... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 17, 2013
Any boater with an iPad has an amazing selection of apps these days, and the Android selection isn't bad either. For some time I've meant to catch up on interesting new charting entries like SEAiq and SeaNav plus major improvements in category leaders like Navionics Mobile, C-Map Plan2Nav, and Garmin BlueChart Mobile. (And also clever ideas like SARMOB, which can turn multiple smartphones into an active man overboard system, and Boat Battery, which can help us figure out our electrical appetites and share specific device power profiles.) But today I'm going to focus entirely on the spanking new Nobeltec TimeZero iPad app, because I think it's amazing...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 11, 2013
New York Harbor demands your attention even when you have lots of great electronics including what's arguably the best recreational-level AIS target tracking system. That's my excuse for not photographing the ideal example of the Vesper Marine AIS WatchMate 850 at work in heavy traffic. A more compelling shot might be more zoomed in and would have at least one solid target icon indicating a vessel(s) that had reached the Vesper's highly configurable alarm level. But do note how the WatchMate is tracking 114 targets at this point in time though it's also filtering 102 of those off the screen so that yours truly can better see the ones that matter. That in itself is worthy of discussion...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 7, 2013
I so appreciated getting to know Dr. Yung Ho Yu -- known around the world simply as Dr. Yung -- at the Korea Maritime University in Busan, and I think you will too once you realize how much he and his programs are doing to advance marine electronics and improve the standards that make them inter-operable. For starters, take a close look at the NMEA 2000 teaching lab surrounding the good Doctor. The twenty work stations are all gatewayed to an extensive N2K sensor network so that students can experience and even interact with the protocol right down to the bit level as the instructor demonstrates from his work station. I'd like to be wrong, but I doubt that there's a similarly powerful teaching and research tool anywhere else on the planet...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 3, 2013
Two recent experiences make me particularly excited about the Maretron SMS100 announced today (and already shipping). During the trip north I learned to appreciate the sophisticated "Alert" features built into Maretron's various NMEA 2000 displays and I also enjoyed some benefits of the Siren Marine cellular monitoring system. In fact, Gizmo's refrigerator currently contains two temperature sensors, a Maretron probe for on board monitoring and a Siren probe so I can keep an eye on the system from afar (even from Korea, by gosh). While the standalone and economical Siren system will definitely remain appropriate for some boats (and Maretron probably has an SMS learning curve to climb), I'm really looking forward to having virtually unlimited N2K monitoring on my phone...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 29, 2013
The original idea was to finish this entry during the Chicago stop of the very long journey seen on the nifty FlightTrack app screen above, but travel mistakes were made and O'Hara airport had less connectivity than one might presume in this day and age. Is anyone surprised to hear that the Tokyo and Seoul airports are much friendlier to the traveler trying to stay in touch? So, yes, I'm already in Korea and will soon begin a writer's tour that is being hosted by Intellian Technologies and that is intended in part to show us the state of recreational boating in this "technology-led" country...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 23, 2013
I'm embarrassed about how shabby Gizmo's fly bridge electronics panel has gotten, but isn't it great that with the arrival of the Garmin GMI 20 all four of the major manufacturers now have similarly large, bright NMEA 2000 all-in-one instrument displays? Oh, there are subtle differences on view -- like how the Raymarine i70 seems to have a little less black/white contrast but also seems to have a slightly larger active screen, and how it and the B&G Triton nicely de-emphasize decimal depth -- but the main thing is that many boaters can have a highly versatile display that matches your other Big Four brand gear. Or, since most of the data displayed arrives in a standard protocol, we have four quite competitive all-in-ones to choose from (plus N2K displays from Maretron and others). Of course there are many, many more subtleties and that's what I looked for on the test GMI 20. I discovered some mysteries too...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 17, 2013
One problem with cruising north early during a late spring was that Gizmo's open fly bridge was usually too cold to work with electronics like the Furuno TZT14 that I'd installed there just before finishing the trip south (as seen in this photo). I look forward to much more testing here in Maine but this I already know: For me, there is no other MFD or PC navigation program that does underway chart plotting so well. TimeZero software from MaxSea and Nobeltec are obviously excepted -- and note that TZ for iPad is on its way -- because Furuno essentially built the NavNet3D and TZT series as very specialized marine computers that run TZ with tight integration to their radars, sounders, etc. as well as to NMEA 2000, Ethernet and analog cameras, and more. Let's look at some screens that illustrate what TZT does so well...
... written for Panbo by Kees Verruijt and posted on May 13, 2013
Today is an excellent time to look in more depth at the Lowrance HDS Gen2 Touch, a slightly awkward name for six products that form the "top end" of the Lowrance multifunction display range. The reason is the recent release of the 2.0 software version that brings GoFree functionality -- as seen above -- and much more to both the Lowrance Gen2 and Gen2 Touch range. Last year I upgraded my HDS Gen1 to a HDS2T and in this entry I will compare the HDS2T to other Navico options, give you the reasons why I like it and of course discuss the new features in the 2.0 software.
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 9, 2013
I'm so close to home! But good old Maine welcomed me with a full menu of fog, rain, and wind -- topped off with a foul tide -- so it seemed wise to take a break behind the Rockland breakwater, make some tea and discuss marine fuel prices. One of many things I learned on this trip to South Carolina and back is how much diesel prices can vary, even within the same harbor. So I was quite keen to give the new MarineFuel.com IOS app a spin. Thanks to partner Fugawi it's quite a piece of work just as a free marina-oriented mapping program with goodies like tracking, go-to navigation, and photo waypoints. But you won't see the $Fuel icons unless you subscribe to the pricing data, and so far that's been quite a disappointment...
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 3, 2013
That screen above makes me so happy! I had been reluctant to give up on Gizmo's standalone tank monitoring system but circumstances forced a change. Had I realized how easy and relatively inexpensive it was to switch the tank senders over to BEP CZone NMEA 2000 monitoring -- and how accurate and flexible the output would be, even to the point of custom (and juvenile) tank labels -- I would have made the leap a long time ago...
