The Marine Electronics Hub
The Northstar 8000i will get a lot of attention in Miami. In fact, I just scratched the surface when I profiled its touch screen technology and overall architecture in early January. For instance, I didn’t mention the radar...
The Miami Boat Show is next week and the new product teasers are coming in fast and furious. How about a KVH cellular modem combined with MSN TV, which is an Internet appliance and portal...
You’ve gotta admire John Williams’ keep-the-costs-down / keep-the-battery-full / let’s-go-sailing philosophy. The pride of his nav station (bigger here) is this antique (Windows 95), 12v sipping, pen computer (eBay, $50) which has a Holux PCMCIA GPS card (eBay,...
Geez, yesterday’s request brought in some wonderful feedback about charting programs, not to mention some good material for future Panbo entries and even a candidate for my Helm Shot column (if he’s not too shy). This blog is helping...
I was so wet behind the ears! One my first attempts at magazine writing was an overview of Electronic Charting Systems (ECS) for the Sept/Oct 1999 issue of Ocean Navigator. I spent months doing the research,...
NavSim sent me a screenshot (above, and full size here ) from its latest BoatCruiser software, which now supports C-Map Max charts…and there—unlike the shot I put up yesterday—is the Curtis Island light. That got me...
Geez, I’ve got companies (and individuals) sending me screenshots to prove that their charts show the rocks in my harbor! That’s Garmin BlueChart on a PC above. You’ll notice it’s based on the 1:20,000 harbor chart,...
You’d think I’d know more about this than I actually do! Apparently Voyaging Magazine—for which I write a column called Helm Shot (only the first one is online, unfortunately)—is running a ‘makeover’ style contest in which...
Panbo friend Jeffrey Siegel sent over an excellent example of how important those chart asterisks can be. His raster chart clip above “shows a very nasty rock just outside Castine that is exposed by two feet at...
I’ve done more testing of the Lowrance ExplorerC handheld, and still like it a lot, but there are some real issues with the NauticPath charts. The main one is the absence of “obstructions that sometimes cover/uncover”, i.e. the...
