Electronics

Why You Need AIS. A Primer

By Peter Janssen on November 15, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Here’s a good primer about why you should have AIS on your boat, from America’s Boating Compass and the US Power Squadrons: AIS, or Automatic Identification System, can make your boating safer. Consider the following scenario: You have an AIS system on your boat. You are on watch, 20 miles off the coast, sailing in hazy conditions. An AIS alarm sounds on your chart plotter. Upon scanning the horizon, you see nothing. When you return to your display, you see a target 5 miles ahead traveling at 23 knots and heading toward you. The AIS information data box shows that…

Raymarine Unveils New Line of Cyclone Radars

By Peter Janssen on November 1, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Raymarine just introduced its new Cyclone series of solid-state, open-array radars at the Fort Lauderdale show. The all-new CHIRP pulse compression radars come in 3-, 4- and 6-foot arrays, with two power options for each size: The Cyclone, with 55 watt, 6kW performance, and the Cyclone Pro, with 110 watt, 12kW performance. All the models have Raymarine’s new detection technology, including the Cyclone Bird Mode that will help anglers find the birds that lead to schools of baitfish. The Cyclone radars have a new look, developed from an aircraft-wing design, and they also have a low profile, measuring just 13.2…

Garmin Launches New Handheld GPS, Radar

By Peter Janssen on October 26, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Garmin is making a lot of news at the big Fort Lauderdale show, with the introduction of a new series of marine handheld GPS models, as well as two new solid-state dome radars. The handheld GPSMAP 79 has an all-new appearance with a modern display to help you navigate safely and enjoy your time on the water. It has a rugged, floating design with a suite of easy-to-use nav tools that fit in the palm of your hand. The new Garmin has a larger, optically-bonded display and a scratch-resistant glass lens that prevents fogging, improves contrast and enhances clarity, even…

Best New Sat Comms for TV, Internet, Phone

By Peter Janssen on October 20, 2021 Electronics

Whether you’re walking the docks at a boat show or any self-respecting marina, you’ll see satellite domes on top of a lot of boats. In the old days (four or five years ago). they were only on large boats; now they’re on boats as small as 25 feet. Some carry live TV programming from shore, while others provide links to the internet, data and phone service. But which ones are best? Each year, Marine Electronics Journal asks top manufacturers to identify the one model in various categories that they define as their Best & Brightest, the one the manufacturers rate highest…

Garmin, Furuno, KVH Big Winners at NMEA

By Peter Janssen on October 6, 2021 Electronics

Garmin, Furuno and KVH were among the big winners at the annual National Marine Electronics Association awards competition recently at the organization’s meeting in Orlando, Florida. Judges named the Shadow-Caster Light Commander the Best New Product, while Furuno’s NavNet TZT16F won the NMEA’s Technology Award. Furuno won six other awards (Furuno has won 242 of the awards since they started in 1971). For its part, KVH won three, extending its winning streak to 24 straight years. NMEA members, the top marine electronic professionals in the U.S., cast votes on line in 18 categories for the Product of Excellence Awards. These…

Raymarine Launches YachtSense in U.S.

By Peter Janssen on September 28, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Raymarine just introduced its new YachtSense control system to the U.S. at the IBEX boat builders’ show in Tampa. YachtSense is a digital switching system that connects all the boat’s systems so the captain can be aware of what’s happening in real time. “YachtSense is the new standard in premium digital control solutions for today’s most sophisticated vessels,” said Jamie Dery, Raymarine’s VP of the Americas. Raymarine says the system is unique because of its scalability, its options for various configurations, and its safety features. It uses a modular architecture, starting with a Master Module and a Power Supply Module…

Garmin Launches New Surround View Docking System

By Peter Janssen on September 7, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Garmin just announced that it’s launching a new Surround View Camera System to enhance situational awareness and help with docking. The new system uses six cameras to maximize visibility all around the boat. Garmin says that Surround View gives captains a bird’s-eye, 360-degree view around the boat. This visibility lets captains see what’s around their boat’s perimeter in low-speed maneuvers in real time. The technology uses six 1080p cameras located around the boat: a forward-looking camera in the bow, a rear-looking camera aft, and two side-looking cameras on both the port and starboard sides. It displays a full overhead image…

“Best & Brightest” New Autopilots

By co_admin on August 3, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Autopilots are becoming almost essential equipment on new cruising boats, but how to choose the right one? To help you out, the Marine Electronics Journal asked manufacturers to single out their Best & Brightest autopilots for review. These are not necessarily the latest models, or those with the most features, but ones that are the most popular or technologically advanced. Here are the replies from Garmin, Simrad, Raymarine, ComNav, Furuno, Octopus, SI-TEX, and B&G: Garmin’s Reactor 40 hydraulic autopilot (pictured at top) keeps you on course at cruising speeds, minimizes heading error, reduces power consumption and more, so you can…

ACR Launches Small Bivy Stick Sat-Comm Device

By Peter Janssen on June 22, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

ACR just launched its new Bivy Stick, the world’s smallest two-way satellite messenger and app. The Bivy Stick works anywhere with a view of the sky, with 100 percent global satellite coverage, and it measures just 4.5 inches by 1.8 inches. It weighs only 3.5 ounces. Built to be used whether you’re out on a day cruise around a lake or on an ocean voyage, the Bivy Stick lets you send messages, track and share your location, access GPS maps, view live weather forecasts, and place an emergency SOS call. The Bivy Stick has a high-power antenna for reliable connections…

KVH Launches New, Faster, Mobile Connections

By Peter Janssen on June 16, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Here’s some good news from KVH for better and faster cell service wherever you’re cruising this summer, including up to 20 miles offshore. KVH just introduced its TracPhone LTE-1 Global, a compact new antenna based on LTE advanced cell technology that extends the range for mobile connections in more than 150 countries around the world. The new LTE-1 Global is faster than the previous 4G LTE and includes a high-gain dual antenna array, a modem, GPS, and Wi-Fi router in the dome. This means you can surf the web, hold video conferences, post on social media, enjoy streaming video and…

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