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 in difficult marine environments.
The GPSMAP 79 series comes in two models: The GPSMAP 79s, with a built-in worldwide base map and support for downloadable marine charts, and the GPSMAP 79sc, with standard built-in BlueChart g3 cartography.
They both have a three-axis tilt-compensated compass and they let you access data around the world using reliable GNSS with support for multiple constellations. They have up to 19 hours of battery life while using GPS, and 8GB of memory for storing up to 10,000 waypoints and 250 routes.
The GPSMAP 79s costs $299.99, and the GPSMAP 79sc costs $349.99.
For the second half of the announcement, Garmin’s new GMR Fantom 18x and 24x solid-state dome radars offer 50W of output power; Garmin says this is twice as much as other solid-state radomes on the market today, and it provides a longer range and better target detection, even at high speeds.
For the first time, the Fantom 18x and 24x are both available in white or black, so you can customize them for your boat.
They both have Garmin’s MotionScope technology, so they can detect and highlight moving targets in different colors, giving you vessel position information and the ability to easily track weather conditions. They offer up to a 60 rpm rotation speed for a refresh rate that can detect movement at any speed.
The new radars are expected to be available in December. The Fantom 18x costs $2,199.99, and the Fantom 24x costs $3,099.99. Read more:
