Browsing: Electronics

Electronics
By

Best New Electronics: NMEA Awards

The National Marine Electronics Association just named this year’s award winners at its annual conference in Orlando. The awards were chosen by NMEA members  who voted online in 17 categories for Product of Excellence Awards, while a panel of judges named winners of the NMEA Technology Award and Best New Product Award. The Best New Product Award celebrates a new product that was introduced at the conference and that the judges thought was best in innovation, benefit to boaters, practicality and value. The winner: Furuno’s FCV800 fishfinder, which the judges said was “a real powerhouse of a standalone fishfinder.” The…

Electronics
By

New Revolve Emergency VHF Antenna

The new Revolve emergency VHF antenna, a major safety device for serious cruising people, just won an Honorable Mention award at the Newport show. It previously  had been nominated for a DAME design award at the big METSTRADE show in Amsterdam. The Revolve antenna is designed to provide you with the ability to communicate on VHF Channel 16 even if your regular antenna is down, or inoperable for any reason. The Revolve also comes with AIS compatibility, so that other boats with AIS (an ever-growing number) can find you quickly. It operates on 156-162MGz, is lightweight, and maintenance free. Based…

Cruising Life
By

Garmin Unveils New, Faster, Chartplotters

 Garmin just introduced its new flagship GPSMAP 9000 chartplotter series, with 4K resolution, edge-to-edge clarity and a processor that’s seven times faster than previous versions. The new touchscreen chartplotters come in 19-, 22-, 24-, and 27-inch displays, representing the largest size in recreational boating. Prices start at $9,999. They will be available next month. The new GPSMAP 9000 MFDs work with Garmin’s BlueNet gigabit network to provide comprehensive connectivity throughout the boat, connecting multiple chartplotters, radars, cameras and sonars. They also provide multimedia streaming and video, so users can play and hear the same video and audio over multiple screens…

Electronics
By

Stay Safe: Set Up Your Boat’s MMSI

Here’s some great advice from America’s Boating Club, formerly the U.S. Power Squadrons, about how to set up your MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity), a major safety feature. Read on: If your boat has a dedicated marine radio, GPS or AIS, your boat systems are not complete until you also have a Maritime Mobile Service Identity, or MMSI. The nine-digit MMSI uniquely identifies your vessel, which is crucial in the event of an on-the-water emergency. “Each boat is unique. Beyond having a physical name that can be seen up close, each deserves to have its own MMSI that can be…

Cruising Life
By

Simrad Launches Faster NXS Operating System

Simrad just introduced a new NSX operating system for mid-sized dayboats and center consoles with redesigned charts, its fastest routing ever, and seamless integration giving you more control of your boat. The NSX system is meant to be user-friendly, letting you spend less time playing with the screen and more time enjoying your time on the water. It is smoother, faster, and more intuitive than previous versions. It includes a new activities bar, a reconfigured activities menu, and a fully customizable instruments panel so you can make the system work the way you prefer. The new auto-routing is three times…

Cruising Life
By

Garmin Unveils New Series of Open-Array Radars

Garmin just unveiled a new GMR xHD3 series of open-array radars with high-definition imaging and the latest technology for new levels of clarity and performance. The new xHD3 series uses scan averaging, a first for Garmin’s magnetron radar, to help filter sea clutter and interference to provide users with enhanced, consistent targets. Processing of target size uses pulse expansion to optimize on-screen shapes for easier interpretation at all ranges, and true echo trails show a historic “trail” of boats on the water, removing the influence of relative motion, so users can more quickly identify moving targets and potential threats of…

Cruising Life CoastGuardPhoto
By

New Radar Helps with Search and Rescue

The Coast Guard just announced that it’s buying a new radar system that will improve their search-and-rescue efforts significantly. The new next-generation weather radar system, the Honeywell IntuVue RDR-7000, uses automated technology; it will be used to upgrade the radar now on Coast Guard Jayhawk and Dolphin helicopters, replacing the current manual systems with fully automated tilt-and-gain controls. With the current system, a pilot has to manually adjust the controls to direct the radar beam. The new automated system, which captures weather as far as 80 nm away, will be particularly valuable to Coast Guard crews on search-and-rescue missions that…

Cruising Life
By

New Motorola Link Connects Anywhere in World

Motorola is unveiling its new Defy Satellite Link that enables two-way satellite messaging anywhere in the world on a smartphone at the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona. The Defy Satellite Link means you can add satellite communications to any iPhone (iOS14 or higher) and any Android phone (10 or later) using a dongle. The Link is not integrated into the hardware of the phone; it connects to the phone via Bluetooth, and it comes with a device so you can clip it to your jacket or gear. The Link has a 600mAh battery that’s supposed to support a…

Electronics
By

Raymarine Launches New MFDs, Sonar, Camera

Raymarine just rolled out a new series of faster and more use-friendly chartplotters and sonars plus a new marine camera. The five new launches include Raymarine’s Axiom 2 Pro and Axiom 2 XL family of multifunction chart plotter displays. The Axiom 2 Pro MFD is Raymarine’s most  powerful yet, with a six-core processor and Raymarine’s LightHouse 4 operating system. It’s available in 9-, 12- and 16-inch screens in two variations and it includes embedded High CHIRP sonar for cruising boats. The new Axiom 2 Pro RVM includes standard, brand-new, RealVision MAX 3D built-in sonar. It has CHIRP DownVision, SideVision, and…

Cruising Life
By

Best EPIRBs and Personal Safety Devices

Every year, the people at nmeaboater.com (the National Marine Electronics Association), ask manufacturers to name a model in a particular category that they consider their best. It’s not necessarily the most technically advanced, or the newest, or the one with the most bells and whistles, but rather the one they rate highest in that category for one reason or another. Here’s the list for boating safety and survival devices – three personal survival devices and two EPIRBs. Take a look: Personal Survival Device ACR Electronics ResQLink View RLS Introducing two-way confirmation between a 406MHz beacon owner and search and rescue…

1 2 3 … 13