posted 12-11-2014 03:30 PM ET (US)
The rate of change of marine recreational electronic devices was not as rapid in the 1980's as today. The main cause of today's increase in rate of change is the incorporation of microprocessors in the devices. The speed of microprocessors has increased and their cost decreased with time at a very sharp slope, and electronic devices that employ them now are able to be improved in performance and decreased in cost in very short periods of times from one generation to the next.For an example, I use my Lowrance HDS-8 chart plotter. It was relatively current in c.2010 when I bought it. Since then it has been made obsolete by a second generation with much faster processors, and will soon become two generations obsolete with the introduction of a new HDS Gen-3. Along the way touch screen interface was added, which was a dramatic improvement in the user interface. The cost of a current model HDS is no more than the older models when they were the current products, and when one considers all the features added, the cost is probably lower.
If you want to see really amazing progress in electronic devices, look at GNSS receivers. Their size has shrunk to less than a dime, and their cost to less than a dollar. The rate of change there is much more dramatic than in marine electronics.