Panbo

The Marine Technology Hub

Category: Network & control

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Network & control / Electrical & Engines / Monitoring & Tracking

Victron announces Nucleo GX, a lower cost, higher performing GX option but is it for marine?

Victron just announced the Nucleo GX, another option in the GX family of devices joining the Cerbo GX, Ekrano GX, and Venus GX. The Nucleo is positioned as a higher performing, lower cost option than the Cerbo GX. I’ll be honest, I sat down to write this entry thinking I was going to write about a great new option for marine use. My conversations with Victron representatives helped me better understand Nucleo GX and the market it serves. Spoiler alert: Nucleo will be best leveraged managing off-grid and battery backup systems, not systems on boats. The better news for boaters came from my conversations with Victron: a much more powerful Cerbo is coming this year.

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Network & control / Navigation / Charts

PBIBS 2026: Raymarine introduces Axiom 2

Raymarine announced the Axiom 2 at the 2026 Palm Beach International Boat Show. The introduction of the Axiom 2 puts all three variants of the Axiom on the same underlying hardware architecture. Axiom 2 joins the Axiom 2 Pro and Axiom 2 XL as the long term future of Raymarine’s chart plotter product line. But, the announcement of the Axiom 2 also marks the end of major software updates for owners of Axiom products (Axiom, Pro, and XL) that don’t end in 2. Let’s take a look at the new hardware and what this all means for owners of very recently sold Axiom+ units.

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Network & control / Navigation / Charts

DBMIBS 2026: Simrad NSO 4

Continuing my new product tour from the 2026 Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show, the next stop is at the Navico booth for the Simrad NSO 4 and B&G Zeus SRX. These two families of chartplotters sit atop Simrad and B&G’s lineups. They also complete each company’s transition to products based on Navico’s NEON operating system.

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Wireless & Apps / Network & control / Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K / Monitoring & Tracking

DBMIBS 2026: Digital Yacht veLINK

Digital Yacht has been on a roll recently with clever, relatively simple products to solve specific needs. Well, they’ve done it agian. This time, Digital Yacht has introduced a small converter that connects to Victron products via Bluetooth, convert their data, and share it on a NMEA 2000 network. The veLINK gateway solves problems on boats without a GX device and for Victron devices without wired connectivity.

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Mobile Apps / Wireless & Apps / Network & control / Handheld / Gadgets / Communications / Safety & SAR

Garmin Quatix 8, compelling marine watch option now with inReach

The Quatix 8 might just accomplish something no other Garmin (or any other brand) watch has done so far. Displace my Apple Watch. I am deeply invested in Apple’s ecosystem. I use an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Airpods, and Apple Watch. So, getting me to switch out one of those pieces is an uphill battle. The Quatix 8 offers enough improvements over prior Quatix watches, and my Apple Watch Ultra, to make a strong case for daily wear. If you’re like me and happy with your current wristwear, you might be wondering what the Quatix could possibly deliver to compell a change. For me, the answer comes down to four things — not all of them marine related — that weigh the scale in Garmin’s favor. Those four things are: thorough integration with Garmin navigation electronics, extremely long battery life, robust fitness features, and now, satellite communications from my wrist.

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Wireless & Apps / Network & control / Safety & SAR / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K / Monitoring & Tracking

NMEA 2025: Digital Yacht Bilge IQ

Last week, the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) held their annual conference in West Palm Beach. This year’s conference featured quite a few interesting product introductions. I had the opportunity to see most of them while helping judge the NMEA’s Best New Product and NMEA Technology Awards. I plan several articles covering the various product introductions, though I’ll have to be quick about it as IBEX begins next week. Digital Yacht’s Bilge IQ is a NMEA 2000 and WiFi connected bilge pump control and monitoring system. The clever system monitors bilge pump activations, runtime, and current draw. My fellow judges and I thought enough of it to give it the Best New Product award. What did we see that intrigued us enough to award it? Let’s take a look.

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Getting Technical / Editors' Blog / Wireless & Apps / Network & control / Safety & SAR / The future

Getting Technical: Getting it together

When new classes of technology are introduced to the marine marketplace, they tend to focus on core functionality. Niceties like integrating with the rest of the boat’s control systems are not a priority. Hence, new technology and systems are frequently introduced with dedicated control systems. One result is that helms and control panels are littered with disparate controls, making real estate at the helm a hot commodity.