Panbo

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Category: The Trade

BEP CZone #1, “distributed power”? 11

Electrical & Engines / The Trade

BEP CZone #1, “distributed power”?

BEP_CZone_sample_system_diagram2.JPG

I’ve been looking through a lot of material on BEP’s new CZone system, and finding it impressive. But its descriptive subtitle — “Networked Control and Monitoring System” — seems a little vague to me.  In fact, Simrad changed that to “digital switching” when they showed off their nifty CZone integration with the NSE series (covered briefly in a Miami Show entry).  It does seem like the handful of manufacturers who dare to compete in this complex niche can’t agree about what to call it, but I like “distributed power”.  You can see why in the simplified CZone sample diagram above; like the competition, those OI modules efficiently distribute an electrical system’s core power feed and circuit protection functions to where they’re needed, while networking the switching and much more. There is no central breaker panel on this boat, and a lot less wire.  The following diagrams tell more about the concept…

Garmin visit #2, GPSMap 78 6

Handheld / The Trade

Garmin visit #2, GPSMap 78

Garmin_78_industrial_design_evolution_cPanbo.JPG

Today Garmin introduced the GPSMap 78 series, an apparently major refresh of the 76 series long popular with boaters.  While I only got to fiddle with a pre-production unit for a moment, I did learn a lot about the industrial design process behind it.  The ID department in Olathe — aka “The Skunk Works” or “Area 51” —  has a tool collection that would make all sorts of craftsmen and artists drool, but I’ll save that story for another day.  What’s particularly notable about the exhibit shown above and below is how many design iterations were created and modeled for the 78, and how detailed they were…

Garmin visit #1, making stuff 9

The Trade

Garmin visit #1, making stuff

Messy maybe, but this is how marine electronics get made, and Garmin HQ in Olathe, Kansas, is all about making stuff.  The engineer who leads the hardware side of the marine department told me...

MTA Survey #1, brand awareness & perception 6

Panbo & misc. / What's on board... / The Trade

MTA Survey #1, brand awareness & perception

Panbo_MTA_survey_brand1.JPG

Please don’t jump to conclusions about this first real slice of the finished Panbo/MTA survey until you better understand what it represents. The questions quoted at the top of the table above were “open ended”.  The 950 people who spent time taking the survey (thank you all!) got no check box guidance toward their answers.  In fact, no brand names were specifically mentioned anywhere in the survey.  So the 1,558 positive responses, along with the 773 negative ones — no, almost none of you ornery cusses did as asked, naming three of each — are purely the brand names that came into nearly 1,000 minds when asked in privacy which marine technology products had either pleased or displeased them. The individual response totals then are a mix of at least three factors:  market share (how many of the survey takers own, or have owned, some of a brand’s products); brand awareness (most may remember whose MFD they use, but not necessarily whose inverter); and brand perception (the emotion that brings a brand name to mind).  And there are more complexities beyond…

Electronics survey, there’s still time 11

The Trade

Electronics survey, there’s still time

MTA_survey_first_look.JPG

Almost 400 marine electronics users have already taken the survey announced here earlier this month, and Marine Technology Analysts (MTA) has done a little preliminary data crunching.  Users were asked to name up to three of their favorite sources and, while 152 outlets were named, the top 11 seen above appeared in 60% of the surveys.  MTA also tells me that some strong patterns are developing in terms of what users most desire from those sources, not to mention what they want in terms of products.  But more data would be great.  Please take a 10-15 minute break to fill out the survey today; chances are good that the effort will help the marine electronics industry, Panbo, and ultimately you.

MIBS ME, lots happening, all good! 22

The Trade / Zany

MIBS ME, lots happening, all good!

cranial_release_cPanbo.jpg

Instead of being released, my cranium got completely stuffed in Miami last week.  Now, there is a phenomenon whereby the more I cover marine electronics, the more developers I know and the more they want to tell me about their latest projects.  But there’s something else going on, too:  I believe the pace of innovation is increasing and some healthy trends are emerging.  I’ll try to hit a few today, but it may take weeks to detail all the good things I saw at the show…

Welcome MTA, MI for ME at last! 19

The Trade

Welcome MTA, MI for ME at last!

I’m not the sort of guy who usually spends time looking for diagrams and explanations regarding a field like Market Intelligence (MI), but I’m pretty darn sure that the Marine Electronics (ME) industry could...

Raymarine nearly sold(?) & Honeywell’s holiday surprise 20

The Trade

Raymarine nearly sold(?) & Honeywell’s holiday surprise

Raymarine_news_12-18-2009.JPG

The news from London (reported somewhat differently here) is that Raymarine’s board is now negotiating with a single buyer, which is not Garmin, and anticipates a deal in which all debts will be paid off and credit lines extended (but from which share holders may get zilch).  Of course the deal is not done, but it sure sounds more certain, and a lot like what many of us were predicting last month.  We may not know who the buyer is for a while, but doesn’t it seem even less likely that Raymarine will go away?  However, part of the due diligence still underway may involve the lawsuit that Honeywell laid on Raymarine, Furuno, and Navico on Wednesday…

Raymarine E-Wide hands-on #1, & money talk 25

Navigation / The Trade

Raymarine E-Wide hands-on #1, & money talk

Mark_n_Jim_-_Raymarine_visit_cPanbo.JPG

Raymarine product manager Mark Garland and marketing manager Jim McGowan kindly came to Maine last Thursday and swapped a new E140 Widescreen for the C140W I used for radar comparisons all summer. They were lucky in terms of testing-on-the-Bay weather, but not so lucky in terms of dire sounding Raymarine financial news that I felt compelled to drill them about. I’ll save that for last, though, as the E Wide is definitely worth top billing…