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METS 2012 show report part 2: NMEA 2000 related 14

The Trade / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

METS 2012 show report part 2: NMEA 2000 related

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In part 2 I’d like to talk about the items related to NMEA 2000 in some form or fashion. Actually it’s becoming hard to find a new marine electronics product that does not have an N2K interface! From batteries to sensors, they all seem to grow a NMEA 2000 interface. Lets start off with the better known specialists first. Maretron had a lot of gear that I hadn’t seen before like a very new 3.5″ color display, unnamed as of yet, that is essentially a smaller version of the DSM 250. Not only does this fit in better with the 110 mm displays from other manufacturers, I thought the screen actually looked better as well because it has the same amount of pixels at higher DPI. Thus it gets rid of the slightly grainy display that I felt let the DSM 250 down. It probably also uses less power too…

METS 2012 show report part 1: MFDs and navigation displays 14

Navigation / The Trade

METS 2012 show report part 1: MFDs and navigation displays

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As my first, and hopefully not last, series of entries under my own name I’d like to report on my visit to the METS 2012 trade show. If I had to call an overall theme then it would be touch screen chartplotters and the increase in companies working on Lithium batteries. I counted 5 companies offering these, and I probably missed a few. Last year there were few touch chartplotters and this year the Big Four all had lots of them, and there was a little surprise as well with a new range by a company I’d never heard of, Lorenz of Italy. Let me start of with some good Airmar news, the first highlight of the show for me…

Simrad RS35 & Lowrance Link-8: DSC VHF + AISrx + N2K = YES! 112

Communications / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Simrad RS35 & Lowrance Link-8: DSC VHF + AISrx + N2K = YES!

Simrad_RS35_VHF_AISrx_n_HS35_handset__.jpg

It would be interesting if the new Simrad RS35 VHF and its optional HS35 wireless mic could actually work different channels simultaneously, but I think that the suggestive product image above is just a Photoshop mistake. However, this radio and its Lowrance Link-8 sibling bring together a unique feature set that’s much more valuable, I think. These radios include a two-channel AIS receiver, like the very successful Standard Horizon Matrix AIS line, but they add a NMEA 2000 interface and that should add up to all sorts of plug’n’play goodness…

Ocean Signal RescueME, best PLB yet? 17

Safety & SAR

Ocean Signal RescueME, best PLB yet?

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The Ocean Signal RescueMe PLB introduced this morning at METS is not just a little smaller than the competition; it’s purportedly 30% smaller in volume and that claim seems borne out by the photo. Size is important because the smaller a distress beacon is the more likely it is that the owner will have it with him or her when it’s actually needed. Of course when things go wrong a PLB has got to work well too, even if it’s years old, and the RescueMe also looks good in those terms…

DAME Awards: Torqeedo, Navionics, DeLorme, & Furuno 11

Electrical & Engines

DAME Awards: Torqeedo, Navionics, DeLorme, & Furuno

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They did it! Torqeedo has apparently made a giant leap in electric outboard technology with Deep Blue, an 80hp motor that can give even a sizable boat some serious gitty-up. I heard a little about it at IBEX — like there may be a 440v lithium battery involved — and I’m sure the Torqeedo site will reveal much more soon. What we do know now is that the METS DAME Design Award judges “inspected 115 products from 25 countries” and first chose Deep Blue as one of 39 nominees (PDF here), then as winner of the propulsion category and finally as the grand DAME that “will bring great benefits to both the users and builders of marine craft.” Other interesting products were also honored in Amsterdam this morning…

New Garmin GPSMap 741sx, 741, etc.; signs of what’s to come? 56

Navigation

New Garmin GPSMap 741sx, 741, etc.; signs of what’s to come?

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I believe that Garmin has had a tremendous run with the GPSMap 700 Series introduced in January, 2010, but consider all that’s different in the new premier models announced this morning (along with new 500 Series models too). That 7-inch WVGA screen is multi-touch, that sleeker casing can be flat as well as flush mounted, and the processor inside is purportedly 60% faster. Yes, it includes WiFi for easy integration with BlueChart Mobile and apps to come. And there’s more…

FLIBS 2012 redo 2; Garmin, Navico, Furuno, Standard Horizon, Lumishore, ACR, Yacht Phone, & Si-Tex/Sailor 21

Wireless & Apps / Navigation

FLIBS 2012 redo 2; Garmin, Navico, Furuno, Standard Horizon, Lumishore, ACR, Yacht Phone, & Si-Tex/Sailor

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I didn’t really need an app to know that Sandy was causing trouble on the opening day of the Lauderdale Show, but I was tickled that Garmin loaned me an iPad3 so I could try BlueChart Mobile (which apparently can’t run on my iPad1). It’s beta software — as is the WiFi appliance that let’s you share tracks, routes, waypoints, and GPS with Garmin networked MFDs — and so they’d rather I didn’t write much about it quite yet. But here’s a recent and informative BlueChart Mobile YouTube video that goes with my first impression that it’s a rich and well-crafted planning app that will be popular even with folks who don’t own Garmin gear. Meanwhile, rumors that Garmin will have major product introductions at both METS and MIBS continue to gain steam…

FLIBS 2012 redo #1, Raymarine Lighthouse v5 15

Navigation / Safety & SAR / The Trade

FLIBS 2012 redo #1, Raymarine Lighthouse v5

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It’s telling of the Great Convergence when the biggest electronics news of a boat show is arguably a software upgrade. I don’t mean that innovation in marine electronics has slowed down, not at all. But whereas the Big Four have now all rationalized and modernized their product lines — though in some cases it took painful operating system rebuilds — big features can often be realized just by unleashing capabilities already build into MFDs or available from sensors that can already be interfaced. We just saw two neat new Fusion 700 audio interface update, but now consider all the features crammed into Raymarine’s Lighthouse v5 update, which was just announced the first day of FLIBS and — holy cow — is already available for all a-, c-, and e-Series MFDs…

Fusion 700 Series update, mission accomplished? 12

Entertainment / The Trade

Fusion 700 Series update, mission accomplished?

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I’ve been testing (and enjoying) a Fusion MS-IP700 and MS-NRX200 system since I installed them in June and I wholeheartedly support the 700 Series as NMEA’s Technology Award winner of the year. And note that I wasn’t a judge myself this year and unfortunately wasn’t even there (especially as I’ve heard repeatedly that the 2012 NMEA Conference was the success hoped for). You can read all about it in this online version of the ME Journal, and further note that the judges didn’t see the cool multi-manufacturer Fusion interfaces that debuted in Fort Lauderdale…

Furuno NavNet TZTouch, best use of MFD WiFi yet? 12

Wireless & Apps / Navigation / Weather

Furuno NavNet TZTouch, best use of MFD WiFi yet?

Furuno_TZT_GRIB_via_cell_hotspot_cPanbo.jpg

I first learned about Hurricane Sandy in an interesting way. While enjoying sunset in the Calabash River anchorage a week ago today, I was also fooling with various WiFi features built into a just-installed Furuno NavNet TZT14. Actually I was trouble shooting the seemingly flaky WiFi connection when I discovered that the TZT could connect to my Android phone’s WiFi hotspot and even use that connection to quickly download a GRIB weather file. I’ve never seen an MFD do that before! Then I was admiring the TZT’s neat controls for viewing the GRIB predictions — like the intuitive way you can slide your finger along the forecast time bar seen at the screen’s bottom — when I noticed the tropical cyclone headed my way!  But I lucked out; Sandy just slapped the Fort Lauderdale boat show around a bit, and now I’m aboard Gizmo is in a hurricane hole that’s below the immense storm anyway. Today I’ll be thinking particularly about other cruisers who didn’t get this far south already, but I do have time to describe how Furuno is trying to do MFD WiFi different…