Panbo Podcast Episode 3 – Ben squared with Ben Ellison and Ben Stein
Our most recent podcast episode is a little different. Instead of sitting down with a product representative, I sat down with my colleague and mentor Ben Ellison. When I first started in the marine electronics industry Ben took me under his wing, helped me learn the ropes of the industry, gave me extremely valuable mentoring about how this business works. Without Ben, my entry into this industry would have been much tougher, and frankly a lot less fun.
One of the things I value most is the ability to pick up the phone and chat with Ben about far-ranging topics. It’s so very helpful to me (and I hope him) to talk about new developments, products, and trends. To talk through troubles I’m having or projects I’m working on. This Podcast is a view into some of those conversations. Our talks are frequently pretty long, as is this episode. Also, there was some trouble with the recording so the audio stutters some. I’m really sorry about this and will make sure that future episodes sound better.
[Garmin GPS24XD]
Navico has had the GS25 GPS which also has “reasonable quality” heading built in, at the same price point as the Garmin, the Lowrance version is USD199 I think.
https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-gb/simrad/type/accessories/sensors/gps-antenna-simrad-gs-25-module-pack/
Kees,
I’m glad Ben and I acknowledged that no one can be an expert on every subject. I wasn’t aware of this sensor. Now I’m curious to do a head to head comparison.
-Ben S.
I’d be interested to know how much better the compasses in dedicated solid-state gyros are compared to those in the combined GPS/heading units, and then compare them to single receiver GNSS + solid-state compasses and multiple receiver GNSS compasses, in particular for autopilot use.
The heading sensor in my dual-sensor GNSS satellite compass, made by Advanced Navigation, is not suited to steering my boat’s autopilot, it is too slow and can induce oscillations. The Navico P9, on the other hand, is perfect for autopilot use but slightly less for chart overlay (it’s not able to compensate for deviation on all courses to less than 2 degrees.) I will upgrade to Furuno’s new SCX-20/21 in due course. I wish I could tell the MFD to use the GNSS heading and the autopilot to use the solid-state gyro.
Navico does not boast of technical parameters, it is not even known which satellites it works with and whether it supports the L1 and L5 bands.
Regards Kris