The Marine Electronics Hub
My family and I just spent a year on the water. When we left, some members of our crew were hesitant about the whole idea, so I knew we needed many comforts of home, like an always-on (almost), always-available (almost) internet connection. This isn’t a simple or one-size-fits-all issue, and what follows is a primer on marine internet and the start of an article series…
Though multifunction displays have been steadily gaining new functions, the Seakeeper and Lumishore buttons above represent a new era. Garmin calls it OneHelm, but the underlying HTML5 app technology is an important innovation that all the major MFD manufacturers are embracing. It significantly simplifies the process of creating MFD control…
In the lead-up to any major boat show there are a lot of press releases flying around. The 2018 Miami International Boat Show was no different, and one such announcement was from a new division of Brunswick called NAUTIC-ON. While I made a mental note to see what they were all about, frankly my expectations were meager. But what I encountered was a style of boat monitoring that far exceeded my expectations.
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…
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…
At the Miami boat show, Furuno showed off interesting new products aimed at both ends of the market. Prominent at their booth were two strikingly large multi-touch displays being driven by a single TZTouch2 Black Box, a new choice for larger vessels and an especially easy upgrade for existing Furuno black box systems. But nearby were entirely redesigned multi-touch 7- and 9-inch plotter/fishfinders (that even have a radar option), plus an innovative new autopilot that further confirms Furuno’s growing attention to smaller boats…
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…
Airmar’s newly announced UDST800 Ultrasonic Smart Triducer is real! I’ve held one in my freckly hand and even installed it on Gizmo. The reality of a new product would not normally be news, but the history of Airmar’s high tech ultrasonic and electromagnetic speed sensors has frustrated boaters wanting the promised precise and reliable Speed through the Water results, which should be many boaters, I think…
Doctor Ducer is in the house! Seriously, the already impressive Airmar TDT1000 Transducer Diagnostic Kit is now key to the company’s new certified installer program, and thus you and your sick fishfinder may one day appreciate a boat call by an informed ducer doc technician with the right tool. And if an ACI installs the transducer in the first place — let’s call it “preventative medicine” — you get a significant warranty upgrade. I tested the tester last month and learned a lot about Airmar and sonar nuances in the process…
That new 24-inch Simrad NSO evo3 screen must look spectacular with its 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, 1200 nits of brightness, and IPS-style wide viewing angles. And these big screens — there will be 16- and 19-inch models too — can purportedly be viewed with polarized sunglasses, thanks to the use of combined LCD and polarizer. The new NSO design is also packed with connectivity, including a Simrad-first J1939 engine input, and a black box processor is no longer needed. We’ve got details on the series, and then let’s ponder recent Navico acquisitions…
