Category: NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Lauderdale ‘lectronics: sensors, sats, cams, boats, ROVs and ? 4

Lauderdale ‘lectronics: sensors, sats, cams, boats, ROVs and ?

Fort_Lauderdale_Boat_Show_2016_maps.jpgThe Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) has become an enormous event, and I would have a hard time covering all the interesting electronics-related exhibits even if I actually motivated my lazy old butt out of Maine this week. But I do have the goods on one important set of new products (that I can share tomorrow), and I’ve also got some ideas about booths and docks to visit that some of you might enjoy and perhaps even report back about…

Fusion Signature sound and much more, plus Clarion gets N2K 6

Fusion Signature sound and much more, plus Clarion gets N2K

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Fusion’s Todd Crocker has twice impressed me with on-water demonstrations of the company’s premium Signature sound system, first at the Miami Show (above) and again during the NMEA Conference. I’m not sure why it took me so long to write about what I heard, but maybe it’s because the sound quality was so good it hurt! Not my ears, but the fact that no stereo in my life — boat, car, home, or portable — comes close. Fusion has also introduced new products for more modest budgets and seems intent on conquering all corners of marine audio. But then again, competitors like Clarion are definitely stepping up their game…

Standard Horizon GX6500: a loaded VHF radio also integrated with Class B AIS 131

Standard Horizon GX6500: a loaded VHF radio also integrated with Class B AIS

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The wait is almost over. The Standard Horizon Quantum GX6500 combines Class B AIS and VHF transceivers into one device, an important first in critical marine communications that some boaters have long hoped for. It is not yet for sale pending FCC approval, but the expected price of $800 seems quite reasonable given the install efficiency, the integrated GPS/VHF/AIS features, and a lot more that Standard has designed in. The GX6500 would be an extraordinary radio even without the AIS…

NMEA 2000 realities, the pro installer view 10

NMEA 2000 realities, the pro installer view

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The day after the annual National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) Conference ended, the Association ran its new Advanced NMEA 2000 Installer Certification course in the same Naples, Florida, hotel and let me sit in. I learned about numerous N2K subtleties and also about how NMEA trainings have evolved, but let’s start with a fact that says a lot about who the overall organization is: The course trainer Mike Spyros (seen twice above) is not only an exceptionally knowledgeable and seasoned electronics technician, he’s also the incoming chairman of the NMEA Board…

Navico NASA moves tech support to the cloud 12

Navico NASA moves tech support to the cloud

navico_nasa_logo_aPanbo.jpgMarine electronics tech support is a ritual I’m all too familiar with. Dial the phone, wade through the metaphorical press one for yes, two for no and wait until the tech picks up. For the average boater this can quickly turn into a button pushing slog with unsatisfactory results. Tech: “What version of software are you running?” Boater: I don’t know, where do I find it?” Tech: “Go to the System tab.” Boater: “Where’s the system tab?” Tech: “It’s in Settings.” Boater: “Where’s Settings?” I won’t belabor this but sometimes it takes a lot of patience to provide tech support with the information they need to help you. This is now changing for the better with Navico’s new cloud-based Network Analyzer Service Assistant (NASA) software. It’s the most significant use of the Internet by a MFD to date, I think, and the high-tech aspect of the NASA acronym isn’t lost on me either.

New: Lars Thrane sensors, B&G Triton2, and Maine Cat 38 18

New: Lars Thrane sensors, B&G Triton2, and Maine Cat 38

Lars_Thrane_LT-1000_NRU_and_LT-500_AHRS_aPanbo.jpgToday I’ve got a smorgasbord of new gear to share, starting with a trio of serious multi-sensors from Lars Thrane A/S in Denmark. The company first came to my attention when they inquired about advertising — thanks, LT — but a little research revealed why their products may well appeal to Panbo readers. The LT-500 AHRS in the foreground is an 11-sensor Heading, Roll, Pitch, Air Pressure and Temperature device; the LT-300 GNSS not shown is a 72-channel GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou receiver; and the LT-1000 Navigation Reference Unit (NRU) shown installed essentially combines the two. Common to all of the current Lars Thrane products is promised high precision, reasonable pricing, simultaneous NMEA 0183 and 2000 output, and an impressive attention to the real boat details involved in installation, calibration, and future proofing…

Garmin wireless wonders #1: Virb XE and now the Virb Ultra 30 9

Garmin wireless wonders #1: Virb XE and now the Virb Ultra 30

Garmin_Helm_app_showing_wireless_Virb_XE_cam_and_gWind_cPanbo.jpgThe multiple layers of Garmin wireless communications going on above may seem crazy, but they all work well and have endless practical and/or fun applications around a boat. Normally, for instance, it would take two people to align a fixed boat camera, plus running power and video cables. But I simply climbed up Gizmo’s mast, mounted a Virb XE with an adhesive base, and aligned it using the free Garmin Helm app on my phone to see the Virb video screen running on the flybridge GPSmap 7612. It took mere minutes to get a masthead view at my helm, and while mounting the gWind sensor required tools, it too is completely wireless. Garmin is blazing several worthy wireless trails…

Good instrument news: Garmin gWind Wireless 2 and Raymarine i70s 33

Good instrument news: Garmin gWind Wireless 2 and Raymarine i70s

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Mount the new Garmin gWind Wireless 2 transducer on your masthead, plug the GNX Wind display into your NMEA 2000 network and — badda bing, badda boom — your sailboat has quality networked wind data that hardly uses any power and retails for $900 bundled. And if you already have a Garmin GPSMAP 7400/7600 or 8400/8600 chartplotter series, you don’t even need the GNX Wind to display and network the data. Meanwhile Raymarine’s updated i70s all-in-one N2K instrument display looks great on several levels…

Evinrude E-Link, one leg of a generous open architecture attitude 6

Evinrude E-Link, one leg of a generous open architecture attitude

Evinrude_E-Link_WiFi_gateway_n_app_aPanbo.jpgI suspect that a lot of now and future Evinrude E-Tec G2 outboard owners are going to appreciate the new E-Link hardware and app system almost as much as the Fourth of July. The easy-to-install NMEA 2000 WiFi gateway will cost about $360 and will neatly put all G2 gauges, calibrations, and fault codes into otherwise free E-Link Android and iOS (Apple) apps. One E-Link gateway will handle multiple outboards and the system doesn’t require or preclude any other monitoring and control options. In fact, you may soon see a full G2 interface on your favorite multifunction display…

Mercury & Navico: new VesselView Link, VesselView 702/502 displays and MFD engine interface 18

Mercury & Navico: new VesselView Link, VesselView 702/502 displays and MFD engine interface

Simrad_VesselView_via_Mercury_VesselView_Link_cPanbo.jpgPerhaps the most remarkable aspect of this collage is what you can’t see. There were no Mercury gauges or displays whatsoever on this Navico demo boat thanks to a new Mercury black box called the VesselView Link that offers complete gauge and control integration. Simrad and Lowrance VesselView engine interfaces have also been vastly improved, and Mercury is offering similar full MFD integration on its own new VesselView 702 and 502 displays. So a clean single-brand helm electronics setup is now available under three different brands, and seems reasonably priced even for a relatively small boat. Plus, Mercury offers several other rigging choices including basic NMEA 2000 gauge data output to any brand MFD. Explaining all the possibilities is harder than using them, but let’s give it a try…