Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: The Trade

IBEX13 #2: Simrad NSO evo2, a new multi-touch glass helm architecture 11

Navigation / The Trade

IBEX13 #2: Simrad NSO evo2, a new multi-touch glass helm architecture

Simrad_NSO_evo2_dual_video_slide.jpgWhile Simrad may the last of the Big Four to introduce a high-performance multi-touch glass bridge system, it seems like they’ve added at least one significant twist to the concept. The new NSO evo2 black box contains two independent main processors which can drive two independent displays. The brochure claims that this architecture gives you “the freedom to view and control your onboard systems more easily while making every dual station installation or larger networked system simple and much more cost effective.”  It’s a claim that I tentatively buy…

VIRB cameras, the Garmin ‘ecosystem’ expands 7

Wireless & Apps / Cabin & deck gear / The Trade

VIRB cameras, the Garmin ‘ecosystem’ expands

Garmin_VIRB_elite_Panbo.jpgYesterday Garmin big-footed into a new niche with new VIRB action cameras — VIRB as in verb, as in action (I think). It’s not a boat camera per se, but I expect that one will be useful and fun around a boat, and it’s also another indication of the company’s product ‘ecosystem’ stradegy. Garmin was just getting into dedicated marine electronics when I began covering the subject in depth over a decade ago, but nonetheless the major players almost unanimously cited the big Kansas complex full of engineers (with its own factory in Taiwan) as their biggest competitive fear. I suspect it was capablities like this that caused the concern. VIRB is not an assault on any marine companies but CNet’s sharp analysis is aptly titled “Garmin gets up in GoPro’s grill with VIRB HD cameras“…

Volvo Penta (Garmin) Glass Cockpit, just the beginning? 16

Navigation / Electrical & Engines / The Trade / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Volvo Penta (Garmin) Glass Cockpit, just the beginning?

Volvo_Penta_Garmin_Glass_Bridge.jpgWhen I wrote about seeing the new Garmin 8000 Glass Helm series in Miami, several knowledgeable readers commented about how it would be used as part of a complete Volvo Penta engine/helm package. They were right. Garmin announced the VP Glass Cockpit yesterday and it’s already up in detail at Volvo Penta. The main features seem to be great nav screen integration with joystick, trim, and autopilot controls plus a single vendor for all, but is this also what we’re going to see from all the glass bridge/helm/cockpit systems?

Intellian Technologies: smart, articulate & classy 10

Communications / Entertainment / The Trade

Intellian Technologies: smart, articulate & classy

Intellian_tour_2013_courtesy_Intellian.jpg

Intellian Technologies has come a long way since they first introduced their own brand of satellite TV antenna systems at the 2008 NMEA Conference, where I first met them. In fact, the company may well be the fastest growing in marine electronics, going from 77 employees in 2010 to 160 today. Intellian has also gone from supplying only the relatively modest end of the marine TV antenna market to all size vessels, broadband satellite communications definitely included. The company story is interesting on many levels, but there was a particularly telling moment as Global Marketing VP Paul Comyns (standing above) and CEO Eric Sung (to his left) addressed the group of American and European boating journalists that Intellian hosted in Korea.

Dr. Yung’s NMEA 2000 lab, Ship Convergence Center too! 19

Network & control / The Trade / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Dr. Yung’s NMEA 2000 lab, Ship Convergence Center too!

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I so appreciated getting to know Dr. Yung Ho Yu — known around the world simply as Dr. Yung — at the Korea Maritime University in Busan, and I think you will too once you realize how much he and his programs are doing to advance marine electronics and improve the standards that make them inter-operable. For starters, take a close look at the NMEA 2000 teaching lab surrounding the good Doctor. The twenty work stations are all gatewayed to an extensive N2K sensor network so that students can experience and even interact with the protocol right down to the bit level as the instructor demonstrates from his work station. I’d like to be wrong, but I doubt that there’s a similarly powerful teaching and research tool anywhere else on the planet…

Korean marine electronics tour, w/ apps & gadgets 13

Wireless & Apps / Handheld / The Trade

Korean marine electronics tour, w/ apps & gadgets

FlightTrack_Korea_Intellian_trip.jpg

The original idea was to finish this entry during the Chicago stop of the very long journey seen on the nifty FlightTrack app screen above, but travel mistakes were made and O’Hara airport had less connectivity than one might presume in this day and age.  Is anyone surprised to hear that the Tokyo and Seoul airports are much friendlier to the traveler trying to stay in touch?  So, yes, I’m already in  Korea and will soon begin a writer’s tour that is being hosted by Intellian Technologies and that is intended in part to show us the state of recreational boating in this “technology-led” country…

Navico’s numbers, should you care? 20

The future / The Trade

Navico’s numbers, should you care?

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As a privately held corporation Navico doesn’t have to reveal anything about its financial state, but last week it issued a proud press release claiming a dramatic 15% sales increase in 2012, which resulted in revenues of 256 million dollars and EBITDA earnings of 41.4 million. And at the Las Palmas B&G event, the mother company added some claims about what their numbers meant versus the competition, as seen in the slide above. Is Navico painting a fair picture of where the recreational marine electronics market is at? Does it matter to consumers anyway?

B&G in Las Palmas: “Products for All Sailors” 23

The Trade

B&G in Las Palmas: “Products for All Sailors”

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I know several sailors who have installed Lowrance MFDs as an economical way to gain access to Navico’s sailboat-friendly Broadband Radar, and the scheme made sense as there wasn’t really all that much difference between the fishing-focused Lowrance systems and even the sailor-centric B&G Zeus versions of the Simrad NSE and NSS displays. But those days may be over soon as one of several stories Navico presented to the boating press in Las Palmas was a simplification of its three-brand strategy. Now B&G intends to serve all sailors, from grand prix racers to weekend cruisers, and from premium to value-oriented budgets. Moreover, B&G demonstrated that it’s fast putting together a suite of features that should appeal to every type of sailor…

Did Briartek “invent” two-way distress beacons? 17

Communications / Safety & SAR / The Trade

Did Briartek “invent” two-way distress beacons?

DeLorme_inReach_user_web_site_2013_cPanbo.jpg

I really enjoyed being part of Trawler Fest last week. It was inspiring to meet relatively new cruising enthusiasts who are working to expand their skill sets, and trying to explain and demonstrate currant technologies rekindled some of my own enthusiasms. I hadn’t turned on the DeLorme inReach in months, for instance, but it located itself and paired with my iPad for easy backup navigation, tracking, and two-way messaging no problem, even though I was standing in front of an audience under a large aluminum-framed tent. Plus I got to see the entirely new User and Map Share web pages DeLorme recently developed for inReach, and they are sharp. However, I was also reminded of a disturbing behind-the-scenes patent issue that may hobble all SENDs (Satellite Emergency Notification Devices) and will likely tax consumers no matter what happens in court…

Furuno MaxSea PC Radar, only in Europe? 35

Navigation / PC & peripheral / The Trade

Furuno MaxSea PC Radar, only in Europe?

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What is it with radar on a PC screen that seems so enticing to yachties? Is it the fact that you don’t need a MFD? Or do we want the ability to use the digital charts of our choice with the radar of our choice? Last week I wrote about how OpenCPN now supports Garmin and Simrad radar, or at least partially, and it was in that entry’s comments where we learned about the existence of Furuno MaxSea PC Radar. Yes it is possible to use Furuno’s excellent radar with the excellent charting program MaxSea Time Zero without purchasing a NavNet 3D or TZ Touch MFD!  But right now it may only be possible in France or Germany…