Geonav G12, another new MFD!
First Raymarine E-Series Wide, then Simrad NSE, and now the Geonav G12…three new and different multifunction displays announced in three weeks…did marine electronics miss the “economic tsunami” somehow? Unfortunately, though, the G12 is not going to be distributed in the US, at least at first, despite the fact that Geonav became part of Johnson Outdoors in late 2007. The press release issued this week (not yet online) says the G12 will be introduced at the Genoa Boat Show next month, along with new autopilot, HD radar, and AIS transponder products. As you can see at the G12 teaser site, it sure looks like a major refresh of the Geonav line, with possible collaboration from other Johnson Outdoors resources, like Humminbird. Will we eventually see a G12 with the side imaging I went gaga over this week, or a new Humminbird SI MFD as sexy seeming as the G12? And what the heck is that camera button? We should know much more in the next month or so.
The G12 looks fine. It is a good question where that camera might be for. I don’t think it is some sort of webcam (look how happy I am, sailing the world). Maybe it can be used in ports when docking your boat, very much like your car where you have those camera at the back of your car to see if anything is standing in your way when parking.
Perhaps the camera “button” is for capturing the current image on an SD card for later viewing on the MFD or at home on the computer.
I like how it has the option of being able to use either Navionics or C-Map cards, leaves the operator to use what he likes best.
Dear all, because it is a MFD it is capable of showing different screens. For instance chartplotter, radar, fishfinder and also a camera. With the camera you can look into the engine-room or on deck. Seen it on a ppt, beautiful. Keep the curiosity alive….
Some news on the web site today… no NMEA2000 (?!)
Geonav tell us what processor they used :
1 GHz Intel� Celeron� Processor and 2 GB RAM
It is the only manufacturer that provides this information (with furuno may be), it’s a pity. I’m curious to know wich one is used by HDS for example… It’s little too slow.
NMEA 2000 Adapter
Converts NMEA 2000 sentences
to NMEA 0183 for monitoring of
heading, speed and position, as
well as sea temperature from an
NMEA 2000 CAN bus backbone.
Bill’s reference is to a GeoNav G system accessory listed in the PDF catalog now online at:
http://www.geonavmarine.com/_pdf/catalog_en.pdf
But offering an 0183-to-2000 adapter certainly doesn’t make a system part of a NMEA 2000 network.
Like Benoit, I’m surprised that the new GeoNav series, which looks powerful in many ways, does not include 2000. I’ll be interested to hear what the rational is.