Panbo

The Marine Technology Hub

Panbo News and Reviews

Flash: C-Map and Navico become sister companies 18

Charts / The Trade

Flash: C-Map and Navico become sister companies

Boeing_sells_C-Map_to_Altor_(Navico)_aPanbo.jpgHere’s some big news in the small world of marine electronics. Boeing company Jeppesen just sold its marine cartography division to a formerly unknown entity named Digital Marine Solutions (DMS) and it “will trade under the C-Map brand name” (as it did before Jeppesen came along and as many of us could never stop calling it). DMS belongs to the Nordic based Altor “family of private equity funds” which also owns the Navico family of Lowrance, B&G, Simrad, and GoFree brands. Interesting?

News: Garmin Nautix, Gemeco resources, GOST Tracker, Go-Free Hooked & Furuno MCU004 keypad 5

Wireless & Apps / How-to / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

News: Garmin Nautix, Gemeco resources, GOST Tracker, Go-Free Hooked & Furuno MCU004 keypad

Garmin Nautix and hands-free in-view display Shipping the first week of April for US$400 is a new heads-up display called the Garmin Nautix. A 1.1 oz “hands-free in-view display,” Nautix attaches to your sunglasses and shows NMEA 2000 data transmitted from certain Garmin multifunction displays (GPSMAP 7400/7600, 8400/8600 series) that support the company’s ANT wireless technology. Suitable for polarized or prescription lenses it includes an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust brightness…

RCMSAR and facilitating marine rescue from the cloud 8

Safety & SAR / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

RCMSAR and facilitating marine rescue from the cloud

Royal Canadian Marine Search And Rescue Training Horseshoe Bay

For the past 7 years I’ve been a SAR volunteer in Unit 1 (Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver) of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR). My unit had 87 calls in 2015, making it the busiest volunteer marine SAR station in Canada. It’s a situation that motivates a tech enthusiast and advanced crew member like myself to think about better tools and procedures…

New NMEA 2000 stereos: Rockford Fosgate PMX-5, JL Audio MM100s & Navico SonicHub2 22

Entertainment / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

New NMEA 2000 stereos: Rockford Fosgate PMX-5, JL Audio MM100s & Navico SonicHub2

Fusion_MFD_integration_collage_cPanbo.jpgBeing able to use your helm’s bright waterproof color screen to run your stereo system has to be one of the most appreciated benefits of multifunction display evolution and the NMEA 2000 network standard. Typically the stereo head unit is installed in the boat’s living area while one or more MFDs serve as remote controls in the cockpit, on the flybridge, etc. The interface can be a simple mute/volume/next menu bar leaving ample screen room for navigation or a screen window with more controls and info. Usually, you can also go full screen to easily browse a phone or iPod full of music, or access the stereo’s deeper settings better than you can on the head unit. And it costs next to nothing!…

Solid state radar #2: the Doppler effect 16

Navigation / Safety & SAR / The future

Solid state radar #2: the Doppler effect

Furuno_NXT_demo_w_Eric_Kunz_cPanbo.jpgWhy is this guy grinning? At the end of the solid state radar #1 entry, I suggested that the Doppler target speed discrimination feature just introduced by Furuno and Garmin is truly game changing. Now I’ll try to break that down. While Doppler effect is a seasoned and fairly well known concept, I suspect that its sudden and intriguing arrival to marine electronics is going to effect change…

Solid state radar #1: long ranges and deep thoughts 7

Navigation / Safety & SAR / The future

Solid state radar #1: long ranges and deep thoughts

MIBS_2016_mostly_DeLorme_radar_demo_tracks_cPanbo.jpgWhile we’ve barely begun 2016, the state of recreational marine radar is entirely different than it was in 2015. The simultaneous introductions of Furuno and Garmin solid state Doppler radars in Miami was a stunning coincidence, but the bigger picture is that all four major brands have now embraced solid state technology and a major transition is underway. During the show I spoke with a lot of product managers as we checked out their particular new radar underway, and my (partial) track map above (in two scales) may help readers to better understand the screenshots I brought home...

Hobie/Lowrance fishing “kayak” & Simrad TripIntel 4

Fishing & Sonar / Wireless & Apps / What's on board...

Hobie/Lowrance fishing “kayak” & Simrad TripIntel

Lowrance_Ready_Hobie_Pro_Angler_14_BenE_cPanbo.jpgAfter four marine events (and three round trips to Florida) in five weeks, I’ve toured or ridden a lot of nice boats or at least interestingly equipped ones. But some solo time on a Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 14 during the Navico writer’s event at Hawk’s Cay easily stands out. I think the design is only filed in Hobie’s kayak section because “fishing kayaks” have evolved so fast a better category name hasn’t emerged yet, and that thought doesn’t include the unusual Mirage pedal-to-fin propulsion. Whatever you call it, this is a cool boat, and not just for fishing (though it must be a blast to play a big one from that low throne)…

Furuno NXT & Garmin Fantom, Doppler marine radar is here! 20

Navigation / The future

Furuno NXT & Garmin Fantom, Doppler marine radar is here!

Furuno_NXT_and_Garmin_Fantom_solid_state_Dobbler_radars_aPanbo.JPGExclamation marks, curse words…honestly I’m trying to hold myself back. Furuno and Garmin are both announcing new solid state radars here at the Miami Boat Show. So after many years of Navico trailblazing what is arguably a better way of doing radar, and with Raymarine Quantum just recently announced, suddenly all four major brands offer some form of solid state. That would be big news by itself, but the Furuno NXT radome and the Garmin Fantom open array also both justifiably proclaim a first in bringing valuable Dobbler radar enhancement to our boating world because neither apparently knew what the other was about to do. Can I get a HOLY MACKEREL!?!…

FLIR Ocean Scout TK, a $599 handheld true thermal marine camera! 9

Handheld / Safety & SAR

FLIR Ocean Scout TK, a $599 handheld true thermal marine camera!

FLIR_Ocean_Scout_TK_aPanbo.JPGNew this morning and shipping soon is the FLIR Ocean Scout TK thermal camera. It looks a lot like the existing and beautifully made Ocean Scout series, except that it is about two thirds the size and half the weight. What’s really small, though, is the $599 retail price, which is almost one quarter what even the bottom-of-the-series OS 320 model costs. Now it’s true that the TK will become the lowest resolution Ocean Scout camera with the least range, but there’s a lot more to true thermal vision than resolution and range…

Lowrance & Simrad StructureScan 3D, hello interferometry 1

Fishing & Sonar

Lowrance & Simrad StructureScan 3D, hello interferometry

Lowrance_Simrad_StructureScan_3D_kit_cPanbo.jpgWhen I wrote about the StructureScan 3D announcement last July, I recall feeling a dite skeptical. Sure, the screenshots suggested that new users could more easily understand the 3D presentation of the sidescan data, but I wondered if they wouldn’t go back to the apparently more detailed 2D presentation once they got a handle on it. But I was wrong. On-water demos have taught me that SS3D is much more than a visual gimmick. The 3D view can be really useful, especially for fishing, even though the new 3D transducer also produces the best 2D StructureScan imagery yet, plus there’s some interesting and potentially valuable science going on behind the screens…