Electronics

Simrad Adds Two New Chartplotters to Its Popular GO Series

By Peter Janssen on September 13, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Simrad has just added two new chartplotters with larger displays and radar compatibility to its award-winning GO series. The new GO12 XSE and GO7 XSR, now part of Simrad’s popular GO stand-alone chartplotter series, are both multi-touch chartplotters for power boats with user-friendly navigation features for cruising, fishing and watersports. The new GO12 XSE (pictured above) has a 12-inch display, while the upgraded GO7 XSR has a restyled glass-helm design, plus radar capability that was not previously available on that model. Both units have bright displays and easy-to-use interfaces. The multi-touch controls are intuitive, and probably will seem similar to…

Digital Switching Is Moving Down to Regular Cruising Boats

By Peter Janssen on August 30, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Digital switching started out on megayachts, and then moved down to some large cruising boats. I first encountered it while cruising on Dirigo, hull number one of the flagship Sabre 66, about 18 months ago; the crew was managing the fuel flow from an iPad in the salon. The system then was so new that the crew called it Hal, after the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now it’s being used on smaller boats. Basically, digital switching is a network control system that replaces conventional circuit breakers and switches with a digital power system working on an NMEA 2000…

New Simard NSS evo3 Multi-Function Display: Easier to Read, Easier to Use

By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

The new Simrad NSS evo3 multi-function display has a lot going for it. It’s easier to read, it’s easier to navigate and it’s easier to use. It also combines a lot of features all in one unit to make cruising easier and safer. The brilliant landscape on the new widescreen SolarMAX HD display shows true colors, and the display is clear in the sun and easy to read even at a wide angle. The clarity is exceptional. You control it via the all-weather touchscreen or the expanded keypad, so that you have reliable control in all sea conditions. You can…

New High-Tech FLIR Cooled Thermal Camera Detects Targets Nine Miles Away

By Peter Janssen on July 31, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

FLIR has just introduced a cutting-edge cryogenically-cooled thermal camera that allows for early detection of other vessels, landmarks and nav aids up to nine miles away. A multi-sensor marine camera, the FLIR M500 has a 14x optical zoom lens to improve situation awareness, a gyrostabilizer to produce steady images in rough seas, and a video tracker to monitor a selected moving or stationary target. The new camera does all this by detecting small temperature variations in targets, providing greater detail even at great distances or in reduced visibility. It is the first cooled thermal camera in FLIR’s award-winning M Series…

iPad or Chartplotter: Which One’s Best for Your Boat?

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Take your pick for your boat: A mobile, easy to take home or carry around your boat iPad tablet, or a fixed-mount chartplotter. You say you’ll take both? You’re not alone. But each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you’ll probably end up relying on one more than on the other. An iPad, of course, is a modern platform for navigation, and there are a lot of apps and products available to protect and even mount a tablet on your helm. But how does it compare to a traditional, fixed-mount chartplotter? Both come in various sizes, although chartplotters…

Best New Radars: New Technology, Sharper Images, Shorter Ranges, Easier Tracking

By Peter Janssen on July 12, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Choosing the right radar for your boat certainly isn’t easy, and a lot of people already have their own ideas about which brand is best, or the most user-friendly, or technologically advanced, or is most compatible with their other electronics. Meanwhile, almost all the major manufacturers keep coming up with their own technologies to produce sharper images, better tracking of nearby vessels and overall improvements in situational awareness and safety. Here’s a look at eight new radars from Furuno, Garmin, Koden, Lowrance, Onwa, Raymarine, SI-TEX and Simrad, from the editors of Marine Electronics Journal. They asked each manufacturer to supply…

Stay Connected to Wi-Fi, Cell Data and HDTV with Shakespeare’s New WebWatch Antenna

By Peter Janssen on June 26, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Now you can stay connected all the time with the new Shakespeare WebWatch antenna, which brings a Wi-Fi hotspot, cellular data and HDTV to your boat. For its innovative all-in-one connectivity, the WebWatch has won a Top Product award from Boating Industry magazine. You don’t have to worry about sharing WebWatch. It shares its signal with up to 32 users, in case you’re cruising with a whole lot of your best friends. It delivers Internet with speeds up to 4G from a nearby Wi-Fi hotspot or cell network with a user-supplied data-only SIM card, and it has a greater range…

Get Thermal Images on Your Phone or Tablet with New FLIR Devices

By Peter Janssen on June 12, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Now you can turn your smart phone or tablet into a FLIR infrared camera with two new devices, making thermal imaging possible anywhere you go. The new FLIR ONE, with an 80×60 pixel resolution thermal camera, and the FLIR ONE PRO, with 160×120 resolution, hook up to your phone or tablet’s USB-C or Lightning connector; a MicroUSB connection will be available later in the year. This means they are compatible with both Apple and Android phones and tablets. The devices, or dongles, are small and light, and represent the third generation of FLIR’s thermal imaging technology. They are compatible with…

Garmin’s New 360-Degree Spherical Camera, With GPS (Of Course)

By Peter Janssen on May 24, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics, Gear

Garmin has just introduced the VIRB 360, a versatile, compact, waterproof, spherical 360-degree camera. It offers high-quality video up to 5.7K/30fps, it has four built-in microphones to capture sounds in all directions, and it comes with a 4K Spherical Stabilization to make your video look smooth and steady. And, taking advantage of its built-in GPS (this is Garmin, after all), the VIRB 360 provides custom data overlays for all its settings. “The VIRB 360 lets you relive personal experiences and share them with your friends – from a different point of view, every time,” says Garmin VP Dan Bartel. “VIRB…

Garmin Buys ActiveCaptain: Should Be Good News for Cruisers

By Peter Janssen on May 11, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

It would be hard to find a serious cruising person who, at one time or another, has not turned to ActiveCaptain for help. I know I have, and so has almost everyone I’ve cruised with. Its major strength is its ability to update real-time information about navigation hazards, marinas, anchorages and points of interest supplied by its 250,000 users, and offer all that data digitally on web browsers and most smart phones and tablets. Now ActiveCaptain is moving into an entirely new realm, with its purchase by Garmin, one of the leading electronic companies in the world. The synergies here…

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