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Swift Hitch
By Ben Ellison | Posted November 2007 | Add a CommentSwift HitchAs the name implies, this $309 wireless color camera and display are meant to make hitching a vehicle to a trailer easy, and they do. Features that help: The image can be reversed to sync with your rear-view mirrors; the camera automatically switches to infrared-lit grey scale in the dark; and its base is magnetic. And
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E.E. Owner
By Ben Ellison | Posted October 2007 | Add a Comment"Glass bridge? Nah...been there, done that!" That's George Wallner surprising me as we tour his splendid and almost-finished 94-foot Electra. I'm already intrigued.Billy BlackGeorge Wallner maneuvers Electra from her upper helm during a trial run in Maine.It isn't just that Wallner
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Interphase SE-200B
By Ben Ellison | Posted October 2007 | Add a CommentInterphase SE-200BInterphase's SE-200B forward-looking sonar (FLS) can be neatly integrated into most any helm. Its video output can go to one or more of the many multifunction displays that now support video, and/or its VGA output can go to one or more monitors with this PC-type input, while one or more compact keyboards can be
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Krill Black Box
By Ben Ellison | Posted October 2007 | Add a CommentKrill Black BoxFor a while now Krill Systems has been building sophisticated sensor pods that collect all sorts of vessel info—tank levels, switching states, power parameters, etc.—for delivery via Ethernet to a yacht's PC and, if desired, onto Krill's private Web service and then to you wherever you roam. Now it's
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Boatsense Solutions
By Ben Ellison | Posted October 2007 | Add a CommentBoatsense solutions remote vessel monitoring systemThe new company Boatsense Solutions has applied a rigorous keep-it-simple, -rugged, and -economical approach to its single eponymous product. It does not offer GPS tracking or a display screen, it does not include a call center or user Web site, and it doesn’t even send alarms by
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KVH TracPhone V7
By Ben Ellison | Posted September 2007 | Add a CommentKVH TracPhone V7Always-on offshore high-speed Internet just became possible on yachts well under mega size. KVH's new TracPhone V7 system claims solid broadband speeds previously only possible with a VSAT antenna measuring one meter (about three feet) or more, though its 26-inch-wide dome is an astounding 85 percent smaller in
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Raymarine ST70
By Ben Ellison | Posted September 2007 | Add a CommentRaymarine ST70I believe strongly that bright, well-designed color screens can communicate information much better than the grayscale ones that we are generally used to seeing on the smaller devices around our helms. So if Raymarine's about-to-be-released ST70 instrument heads look anywhere near as crisp in real boat conditions as
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Raymarine A60
By Ben Ellison | Posted September 2007 | Add a CommentRaymarine A60The 5.7-inch, dual-function A60 is only a minor model shift from 2006's 6.5-inch A65, but electronics designs can age well, particularly when software and value improve. It was interesting to test an A60 side by side with the fairly equivalent, if adolescent, Garmin 545s. The A60 has all the dedicated and soft keys
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Where To?
By Ben Ellison | Posted September 2007 | Add a CommentThe four units displayed in my test lab below—ranging from the diminutive 440 all the way up to the touch-screen 5212—are a good representation of the five multifunction series that Garmin rolled out this year. Actually there are some 20 new models within those series, depending on what's included in terms of charts and functions like sounder and XM weather/radio and how you count
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T
By Ben EllisonPhotos by Billy... | Posted August 2007 | Add a CommentI can so easily gush about the cabinetry and carpentry coming out of Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding, but truthfully no amount of gush suffices. While some of the photographs here reveal the razor-tight joints, panel perfection, and carved and inlaid highlights that grace the company's projects, you have to tour a fleet of Lyman-Morse builds to realize the astonishing variety of styles and construction
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