of how far nearby waypoints are. Plus it gives a quick reference to match up to the radar range rings.
3. User Interface. In my opinion, SIMRAD has this nailed. No matter what I want to do, I can do it without ever reaching for the owner’s manual. And I can’t say that with any other brand of MFD.
4. Integration capabilities. This probably could be said with other brands as well but couple this with the user interface and it’s a win/win. SIMRAD just seems to get the concept of plug and play.
5. Easily customizable waypoints. I group waypoints into different categories and each gets a different color and shape. It’s easy to do with SIMRAD and each can be done individually rather than all or nothing. Also, it’s easy to add notes to waypoints to refer to how fishing spots did year after year.
6. Breadcrumbs vanish after 24 hours. I like this setting. Instead of having the breadcrumbs either on or off, or stay until the database gets full and then overwrites the oldest, I have it set to replace after 24 hours. Today is a whole new day. If I want to save the trail I can, but I rarely do.
7. Tide graph in the sidebar. This is a stroke of genius and I refer to it constantly. Not only does it continually update, it changes when my geographic position changes.
8. Faster refresh time. This gives more accurate ETA times and much quicker page loads when I scroll in and out.
9. Cell Phone Integration. My phone is in my pocket, but having it connected to the EVO3 and getting alerts on the screen is a huge perk.
10. Sirius Satellite Weather. This goes back to the user interface. The way the SIMRAD works with Sirius weather is flawless and so easy to use. It’s like they were best of friends from birth and grew up together.
Now as I said in the beginning of this, if I spend time with other units my mind may change, but so far this is a marriage made in e-heaven. And I get that opinions vary so save your cards and letters… I get it. But honestly, I’m a test captain…. I’ve had my hands on all of them and when I get on a boat that has a SIMRAD unit that I need to adjust to display the info I need for completing the test, I breathe a sigh of relief. When it’s another brand then I, the company rep, the local captain, and anyone else tries to figure out how to change the parameters on the screen to get what I need to display. We’re making phone calls, breaking out manuals and wasting valuable time.
Game, set... Match.