NavNet 3D, taking orders!

Almost every time I walked by Furuno’s demo area just outside the MIBS madness Electronics Room, it looked like the scene above, i.e. full of folks intently learning about NavNet 3D. But while last Fall’s NN3D buzz continued, the negative word around MIBS was that Furuno didn’t yet have a shipping date, and wasn’t even taking orders. “Nice system,” competitors said, “but you can’t get it!” 

Panbo readers wrote in theorizing that Furuno’s VX2 “Massive Rebate” program was a sign that 3D had been announced too early, and the delay was also knocked a bit by my blog buddies, first Jeff, and then Tom (who’s now updated the Raymarine G story). Well, that situation ended today at 10 am Pacific Time, when  Furuno began taking orders for delivery “the week of April 28”. Those deliveries will apparently be first-ordered-first-shipped and will include everything except the DRS25A 25 kw radar, which is expected “late spring/early summer”. Plus—to my surprise, because I thought they’d come first, but not really part of NN3D—the FI-50 instruments do not yet have a ship date or pricing.
   At any rate, NavNet 3D is about to get real, and I know I’m not the only one anxious to try it on the water. Then there will be the responses. Oh yeah. In fact, Greg DeVries—who is both Garmin’s Marine Sales Manager and one of NN3D’s more outspoken fans—not only told me that “Garmin will have a response!” but that I could and should quote him on that. Done!