Category: Monitoring & Tracking
These days many coastwise cruisers rely on cellular for their internet needs, but there’s still a place for high power WiFi radios that can connect to harbor hotspots, at least on my boat. And Wave WiFi’s dual-band Rogue Reach model has been making me very happy in this department. The interface shown in part above makes it easy to find and stay locked onto even fairly distant access points, and often they’re in the 5GHz band that most marine WiFi systems can’t see…
FLIR Systems, Inc. announced today its Raymarine Axiom multifunction display (MFD) line is compatible with CZone digital control and monitoring systems. The collaboration enables boat builders and system integrators to deliver custom CZone digital switching solutions with rich graphical interfaces controlled through Raymarine’s line Axiom MFDs…
Victoria BC – January 7, 2020 – Barnacle Systems Inc. (www.BRNKL.io) is proud to announce that their new product, BRNKL Mate, is now available for pre-order for $295CDN ($245USD). BRNKL Mate is merging the world...
VesselVanguard, the leading customer experience management platform for manufacturers and boat owners, announced today full integration with the Boatrax IoT gateway. VesselVanguard in collaboration with Boatrax, a Miami, Florida-based telematics services provider, have created back-end connectivity to process data from any IoT or telematics gateway.
The Garmin GPSMAp 86 family is a powerhouse of communications and connectivity. The dizzying array of technology inside this handheld provides two-way satellite messaging, GPS chart plotting, and integrations with many onboard electronics, all in a compact, weather-resistant, floating case. The marriage of a marine GPS unit with inReach satellite messaging could be the perfect tool for boaters. Can this many capabilities work in one little package? Read on to find out.
The existing Victron Venus GX and Color Control GX are both excellent AC/DC power monitoring products in my estimation, but with many boat systems it’s hard to decide which one to use. While the Venus blue box is less expensive with more networking capabilities, none of its display and control abilities are as fast and easy as the CCGX’s screen and button interface. I’m happy to report that this purchasing dilemma will end next year with the new Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50, and valuable new GX features are included…
Yacht Devices has introduced an NMEA 2000 Battery Monitor.
The device reports battery voltage, current, health and charge state to NMEA 2000 and can turn on the genset or warn when the battery state is critical.
With winter setting in fast, it’s nice to remember summer, even a cruising hassle like snarling lobster trap gear around Gizmo’s running gear. During my 48 years in Maine waters, the catch has increased from 20 to 120 million pounds and the pot buoy systems have gotten significantly tougher; so snagging one has become much more of a hazard. But the grin above is not just because I’d finally cut away this particular mess; I think I’ve found a reliable snarl solution that will even work out in the remote Maine islands that lobsters, lobstermen, and cruisers all appreciate…
Long Maretron experience has taught me that the key benefit of boat monitoring is not screens of sensor readings, though they can be useful; it’s warnings and alarms. Done right — which is not easy — they can help a boat operate longer without major issues, but with a more relaxed operator. So I’m pleased to report that the new Kobelt Vitals offers similarly sophisticated alerting in a freshly thought-out, reasonably priced, and very flexible design that may be just right for many mid-size vessels…
When I outfitted Have Another Day to begin cruising I wanted better visibility of several areas of the boat. IP cameras are the natural way to tackle this but once I realized I wanted five or more cams the cost of MFD manufacturer branded models quickly became prohibitive. Fortunately I’d already decided to go with Raymarine MFDs and some digging revealed strong support for a commonly used IP video standard.
