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In
October I walked and talked my way through four boatshows and can tell
you that marine electronics is “smokin’!” So instead of
Q&A this month, I’m going to share some highlights.
The major manufacturers
are filling out their lines in all directions. Furuno introduced new VHF
radios (built by Icom), an autopilot, a hailer, and a black-box version
of NavNet. Navman, too, has added VHF and autopilots, and Simrad showed
a stabilized TV antenna, big PC monitors, and a new series of seven-inch-screen
combo units. JRC extended its black-box line to a sounder, and even its
big-ship gear is going modular, with huge LCDs instead of CRTs.
In the marine PC world,
Maptech demonstrated a Skymate e-mail and monitoring module for the Sea
Ray Navigator and “i3,” an SRN cousin soon to be available to
all boaters. Nobeltec’s new Admiral 7.0 aspires to be a “glass
bridge in a box,” easily running on multiple monitors and/or on multiple
networked computers. Transas Nautic showed NaviGator charting teamed with
WxWorx’s live weather display, which—like WSI’s Weather
Channel Marine—is now a shipping product. MaxSea, Fugawi, and Nautical
Technologies have all adapted their charting programs for NOAA’s
free S57 charts, which will eventually cover the whole country.
NMEA 2000 is making
real headway. Xantrex has a 2000 charging and power-inversion system,
Faria showed instruments that can talk to 2000 engines, and brand-new
Maretron previewed a whole family of 2000 sensors and conversion boxes
to ship this spring. Simrad’s SimNet, just announced, runs 2000 protocols
with some proprietary messages added, a strategy that all the majors seem
to be adopting. Meanwhile Mercury demoed a complete SmartCraft plug-and-play,
fly-by-wire, dual-inboard installation.
Innovation was everywhere.
C-Map is adding 1,000 ultra-high-detail—down to slip numbers and
restrooms—marina maps to its chart cards. Material Sciences introduced
bulletproof, solid-state bilge switches and tank sensors. Digital Antenna
now has a repeater intended to improve cellular reception on your boat
without making you plug in. Look Sea came out of nowhere with an “augmented
reality” navigation system worthy of a future column.
Overall I sensed creative
intensity as the big companies work to offer boaters (and builders) bow-to-stern
electronics solutions while adopting better common protocols for those
who like to mix and match, and while making way for increasing PC technology.
Yet there’s still room for new companies with good ideas. All of
which is good for us boaters. —B.E.
Got a marine electronics
question? Write to Electronics Q&A, Power & Motoryacht,
260 Madison Ave., 8th Fl., New York, NY 10016. Fax: (917) 256-2282. e-mail:
PMYElectronics@primedia.com.
No phone calls, please.
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