Saturday, May 27, 2006 at 09:37
Hi Eric M,
I would have preferred a Xenarc as they are a superior product in brightness, user facilities and construction (only weak point I could find was the unusual multi pin connector). The major obstacles in my case were the cost (in excess of $1000.00 for an 8.4 inch) and the Australian distributors were very casual in their performance, my enquiries were met with a large degree of unhelpfullness.
The Seform is like any of the Asian built units I checked out, basically adequate for the job! It includes one VGA input and two composite video jacks, poor documetation supplied in book form but the software has much more detailed instructions that you can print off. The mount kit supplied is woefully inadequate
for rough terrain and you will need to make your own arrangements if you want a stable mounting, fortunately the housing lends itself to adding extra mounts without drilling holes etc.
The touch screen works fine but I feel is too small for some purposes although a pen/pointer is supplied and is ok I prefer to use an optical mouse at times, I haven`t seen a screen yet that doesn`t pale a little in direct sunlight and the Seform is no exception but still useable, certainly equal to the Laptop and there is quite a degree of brightness and contrast adjustment. I have
mine centrally mounted so that it can be oriented to favour either navigator or driver although I think the driver should be concentrating on his/hermain job and leave the screen to others.
Interaction with your Laptop is primarily a function of the software you choose, I have Ozi on an old P2 Compaq with win98 and also on a current compaq with Xp and both work fine.
I chose to buy from a local distributor rather than import direct, while there are lots of happy people who have purchased direct and saved money there are some sad stories also. Whichever way you go be very carfeful as to the warranty/replacement conditions that apply.
I spent a long time making the above decisions, far too drawn out to elaborate further on this
forum, if you want all the gory details Eric hit me direct.(same offer to anyone who wants a lengthy discussion on screens)
Good luck,
Leigh (sunelec@netcon.net.au)
AnswerID:
175050