Garmin NMEA 2000, good news!
I had a long phone interview with Garmin this morning and was mucho pleased to learn that the limited NMEA 2000 support in the 4 and 5000 series is only temporary…
Category: Fishing & Sonar
Gar & Ray 5″ fish finding, first impressions
I got the test Garmin 545s and a new Raymarine A60 installed on Gizmo and took a test run around my local Lake Megunticook. I don’t think Navionics, Garmin, or any one else has electronic charts for this particular lake—or many lakes in Maine for that matter—so the plotter functions were pretty pointless. But I did get a taste of both their dual-frequency fishfinders…
Garmin 3D fishfinding, something new
Garmin wouldn’t let me photograph this in Miami—something about a patent application—but fishermen must be discovering it around the country right now. This screen shows the 3D underwater view, available only when you have...
Raymarine A60, a Garmin blocker?
It seems a bit unusual that the folks at Raymarine just announced a new A60 plotter/fishfinder that they didn’t mention at the Miami Boat Show, but I imagine they’re hustling to meet the Garmin juggernaut. After...
Simrad sensor toss, the other Simrad
If you make wireless sensors so tough they can be dragged around attached to trawler nets, a good way to market that quality is to have brawny fishermen chuck them as far as possible. That’s just...
Ping pong balls, panty hose, and DSP
I’m guessing that title got your attention? You see I’m trying to compare a Furuno FCV-620 fishfinder with the Raymarine DS500X which is already installed on Gizmo (and which the idiot thieves failed to strip off). Airmar...
Super Cheater, do they make ’em like they used to?
Would you be surprised to learn that Audacity’s electronics are minimal? Actually just a venerable Garmin 48 at the chart table and this fabulous Aqua Meter Super Cheater Tournament depth flasher in the aft companionway (bigger here)....
Memorial Day, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”
It’s Memorial Day here in the States, and frankly a tough one, given what peril and mess we’ve put our military into. But I will show the flag with pride. I took this particular shot, bigger here, a...
New Furuno fishfinders, DSP and stylin
Furuno has two new fishfinders, the FCV585 and FCV620, that seem interesting. For one thing, better seen in a big picture, they are styled more sleekly than normal Furuno gear. More important perhaps, they incorporate Digital Signal Processing (here’s Chuck Husick...
Furuno FLS, a category stimulated
I first researched forward looking sonar (FLS) back in 2002, and later tested an EchoPilot Bronze on my 25′ Ralph. I really, really like the idea of being able to see underwater ahead of the...
