The Marine Electronics Hub
The just-announced SailRacer inkDisplay seems impressive. For about $360 you get a sunlight readable 6-inch Android wireless tablet so waterproof that it can purportedly run in that aquarium forever. In fact, the video shows...
After months of painstaking development, Sailracer.net, a sailing app and a company, greatly appreciated by more than 60 000 users, has launched their latest product – InkDisplay – high contrast display for sailing with the best possible visibility even through polarized sunglasses in direct sunshine.
This week both Garmin and Lowrance made major fishfinding announcements, but the overall sonar wars context most definitely includes the sharp Humminbird Mega high-frequency side imaging seen above. There’s also some good news for cruisers in the Navico MFD software update, plus an opportunity to preview a new press release feature coming to Panbo…
RACINE, Wis., March 14, 2018 – More than ever, anglers rely on their smartphones for communications on and off the water. Now, the new Humminbird® FishSmart® app puts the power of LakeMaster®mapping in anglers’ hands and delivers a more convenient path to important software updates for Humminbird fishfinders.
Within minutes of announcing Garmin’s acquisuition of ActiveCaptain in May 2017 commenters here and elsewhere immediately began to worry about its future. On Wednesday evening, the Polar Navy announcement above poured fuel on that fire, suggesting that the many non-Garmin charting apps and MFDs which display ActiveCaptain cruising information would lose access to the database this May. But that quote is not the whole story by a long shot. Actually, Garmin is emphatic that AC data will remain freely available to developers and users…
MIBS 2018 saw the manufacturers putting the multi in MFD, with Garmin and Raymarine each introducing multiple new multifunction app and app-like display integrations interfacing to all sorts of third party boat systems, plus consumer electronics gadgets and online services — actually every single brand seen below, with lots more likely coming. The results are exciting, but what the heck are MFD apps? Fortunately, Raymarine is illustrating all three ways they can be created and why it’s useful to know how it’s done…
The Exposure OLAS Float-On is one hell of a flashlight (or “torch” in Brit speak). That’s because it’s also an automatic water-activated MOB strobe light and a Bluetooth MOB alerting device that can network with smartphone apps and more familiarly styled MOB tags. Details follow, along with several other interesting new safety products that also got the attention of the DAME Award judges at METS…
It’s odd that I was writing about the Navionics Boating app’s excellence at MFD integration when Garmin purchased the company and downright weird that the acquisition news arrived via a beta version of the brand new Garmin ActiveCaptain app that takes MFD integration to some other excellent places. For instance, have you ever seen phone notifications pop up on your helm screen while you’re underway (if you choose)? The two apps are good news for lots of boaters as they are right now, but what fun to think of all their key features made into one…
Did my planned back-to-back reviews of evolving Navionics and Garmin apps suddenly become moot when the Garmin acquired Navionics on Friday? I don’t think so! The terrific Plotter Sync integration I’ve been experiencing between the Navionics Boating app and multifunction displays from Simrad and Raymarine is not likely to go away anytime soon, if ever, and it may add significantly to your current navigation happiness. Moreover, many Garmin owners are about to receive a wonderful app gift, and while the different advances are not such a competition now, together they suggest the broad harmony between phones, tablets, PCs and MFDs many of us will eventually experience on our boats…
I don’t usually write about beta testing, but the FloatHub monitoring system is already proving itself so smart and functional that I want its Kickstarter campaign to succeed and hope that some readers enjoy the good deal that seems available, at least for the next few days. Detailing FloatHub is also a good opportunity to discuss the many ways WiFi is being used afloat these days, a subject that many boaters are understandably confused about…
