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Category: Weather

METS 2014: Navico GoFree, Simrad IS35, Victron Bluetooth, LCJ Capteur BaroPlug & more 7

Wireless & Apps / Network & control / Weather

METS 2014: Navico GoFree, Simrad IS35, Victron Bluetooth, LCJ Capteur BaroPlug & more

Earlier this week we published Henning Dürr’s report on METS 2014 and now here’s what Kees Verruijt found.

Navico_GoFree_branding_aPanbo.jpg

Navico GoFree cloud content and services
The Simrad NSO evo2, NSS evo2, B&G Zeus2 and Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch MFDs will all get a January software update that allows users to buy new charts, update software, and more directly from their boat displays. Moreover, GoFree is being upgraded to a separate “brand” that covers all the cloud-enabled content and services offered by Navico on all three “hardware” brands…

Miami 2014 comms #1: WiFi, Cellular, and V-SAT advances 20

Wireless & Apps / Communications / Entertainment / Weather

Miami 2014 comms #1: WiFi, Cellular, and V-SAT advances

Humminbird_ION_10_web_browser_cPanbo.jpg

That’s the Web browser built into the Humminbird ION10 MFD that I first saw demoed in Lauderdale (pre browser), and the test was pretty realistic for a boat show. It was easy to log the ION onto my phone’s WiFi hotspot and if you click the image bigger you’ll see how well it rendered a complex site like www.powerandmotoryacht.com. It even supports tabs for multiple sites, so if I were out fishing on, say, a sunny center consol I could have had a weather site open while still checking my gMail or moderating Panbo comments, all on a bright waterproof screen. This is a MFD first, I think — the Standard Horizon CPN1010i can access the Web, but not while in navigation mode — though the lack of ION detail on Humminbird’s site suggests that they are taking their time getting it out the door.

Improved current data? Let the IHO know you care. 7

Navigation / Charts / Weather

Improved current data? Let the IHO know you care.

IHO_Surface_Current_Survey_page_cPanbo.jpgMaybe you too have an opinion about how predicted currents should be overlaid on electronic charts?  Well, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is developing an S-100 specification for “the delivery and presentation of navigationally significant surface currents” and right now they’re running a online survey of all interested parties. What waters do you care about (coastal for me)? What prediction frequency would you like? Are you willing to pay? How should the data look? And more…

Garmin BlueChart Mobile, hands-on #1 46

Wireless & Apps / Weather

Garmin BlueChart Mobile, hands-on #1

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As mentioned yesterday, there was significant news today regarding Garmin’s BlueChart Mobile app. In fact, anyone with a relatively current iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone — that is, one that’s running iOS 6 or better — can download the basic and free BlueChart app right now. And I think you should because I suspect that the app has value even if you don’t go on to buy detailed charts ($30 for U.S. coastal) or the extra NEXRAD weather data (at just $4 it’s nearly a no-brainer). But I say “suspect” because when I tested BCM after the Lauderdale show, the loaner iPad3 was already fully loaded with charts and Premium Weather. But I sure saw a lot to like…

Furuno NavNet TZTouch, best use of MFD WiFi yet? 12

Wireless & Apps / Navigation / Weather

Furuno NavNet TZTouch, best use of MFD WiFi yet?

Furuno_TZT_GRIB_via_cell_hotspot_cPanbo.jpg

I first learned about Hurricane Sandy in an interesting way. While enjoying sunset in the Calabash River anchorage a week ago today, I was also fooling with various WiFi features built into a just-installed Furuno NavNet TZT14. Actually I was trouble shooting the seemingly flaky WiFi connection when I discovered that the TZT could connect to my Android phone’s WiFi hotspot and even use that connection to quickly download a GRIB weather file. I’ve never seen an MFD do that before! Then I was admiring the TZT’s neat controls for viewing the GRIB predictions — like the intuitive way you can slide your finger along the forecast time bar seen at the screen’s bottom — when I noticed the tropical cyclone headed my way!  But I lucked out; Sandy just slapped the Fort Lauderdale boat show around a bit, and now I’m aboard Gizmo is in a hurricane hole that’s below the immense storm anyway. Today I’ll be thinking particularly about other cruisers who didn’t get this far south already, but I do have time to describe how Furuno is trying to do MFD WiFi different…

Beam Oceana 800, and weather via sat phone 20

Communications / Weather

Beam Oceana 800, and weather via sat phone

Beam_Oceana_800_in_use_c_Bob_Ebaugh_Panbo.jpg

Panbo thanks Bob Ebaugh for taking some time out from a Caribbean cruise to write this review detailing his experience with several satellite phones, particularly an Iridium model built by Beam for fixed marine installation:

Early this year one of Ben’s industry friends was interested
in an evaluation of a Beam
Oceana 800. I was in the right
place at the right time, and thanks to the kindness of Satellite Phone Solutions,
one was loaned to me for the season as I travelled from St. Martin to Grenada. We already had an IsatPhone Pro and Globalstar
handheld on board, so I can make some comparisons between the 3 different
products for voice and data communications.

Hint.fm Wind Map, genius! 9

Weather

Hint.fm Wind Map, genius!

Hint.fm_Wind_Map_cPanbo.jpg

It’s a beautiful data graphic even as a static screenshot, but you must check out Hint.fm’s live Wind Map. Is it just me or is Wind Map the best presentation of macro wind direction and speed ever? It let me almost feel what that big low over the upper Midwest was doing yesterday, and if I was teaching weather I’ll bet this is a live graphic that would help students truly get it. And while the two talented guys behind Hint.fm may characterize Wind Map as “a personal art project” I can’t help but wonder how this presentation style and data source might benefit boaters…

Rally season: trackers, goggles, and a weather router issue 8

Weather

Rally season: trackers, goggles, and a weather router issue

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Of course I admire another boating writer willing to put weird things on his head for the sake of research and a little levity. But consider me dubious regarding the anti-seasickness goggles Charlie Doane modeled aboard a yacht he almost crewed aboard for the Carib 1500 rally. The rally — which runs from Hampton, Virginia, to the Virgin Islands — got delayed by what became tropical storm Sean, and Charlie had to bail, but he still came up with an interesting story about the rally organizers and weather routers who try to help passage makers in this difficult season…

NMEA 2011 Expo, neat new stuff #2 17

Navigation / AIS / Weather

NMEA 2011 Expo, neat new stuff #2

Furuno NavPilot 700 safehelm n power steering module cPanbo.jpg

Yes that’s an Accu-Steer reversing hydraulic pump meant to push a rudder around, but that block on top is a patent-pending sensor co-developed with FurunoUSA, and the whole package leads to the very interesting “Safe Helm” and “Power Steer” features coming to the latter’s NavPilot 700 (which explains why the pilot came out elsewhere earlier).  Safe Helm sounds a lot like the “Shadow Drive” feature so far only seen on the Garmin GHP 10 pilot for hydraulic steering systems; instead of poking a StandBy button, you simply turn the wheel to disengage the pilot and steer around an issue, then let the boat settle on a course again to re-engage. It’s elegantly simple (I’ve tried the Garmin version), and it’s potentially great that it’s is no longer exclusive to one manufacturer. And apparently Furuno’s unique method also means that the pump can be used to power assist a steering system, with numerous controls for how that’s done — like variable assist at different speeds — built into the NavPilot 700…

Garmin GDL 40 cellular weather, hand’s-on #1 10

Weather / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Garmin GDL 40 cellular weather, hand’s-on #1

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An energetic but somewhat chaotic frontal system passed over Maine last Thursday afternoon but I was able to keep on boating largely thanks to Garmin’s new GDL 40 cellular weather system, which I’m getting to test somewhat ahead of the shipping date. The severe thunderstorm warning that headlined most of the NOAA coastal forecasts might have kept some people off the water. (The forecast areas greyed out on the screen above all have some sort of warning, as shown in the inset, as well as the full text, which can be called up.)  But the animated Nexrad precipitation radar, along with lightning strike data, indicated that that my bit of Bay was going to enjoy a frontal hole…