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How's Your "Q"?
By Ben Ellison | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentAirmar product manager Mark Reedenaur is showing off the company's floating test lab."Come on, Mark, can't you just tell me which is the best fishfinder?!?" I couldn't help making that plea when I realized what a fantastic floating fishfinder lab we were headed out to sea in. Before launching the 24-footer into the Piscataqua
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Raymarine DSM 400
By Ben Ellison | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentRaymarine DSM 400Raymarine's powerhouse DSM 400 black-box fishfinder weighs 27 pounds, contains four independent digital sonar transceivers, and can pump up to 3 kW of ping power on 28, 38, or 50 kHz and two on 185 or 200 kHz. All of which makes it particularly adept at handling some of the high-end Airmar transducer features
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Lowrance Broadband Sounder
By Ben Ellison | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentLowrance Broadband Sounderowrance has not lost its innovative scrappiness under Navico ownership. In fact it was the latter's CEO, Jens-Thomas Pietralla, who dubbed the new Broadband Sounder a "disruptive technology." Now, confusingly, this $799 black-box fishfinder, which networks to all current Lowrance displays, is not
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Shine Micro RadarPlus AIS-BX
By Ben Ellison | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentShine Micro RadarPlus AIS-BXIt's been almost 18 months since the U.S. Coast Guard approved a variety of yacht-size Class B AIS transponders, and the FCC still hasn't added its blessing! I'll spare you further ranting, but understand that we may have to wait for a new administration before we can use this valuable safety tool.
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Bushnell ONIX 400
By Ben Ellison | Posted August 2008 | Add a CommentBushnell ONIX 400Bushnell's Onix 400 mapping GPS is designed primarily for hikers, but I'm not the only boater to notice its ability to deliver both XM Satellite Weather and Radio in a form portable enough to also go on the water, in the car, etc. Unfortunately the weather data it displays is a limited subset of what's available
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Furuno DRS4A UHD Radar
By Ben Ellison | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentFuruno DRS4A UHD RadarThere's so much sizzle to Furuno's Time Zero plotting innovation, that extraordinary peripherals like its new Ultra High Definition radar and the SC-30 super sensor, are overshadowed. But they sure make themselves known on the
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Furuno SC-30 Satellite Compass
By Ben Ellison | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentFuruno SC-30 Satellite CompassFuruno's new SC-30 can sense a boat's sea motion (pitch, roll, and heave) and relationship to Earth—i.e. position, heading, COG, SOG, and ROT (rate of turn). And it feels all that with astonishing accuracy and speed, as I witnessed at least in part (see "
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Airmar PB200 WeatherStation
By Ben Ellison | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentAirmar PB200 WeatherStationLike Furuno's SC-30 Satellite Compass, the latest all-solid-state Airmar WeatherStation uses acceleration and gyro sensors to correct its compass for boat motion. Hence the test graph below, which shows the
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Autotether
By Ben Ellison | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentAutotether wireless lanyardMy 14-foot outboard catamaran Gizmo is quick and low-sided, and I have almost fallen out of her; yet I rarely clip on the engine kill-switch tether because it's too cumbersome. I admit stupidity on this score—no letters, please—but also delight that Autotether has come along to save
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Time Zero, Live
By Ben Ellison | Posted July 2008 | Add a CommentMaxSea's Iker and Brice Pryzo demo the Time Zero software they developed with Furuno."You must see it on water, where the technology and boat come together as one; it's so real!" exclaimed Brice Pryzo, his long arms flailing to overcome his strong French accent and mime the magnificence of his Time Zero navigation software. We
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