Monthly Archive: June 2018

14

Easy Marine Traffic AIS sharing from your boat, FloatHub is first

The screen above may look like an app running exclusively on the boat, but actually all that data was being easily uploaded to my private data cloud thanks to Gizmo’s FloatHub monitoring system, plus the AIS target info was being automatically shared with the public via Marine Traffic. There are many benefits to sharing the AIS data your boat receives, and FloatHub has other recent improvements with more coming…

1

FLIR Introduces Raymarine Axiom XL Multifunction Displays

FLIR Systems, Inc. announced today the introduction of the Raymarine® Axiom™ XL line of multifunction displays (MFDs) and the immediate availability of two Axiom XL models. Designed for premium yachts and glass bridge installations, Axiom XL displays offer the largest size in the Axiom family and the superior performance and elegant simplicity that the award-winning Axiom line has delivered since its introduction.

6

Can you open the fridge and grab me an iPad?

I’m an information junkie; if some information is good, more is better. So, when traveling in unfamiliar waters I would like to know as much as possible.  This data habit finds me with multiple plotters and a couple of iPad Minis at the helm when I’m underway.  Sometimes my quest for information finds me refrigerating iPads.

6

Weems & Plath PRO 7×50 binoculars, customized for monocular vision

Several years ago I noticed that Weems & Plath had introduced a line of binoculars that seemed to offer good specifications at reasonable costs. But it took me until last fall’s Annapolis Show discount to take the plunge, and then it took some customization work to get where I hoped to. It’s an interesting story, I think, but to tell it I’ll have to reveal two more personal idiosyncracies…

6

KVH enters the cellular Internet market

KVH announced they’ve entered the cellular internet market with the TracPhone LTE-1.  Their marketing materials say it can deliver “Double the coverage and 10x faster speed at sea.”  KVH is providing the hardware and the cellular service and promises to deliver an all-in-one, end-to-end, no hassle, simple service.  If this announcement weren’t from KVH and it didn’t have some of the pretty bold claims KVH makes it might look like just a ho-hum, me too announcement.  But, KVH says they can do more faster and easier than the existing products so, I for one, am looking forward to seeing if this, generally pretty conservative, engineer driven company, can back them up.

6

Marine Communications Leader KVH Introduces LTE System for Fast, Affordable Internet Access Offshore

KVH Industries, Inc., a leading global satellite communications provider, is introducing the TracPhone LTE-1 marine communications system designed to provide Internet access in U.S. waters more than 20 miles offshore, with data download speeds up to 100 Mbps. The system, which utilizes LTE Advanced (LTE-A) cellular network technology, is compact and affordable enough for a vast array of small and mid-size recreational boats…

86

Standard Horizon GX6000 VHF & wireless RAM 4W mics, finally!

Many readers got excited when Panbo covered the “coming soon” Standard Horizon GX6500 and GX6000 radios in October, 2016. It looked like SH was about to blaze trail once again, but then the story got confusing, even sad…But a real GX6000 along with the trailblazing RAM4W mic materialized at my door on Friday, and I’m tentatively impressed.

1

Garmin disrupts the sonar market yet again with Panoptix LiveScope, the first and only live scanning sonar for recreational fishing

OLATHE, Kan.–Garmin International, Inc. today announced Panoptix LiveScope – a live scanning sonar that gives anglers higher resolution and easier-to-interpret images of structure, bait and fish swimming below and around the boat than ever before. Garmin’s revolutionary Panoptix all-seeing sonar technology was the first to deliver live sonar images in real-time – forwards, backwards, sideways and below the boat – even while stationary. Now, thanks to the active scanning capabilities of Panoptix LiveScope, anglers can see images and movement so clear and precise that it’s even possible to distinguish between species of fish.