Hi, we are Ben Ellison and Ben Stein, Senior Editor and Editor/Publisher of Panbo, and this page is where you can find out how to get in touch with us, how to support Panbo with advertising, and much more. But first here’s a disclaimer that seems necessary in this age of media distrust:

The only paid advertising on this site is the ads. We appreciate our advertisers, but they have no say over editorial content and, in fact — skeptics, please note — they never demand any. Moreover, Panbo does not sell any other form of advertising like links or product placements. We choose what we write about and we say what we want. Please enjoy!

Contact Information & Policies

• • • Register here to receive email notifications about new Panbo entries and to get your comments published faster (we will never violate your privacy)
    • Follow Panbo on Facebook or on Twitter
    • To make editorial suggestions or complaints, email [email protected].
    • To submit a guest entry idea, email [email protected]. We welcome guest entries, but only about subjects like electronics issues you’ve solved or similar, and we absolutely do not accept anything with paid for text links.
    • But to ask electronics questions, please use the Panbo Forum because you may get more and/or better answers, and the discussion will be available to other readers
    • We encourage lively feedback in Panbo and Forum entries, comment rules and edit policy here

• • • For information on display advertising, contact the Ad Manager: [email protected].
    • To discuss other business, contact [email protected] or 312-656-9337
    • Panbo’s mailing and shipping address: Panbo LLC, 1874 Monte Vista St, Fort Myers, FL 33901
    • Test equipment policy: Panbo does not accept free equipment from manufacturers except for small items, software, and gear that necessitates drilling a hole below a test boat’s waterline.

Advertising
Panbo is proud to be an independent source of news and opinion about marine electronics, and we’re also proud to be supported by the AIM Marine Group and a fine group of advertisers. Companies wanting to present their products or services to Panbo readers can purchase display ad space directly from Panbo. The sponsorship-style program means that banner ads are equally rotated around our Entry, Forum and other pages. Please note again that we do not sell text links, reviews, or favoritism… just banner ads.

As tabulated by Statcounter (graph below), Panbo advertisers are getting the attention of about 60,000 unique visitors per month (and the numbers are growing again). Regular readers are a mix of marine electronics professionals and enthusiasts — the sort of folks who influence a lot of buying decisions — and “first time visitors” are often individuals who are researching a specific product or category with the intent to purchase. For more information, please contact the Ad Manager.

Panbo History and Future

Panbo was started in 2004 by Dutch web guru Yme Bosma, who was interested in the then-new phenomenon of blogging and who also seriously enjoys marine technology (check out his electric boat project). Ben Ellison was an early reader who then volunteered to take over the site, writing his first entry in April, 2005. He recently commented,

Frankly, it began as a bit of a lark — a way to learn how to write faster, I hoped — but more than 2,000 entries later, Panbo has become the center of my work life and the source of great satisfaction. Instant publishing often means instant feedback, and the site has collected a group of informed commenters from all over the world. We all learn together. Plus, the companies that develop marine electronics often read those comments, and thus Panbo has become an agent of change. All good!

Panbo has survived some hard times in the marine industry, plus the distractions of Facebook and more, but the site’s reputation remains high and its future bright. In early 2018, Ben Stein joined as Contributing Editor, then spearheaded the complete website rebuild that went live in late March, and became Panbo’s Publisher in September. Both Bens will continue to research, test, and write about marine electronics, and future site improvements are in the works. Thanks to all for visiting and especially for contributing.

Ben Ellison, Senior Editor

While many of their peers were going “back to the land,” Ben and friends thought “out to sea” a better option, and in 1971 moved to Camden, Maine, to purchase a 1946 wooden sloop (his same vintage) that had almost sunk on her mooring. The planned circumnavigation never happened, but Ben has been making a career in boating with Camden as home port ever since.

For the rest of the 20th century, Ben worked mainly as a professional sailor and seamanship instructor though he eventually became Director of the WoodenBoat School and later turned his fascination with navigation and new technology into work on tide prediction software and editing Reed’s Nautical Almanacs. At the start of the new century, he began writing about marine electronics for various sail and powerboating magazines, a good excuse for a series of test boats culminating in the Duffy 37 he dubbed Gizmo.

Ben E’s work has received numerous honors in the annual Boating Writers International writing contest, and in 2018 he became a director of the International Marine Electronics Alliance and also the only American on the Design Awards METS (DAME) jury.  More Ben Ellison bio here

Ben Stein, Editor/Publisher

Ben Stein grew up messing about on (small) boats and for him, there really was nothing more worth doing. Ben discovered this spending summers at his grandparents’ home on a small lake in Wisconsin.

In the mid-2000s Ben and his wife bought a 35′ boat and began boating on Lake Michigan.  They found they really enjoyed cruising the Great Lakes, visiting the small towns, and hopping from spot to spot.  Boating became Ben’s respite from a stressful, non-stop career in financial services technology.  So, when the opportunity presented itself to step away from that business in 2016, Ben, his wife Laura, and daughters Molly and Madelyn decided to do the Great Loop.  The family have now completed over 10,000 nautical miles of cruising in the last four years.

Ben has a degree in computer science and extensive, hands-on experience with all aspects of modern, mission-critical technology.  His experience with computing infrastructure and networks maps very well to modern marine electronics, and he is now cruising, mostly full time, with his family aboard their Carver Voyager 570, Have Another Day. More Ben Stein bio here

Where are we?

Remote boat tracking and monitoring are becoming easier and more useful to own, and we enjoy testing them. And maybe one of us is boating near you. Ben Ellison’s Duffy 37 Gizmo can be found here via Marine Traffic AIS or via the FloatHub Share Map below, while Ben Stein’s Carver Voyager 570 Have Another Day is tracked on MT here with more tracking/monitoring coming soon.