Electronics

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…

New Garmin Smartwatch: Drive and Navigate Your Boat from Your Wrist

By Peter Janssen on May 9, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

This is just very cool: A new Garmin smartwatch with a dedicated marine GPS that connects to Garmin chartplotters and other electronics on board and even lets you connect to the autopilot so that you can turn, change your heading and steer the boat, all from your wrist. The new device is the Garmin quatix 5 marine GPS smartwatch, designed from Garmin’s Fenix 5 platform. When paired with other Garmin electronics, it can stream NMEA 2000 data to access boat speed, depth, temperature and wind information all to your wrist, no matter where you are on the boat. When paired…

New Fast, Bright, Prize-Winning Raymarine Axiom MFDs

By Peter Janssen on April 4, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Raymarine’s new Axiom MFDs, which won an Innovation Award at the Miami boat show, are now out in the marketplace, in an entirely new line of 7”, 9” and 12” touchscreens that run 50 percent faster than anything the company has built before. The new Axioms can run multiple programs and come with bright, all-glass optically bonded displays for easy viewing (even if you’re wearing polarized sunglasses), and they have high-speed, quad-core processors running the new Lighthouse 3 operating system. Sonar is built in, including Raymarine’s new RealVision 3D. They come ready for plug-and-play with radar, FLIR, engine gauges, autopilot…

Stay Connected, Anywhere in the World, with the New Mazu App

By Peter Janssen on February 23, 2017 Annapolis Boat Show, Cruising Life, Electronics

Even in our constantly-on digital world, staying connected isn’t always as easy as it should be, particularly if you’re cruising offshore or out of Wi-Fi range. Everyone wants to stay connected, but it’s often expensive or complicated. Now the new Mazu app from SkyMate helps to solve those problems by making communications and nav functions both easy and inexpensive anywhere in the world. The way it works is certainly easy enough. You download the free Mazu app from the App Store for your iPad. Then you purchase the mSeries system and install it on your boat (it’s designed to be…

Furuno’s New Radar: More Powerful and Precise at Both Short and Long Range

By Peter Janssen on February 22, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Long a leader in providing sophisticated radar for commercial users, Furuno has just introduced two new features to improve the performance of their X-Class radar units on cruising powerboats as well. By extending the maximum pulse length from 0.8 to 1.2 megaseconds, Furuno has increased the performance in both long- and short-range applications. This means that you can see land masses, for example, in great detail at long range, while you can detect many different targets, clearly and precisely, at short range. The two new features are for Furuno’s NavNet TZtouch and TZtouch2 units, and they’re called DRS12AX and DRS25AX.…

Stay in Touch, Anywhere in the World, With Garmin’s New inReach SE+

By Peter Janssen on February 5, 2017 Electronics

Now you can stay in touch with your family and friends, no matter where you’re cruising, for a reasonable price with Garmin’s new inReach SE+, a handheld two-way text messaging device that sells for $399.99, with satellite plans starting at $11.95 a month. The Garmin inReach SE+ uses the Iridium satellite network for pole-to-pole coverage anywhere in the world, giving you, and your family at home, some peace of mind when you’re cruising. And you don’t have to worry about running up large air time bills. The two-way text messaging connects with cell phones, computers and other inReach devices around…

Simrad GO9 XSE: Radar and SiriusXM Weather Radar on a 9-Inch Display

By Peter Janssen on February 1, 2017 Electronics

Simrad’s new GO9 XSE brings radar and SiriusXM Weather radar to one 9-inch multi-touch display in an integrated system designed to expand the navigation capabilities of cruising boat owners. The new display is built for plug and play with Simrad’s broadband and Halo Pulse Compression radar systems, and it can connect with SiriusXM weather radar. The unit comes with built-in GPS, WiFi and NMEA 2000 connectivity. You can also connect the display with your tablet or smartphone, control the onboard sound system and even monitor engine data. For a look at how all this works, see the video below or…

NOAA Report: EPIRBs Accounted for 300 Rescues in America Last Year

By Peter Janssen on January 26, 2017 Electronics

If you’re thinking of going offshore without an EPIRB, don’t. As emergency distress signals, EPIRBs are an absolutely major safety item that could save your life, and the lives of everyone else on board. And they work. In fact, NOAA just reported that EPIRBs were responsible for more than 300 rescues in America last year, an enormous number. For more, read this: http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/epirb-signals-contributed-to-300-rescues-in-2016

New Navionics Video Shows How They Can Take You Where You Want to Go

By Peter Janssen on November 30, 2016 Electronics

Here’s a great new video showing all of Navionics’ charting and sonar capabilities. I’ve been using a Navionics Boating app on my iPhone for several years, on the East Coast, West Coast and Great Lakes, and it’s a perfect navigation backup or even planning tool. At this point, I wouldn’t leave home without it. Take a look at what Navionics can do today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmW8m_MUDY8 http://www.navionics.com

Browsing: Electronics