Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Editors’ Blog

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Editors' Blog / Wireless & Apps / Navigation / What's on board...

Are tablets ready to replace chart plotters?

Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPad in April 2010. At the time, I was working in financial services technology. The day it was introduced, I ordered a half dozen of them so we could try them out and see what this new-fangled computer without a keyboard might do well. That original iPad, with 256 megabytes of RAM, 16 gigabytes of storage, and a tiny app store was pretty limited. But, we’ve come a long way in the last 13 years and tablets can do an awful lot. But, are they a replacement for dedicated navigation electronics? Let’s take a look at the capabilities they offer and some of the remaining limitations.

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Wireless & Apps / Network & control

MIBS 2023 – Battle Born with Dragonfly IntelLigence

Battle Born is possibly the most recognizable brand of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries in the market today. They’ve built a strong brand around their tagline of “Get out there, stay out there” and the concept that their batteries will help you enjoy your adventure. Their marketing concentrates on what their batteries can help you enjoy, not on the nitty-gritty of their batteries. That strategy has worked for them, even as others have advanced the capabilities of their batteries past Battle Born’s position.

The Fort Myers Beach shrimp fleet is back in the water and some boats are fishing 25

Editors' Blog / Panbo & misc. / The future / When things go wrong...

Moving forward after Ian, and a boat search

It’s been just over six months since Ian ravaged Southwest Florida and, with it, the life my family and I built in Fort Myers. Ian sunk our home on the water, Have Another Day, and destroyed the marina we’d called home for three and a half years. Our lives have continued. We are settled in our house, we’ve found a place to keep our center console, Panbo(at), and overall we don’t have much to complain about, but boy do we miss living on the water.

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Editors' Blog / Sailing & Racing / Network & control / Navigation

MIBS 2023 – B&G Zeus S

Last year at the Miami show, B&G’s Navico sister company, Simrad, was showing off NSX, the first MFD running Navico’s new Neon operating system. This year it’s B&G’s turn to show their Neon-based Zeus S. Neon on the Zeus S comes with a plethora of sailing-specific features and at least one new safety feature I’ve never seen on a recreational product.

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Editors' Blog / Navigation / Safety & SAR

Panbo(at) gets a Furuno DRS2DNXT, cue the comparisons

Since I started paying attention to marine electronics , I’ve heard that Furuno radars are the class of the industry. My own experiences on boats have shown that rumor to be accurate. So, I was awfully disappointed when I couldn’t get my hands on an eval unit when I did my radar comparisons (part II here). I have some good news! Furuno was able to provide a unit for comparison and I’ve had (just a little) bit of time on the water with it.

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Editors' Blog / Fishing & Sonar / Navigation

MIBS 2023 – Raymarine Axiom Pro 2, Axiom XL 2, and more

Raymarine announced several new products either at or just before MIBS this year. The list includes updates to their Axiom Pro and Axiom XL MFDs, a new sonar sounder, and a new camera. Additionally, Raymarine showed off a pre-release version of their latest software update, including an attractive new icon set for the core applications.

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Editors' Blog / Communications / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

MIBS 2023 – Icom 510BB VHF radio

The Miami International Boat Show (MIBS) is the first major show of the year. As a result, it’s frequently where we see manufacturers showing off their latest products. This year was no exception. I walked the show floor, finding the latest and greatest offerings in the marine technology space. I’m going to do a series of posts on what I found. The first up is Icom’s M510BB black box VHF radio.

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Editors' Blog / Safety & SAR / AIS / Monitoring & Tracking

Garmin shrinks Vesper product line. Will only Cortex remain?

Although it acquired Vesper Marine in January of 2022, even today Garmin’s VHF/AIS product pages only list the Cortex and its accessories. The entire WatchMate product line is conspicuously absent from the product list, and the Vesper name is absent from the Cortex items. In retrospect, these are telling ommissions, as today Garmin confirmed that the WatchMate XB-6000, XB-8000 and Vision2 have all been discontinued, soon to be followed with the Vesper brand name.

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Editors' Blog / Cabin & deck gear / When things go wrong... / Good Gear (non electronic)

Three-strand or plait anchor rode? And which windlass?

Gizmo needs a new anchor rode and windlass, and in my experience replacing boat gear is a lot more satisfying if it’s also an improvement. That’s how I got interested in the somewhat new plaited 8-strand rodes that seem to offer multiple advantages over the 3-strand nylon line I’ve used all of my boating life. But, wait, does plait have its own problems…