When B&G announced that the production of their widely used H5000 5-inch graphic display was ending, boat owners, dealers, and marine electronics installers were concerned about what the replacement options would be.
With no direct replacement on the market suitable for what they wanted to get out of a display that size, the team behind A+T Instruments put their heads together – 6 heads with a combined 120 years of experience in marine electronics to be precise – to develop a much improved product that is the same size, uses the same cable and cut out, with the same core features.
Because the B&G H500 display is used onboard such a wide range of boats, from motorboats and sailing yachts to race yachts and superyachts, and even interior and exterior, the focus was to make something versatile that covered all bases, both size and specification-wise.
Talking to Pete Simmonds, A+T’s Head of Sales, he explains that this is one of the benefits of being a focus business. “We can adapt to market changes to fill gaps such as this. We can be agile and act quickly, and most importantly, give product development the attention to detail it deserves. We tailor the specification to be exactly what the end user needs, and in this case, we focused on developing a 5’’ display that was not only a replacement for the end of life display, but also something that was better, with higher specs, colour, better visibility and fully waterproof.’’
“We focused on developing a 5’’ display that was not only a replacement for the end of life display, but also something that was better, with higher specs, colour, better visibility and fully waterproof.’’
pete simmonds, a+t instruments head of sales
Thanks to the addition of our HFD5 to the market, the end user doesn’t have to install a complete new system to replace the B&G H5000. In fact, they don’t need to change anything, as the HFD5 is designed to fit into exactly the same cut out. It will use the same screw holes, connect to the existing cable, and work with any N2K system. The HFD5 draws power from the existing CAN bus, so it’s not going to need anything extra and is going to draw the same, if not less, power.
So, we successfully developed a replacement display, but do the specifications surpass those of the B&G H5000 as intended? The answer is yes, on several counts.
Display
The HFD5 boasts a 800×480 transflective display, meaning the brighter the sun, the brighter the display will be. An additional enhancement to their display is that it is full colour, meaning the end-user can have different coloured backgrounds and choose from various colours for the cell options. ‘Rules’ can even be applied, so that when certain values reach certain levels, for example, it changes colour.
The detail-oriented design doesn’t stop there. The HFD5 benefits from graphics, so the customer can choose from analogue-style gauges, historical graphing and data logging, or bar graphs for setting up load cells or temperature changes.
There is also no reason why the display can’t be set up in portrait mode. An example of where having two portrait displays would work well is on the mast of a Cape 31, with each display showing two cells to split the data.
Ruggedness
As with all A+T displays, it was paramount that this 5’’ display was completely waterproof. Our displays are all fully submersible, with each unit tested 1m underwater and in an oven to 75°C before shipping to ensure each one meets the high standards that we adhere to. The HFD5 upgrades are administered through inbuilt WiFi, so the unit remains fully sealed.
“Our founders have many decades of knowledge of marine instruments and displays, and therefore understand how they suffer from the environment. We know how to stop water ingress and ensure the displays work to high temperatures.’’ Pete continues. “So when it came to designing the display and its components, we knew what we had to achieve to make them robust for not only for offshore sailors, but just for long-term use in sunlight.’’
The Sailor’s Touch
The team behind the HFD5 are all sailors. They are the people who actually use the equipment on yachts round the world, and over the years, have never had a good experience with wet fingers and touchscreens. This, therefore, became a crucial aspect to get right with our newest display, which led to the display having buttons to mitigate this. Touchscreens also shorten the life of the display because of the extra components in the screen, meaning buttons not only add robustness, they also improve longevity of the unit.
Does adding buttons affect the waterproofness of the unit? The answer is no, because we have designed them with magnets and proximity sensors inside a completely sealed unit.
Three-Year Warranty
Because of the confidence we have in our products, everything automatically comes with a three year warranty. “But it’s more than that,’’ says Pete, “Yes, it’s a three year warranty on the actual materials, parts and components, but support is our main mantra here at A+T, and we stand by our products for the lifetime. We’re also always listening to our clients about any changes or additions they wish to see. We are building products not for ourselves, but for the end user.’’
“Support is our main mantra here at A+T, and we stand by our products for the lifetime. We’re also always listening to our clients about any changes or additions they wish to see. We are building products not for ourselves, but for the end user.’’
PETE SIMMONDS, A+T instruments HEAD OF SALES
So the important question remains – if you are one of the many yachts affected by the discontinuation of B&G’s H5000 display, how do you purchase the A+T HFD5, and does it need to be professionally fitted?
The HFD5 is currently available for pre-order and will start shipping in July ‘‘26. All it takes to install is securing four screws and plugging in a standard Micro-C connector, meaning anyone can easily do this themselves.
A+T Instruments has no connection or affiliation with B&G or Navico. H5000 is a trademark of B&G/Navico whose use is acknowledged here.