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New Year, New Instruments
January 14, 2023 • 2 min read
Introducing an entirely new and more flexible instrument experience in Orca.
Instruments are important at sea. As a boater, you want highly legible and easily understandable instruments that show the things you care about for your current situation.
When you are sailing, you care about wind and tides. When you are approaching a harbor entrance for the first time, you care about depth and speed. On a long passage in open waters? Estimated time of arrival and fuel capacity matter more.
Before this update, Orca offered two solutions for viewing instruments. You could view instruments with the chart, or create instrument panels that covered the entire screen. A lot of you told us you wanted more flexibility and a more cohesive experience, so here we are:
This week's update introduces a brand-new, flexible and unified instrument experience.
New Instruments
The new instruments are all about flexibility. Want a clean and minimalistic setup with just the basic navigation support? You got it. Looking to improve your sailing and want to keep track of all your important sailing metrics? The new instruments got it covered as well. Want to check the health of your new lithium batteries? Easy!
Set up instruments just the way you want them.
Setting up your instruments is fast and fun. Just long-press on an instrument to get it started.
Long-press on an instrument to change your setup.
You can drag individual instruments around to change their order. A great tip is to group navigation information, such as speed, heading, and depth together so you can stay on top of them with quick glances.
Drag an instrument to move it.
Instruments can be organized into pages. Set up pages for different activities, or keep instruments that you don't need to check often on a separate page. Pages are perfect for sailboats, where you can have one page for sailing, and another when going by engine. To change pages, swipe horizontally on the instrument bar.
Swipe horizontally across your instruments to view different pages.
The new instruments can be viewed together with the chart and full-screen. Instrument pages that cover more than 1/3 of the screen will be organized into a full-screen view, giving you a clean and focused experience.
This update is just the foundation for the new instrument experience. In the next few weeks, more instrument types will be added along with interactive widgets that give you quick access to autopilot control and other actions.
Made a great instrument layout? Share it at Orca Owners Club. We can't wait to see what you'll make!
Getting the most out of your instruments
To get access to advanced instruments, such as depth, engine information, batteries, and wind information, you'll need an Orca Core.
Orca Core powers advanced features in Orca.
The Core is a Smart Navigation Hub with a built-in high-accuracy GPS and compass that connects to your boat’s sensors.
This Smart Navigation Hub broadcasts sensor data wirelessly to your Orca App and Orca Display, turning them into fully featured sailing and navigation displays.
Want to start the new year with new instruments?
Order your Orca Core now. It’s delivered with free express shipping and backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, so you can try instruments risk-free.
