Designed for people who don’t have a lot of space at their helms, Garmin just introduced at the Fort Lauderdale show a series of smaller, less expensive touchscreen and keyed chartplotters and combo units. The new models are additions to Garmin’s popular GPSMAP series and are 7- to 12-inch plotters available with or without built-in sonar. The new units are GPSMAP 7×2 and 9×2 touchscreen chartplotters and GPSMAP 10×2 and 12×2 keyed chartplotters.
Dan Bartel, Garmin’s VP of worldwide sales, says the new units “are designed for the budget-conscious customer who desires premium features typically found only in a higher-end product.” He said the two new screen sizes, the 9-inch touchscreen and the 12-inch keyed screen, “offer something for every boater.”
The new units have more compact screens that are still readable in sunlight, and they feature built-in wireless connectivity for Garmin mobile apps, plus full network compatibility for the Garmin Marine Network to share sonar, maps, user data, radar, IP cameras and Panoptix sonar. They offer NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 support for autopilots, digital switching, weather, VHF, AIS and other sensors.
The new units will be available early next year, and prices range from $799.99 to $2,999.99.
