Should I pick capacitive vs resistive screens on chartplotters in wet conditions?

[Layla_D]

I’m trying to decide on a new chartplotter for my center console and I keep seeing the term "multi-touch capacitive screen" in the specs. I’m just not sure if it’s worth the extra money over a resistive screen, especially when my hands are wet or I’m wearing gloves.

[SavannahIR]

I went with a multi-touch capacitive screen last season. It looks great and the gestures are smooth, but wet hands and spray from the helm were killers. It would stop registering input until I dried off or used a dry glove fingertip. In rough seas I missed a lot of taps, so I keep a small dry rag handy and I use gloves that still work on touch screens when I need to.

[James92]

Mine is resistive. It takes a bit more pressure, but I can operate with wet hands and gloves, and it never locks up when spray hits the screen. The downside is the image isn't as sharp, and the touch can feel a touch laggy for fine map panning.

[OliverA]

Do you actually notice a meaningful difference in day to day use, or is it mostly about the feeling of the interface?

[NathanIH]

Outdoors the brightness and glare matter more than the input method. I swapped to an anti glare setup and it helped legibility, which changed how often I actually used the touchscreen. Still, input method matters, and I'm not sure we’ve found the real baseline yet.