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Simarine Pico: Good ideas in battery monitoring & more 30

Green Boating / Monitoring & Tracking

Simarine Pico: Good ideas in battery monitoring & more

Simarine_Pico+_battery_monitoring_sleep_screen_aPanbo.jpgWhile this boat’s main battery bank is at 73% state of charge (SOC) — a near minimum for the long term health of many battery types — the lightning icon and blue up-arrow indicate that the charging sources exceed the loads and, in fact, a 100% SOC is expected in 9.5 hours at current rates. The 3.5-inch touchscreen is also displaying time and barometric pressure with trend, and this is just the sleep screen of what seems to be a very modern family of reasonable-cost monitoring products. Say hello to Simarine…

Testing AIS MOB beacons, ACR’s DSC feature especially 29

Safety & SAR / AIS

Testing AIS MOB beacons, ACR’s DSC feature especially

testing_four_AIS_MOB_beacons_cPanbo.jpgGiven my accidental activation of an AIS MOB beacon a few weeks ago, it seemed like a good time to test beacons again. I hoped to at least see all the major brand multifunction displays properly react to an AIS MOB test transmission, putting up the distinct safety message that I should have seen during “the incident” and that every owner of an AIS MOB should be familiar with. Potential beacon users should also understand the specific activation, test, and deactivation controls on their device, plus I have two newer beacons with special features worth examining in detail…

Lessons learned by causing a false AIS MOB alert 37

Safety & SAR / AIS / When things go wrong...

Lessons learned by causing a false AIS MOB alert

mission_acomplished_by_USCG_Rockland___cPanbo.jpg

The grins tell the story: Mission accomplished! Due to an obscure but noteworthy electrical glitch, plus oodles of embarrassingly distracted seamanship on my part, a sizable U.S. Coast Guard team spent part of a beautiful Saturday looking for an AIS man overboard alert that seemed to be associated with my boat Gizmo. Fireman Joey Jansen-Hedrick and Petty Officer 1st Class T.J. Iaci (above) were the boarding party that had to deal with an owner/operator (me) who was pretty sure they didn’t know what they were talking about. But they were politely persistent, and they were right…

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Cabin & deck gear / Network & control / Navigation / PC & peripheral / Communications / Entertainment / AIS / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K / Monitoring & Tracking

Smörgåsboat: The tasty testing buffet installed on Gizmo for 2017

While I do think that Gizmo offers a bountiful spread of delicious marine electronics these days, a more serious title for this entry might read: “Guilt: All the darn gear I’ve borrowed but haven’t...

Beta testing FloatHub boat monitoring, and the wonders of marine WiFi 12

Wireless & Apps / Monitoring & Tracking

Beta testing FloatHub boat monitoring, and the wonders of marine WiFi

FloatHub_yellow_box_beta_testing_on_Gizmo_cPanbo.jpg

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…

New at ICAST: Evinrude iDock and Raymarine Axiom Pro 4

Fishing & Sonar / Navigation / Electrical & Engines

New at ICAST: Evinrude iDock and Raymarine Axiom Pro

Evinrude_iDock_added_to_IPS_aPanbo.jpg

I won’t be at the ICAST fishing show this week, but I do know something about two of the major pre-show product announcements that came out today. For instance, while the introduction of yet another outboard engine joystick control system might seem insignificant, what if the technology is deeply integrated into the outboards, requires little rigging work or locker space, and costs a whole lot less? Say hello to iDock as it joins Evinrude’s Intelligent Piloting System…

Garmin inReach Explorer+, armchair transatlantics & hands on 15

Communications / Monitoring & Tracking

Garmin inReach Explorer+, armchair transatlantics & hands on

Garmin_inReacher_Explorer+_with_Lunacy_MapShare_cPanbo.jpg

A big kick in my small life is seeing a technology I champion do well (especially when it involves a small company in Maine). I became a DeLorme inReach fanboy before it even shipped, and a succession of models have not let me down over thousands of testing hours. And I believe that the Explorer+ jointly developed with new owner Garmin is the best yet, based on personal experience and also on observing one serve well over thousands of transatlantic miles aboard S/V Lunacy (above). However, I also recently watched one Panbo reader suffer a very close call with inReach customer support…

Raymarine Axiom & LH3, a little fishing & then the install 15

Fishing & Sonar / Navigation

Raymarine Axiom & LH3, a little fishing & then the install

Raymarine_Axiom_9_fishing_in_FL_cPanbo.jpg

There is understandable grumbling about how Raymarine’s new 7-, 9- and 12-inch Axiom multifunction displays shipped (somewhat late) without several significant features that Ray plans to deliver with a software update at a yet unspecified date. But I’m fairly confident that the longer term story is rosy. After two days of fishing with beta MFDs in Florida and installing a test Axiom 7 myself, I’m impressed with both the hardware and the new LightHouse 3 interface, and I’ll be surprised if the missing features and more don’t fill in nicely. Let’s take a glass-at-least-half-full look at this major product line change…

NMEA to WiFi gateways: TeamSurv’s & FloatHub 14

Wireless & Apps / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

NMEA to WiFi gateways: TeamSurv’s & FloatHub

TeamSurv_NMEA_Tools_NMEA0183-WiFi_bridge_collage_cPanbo.jpgWhen it rains, it pours (particularly at Panbo HQ this “spring”). NMEA-to-WiFi bridges are quite useful — mainly for getting basic boat data like depth, GPS, and wind into the wonderful world of marine mobile apps — and there have been numerous choices for a while. But yesterday TeamSurv started offering an interesting and notably inexpensive new bridge on KickStarter, and the intriguing FloatHub bridge and monitoring system will join it there soon…