Monthly Archive: January 2022

25

2022 GPS rollovers: Furuno, Airmar, JRC, and who else?

While I certainly knew that it was not June 8 2002 when I took this photo last Saturday, the Sunrise/Sunset times shown above are also quite wrong, and it’s hard to tell what other calculations get screwed up when a networked device like this Maretron DSM starts receiving a system date that is 1,024 weeks old. Yes, the problem seems like the well-publicized April 1999 GPS week number rollover, except that it just happened a few weeks ago on the attached Airmar PB200, and lots of older gear from Furuno, JRC and probably other brands are experiencing a similarly delayed and under-publicized rollover in 2022…

20

Plot your paradise with new Garmin Navionics+ marine cartography

Garmin International, Inc., the world’s largest1 and most innovative marine electronics manufacturer, today announced Garmin Navionics+ and premium Garmin Navionics Vision+ for Garmin chartplotters, the newest generation of marine cartography products from Garmin. Wherever mariners choose to plot their paradise, new Garmin cartography products offer an all-in-one mapping solution that integrates detail-rich inland and offshore content, as well as a variety of tools to support smarter and safer navigation.

6

Garmin OnDeck, potential aplenty with room for improvement

Boat monitoring sounds like a pretty simple concept; tell me about my boat and alert me if something is wrong. In practice, it’s not quite so simple. Siren Marine has been in this space since the beginning and often notes they’ve seen over 40 companies come and go. Garmin’s OnDeck entry into the space caught my attention. I immediately wanted to see how Garmin tackles a complex challenge like boat monitoring and if they can make it simple for the user. Thus far, the answers are mixed but I think it’s a product with a ton of potential.

0

Dockmate Launches Patented Game-Changing SoftDocking Functionality

Dockmate, manufacturer of advanced wireless remote control systems for yachts, announced today an absolute revolution in easy and stress-free docking with its patented SoftDocking functionality. Regardless of the size or type of boat, power or number of engines, one thing that every boater understands is docking is made more complex by…

8

Omnisense Ulysses Micro thermal camera testing underway

manufacturer other than FLIR, but these looked like high-quality cameras competing on performance and features, not just price. It took longer than I would have liked, but I now have an evaluation unit on hand and mounted on Panbo(at). Testing is underway and I’ll have much more to show soon, but the early results are certainly promising.

74

Garmin Buys Vesper, will the innovation continue?

t that Ben Ellison and I are big fans of Vesper Marine. As a small company out of New Zealand, Vesper has punched above its weight class by delivering numerous innovations. Well before getting involved in the marine electronics industry, I’ve been impressed by Vesper’s ability to deliver easy-to-use products that make boating safer and more relaxed. Vesper’s anchor alarm functionality (first covered on Panbo over a decade ago!) remains more capable than any MFD anchor alarm I’ve seen. So, it was a big surprise this morning to see that Garmin has bought Vesper. What will this mean for the scrappy little company and its track record of innovating?