Hi, this is Ben Ellison, editor and owner of Panbo, and this is where you can find out how to get in touch with us, how to support Panbo with advertising, and much more.
Contact Information
- To make editorial suggestions or complaints––or to submit an idea for a guest entry (always welcome)––please contact Ben Ellison: editor@panbo.com or 207-200-3430
- For information on display advertising, please contact the Ad Manager: ads@panbo.com or 207-200-1884
- Classified advertising is essentially a do-it-yourself operation, and priced accordingly, but please report problems to classifieds@panbo.com
- Panbo's mailing and shipping address: Panbo, 2 Bisbee St., Camden, ME 04843 USA
- You can get email notifications of new Panbo entries, or subscribe to our RSS feed
Advertising
Panbo is proud to be an independent source of news and opinion about marine electronics, and we're also proud to be sponsored by the AIM Marine Group and further supported by a fine group of advertisers. As of late 2011, companies that want to present their products or services to Panbo readers can purchase display ad space directly from Panbo. The sponsorship-style program means that ads are equally rotated around our Entry and Forum pages like the one appearing to the right. For more information, please contact the Ad Manager.
Advertisers get the attention of about 80,000 unique visitors per month, as tabulated by StatCounter. Regular readers (about a third of the total, as indicated in the diagram below) are a mix of marine electronics professionals and enthusiasts, exactly the sort of folks who influence a lot of buying decisions. And the "first time visitors" are often individuals who are researching a specific product or category with the intent to purchase. Now that we are managing our own advertising, we're finding that advertisers who've been here in the past are pleased with the results and want to continue their presence here. Please join them. And note that we recently added a classified advertising section that is meant in part to be a low-cost place for marine electronics manufacturers, apps developers, installers, online distributors etc. to showcase their products and services. The Classifieds section also has separate display ads especially good for online marine electronics retailers.
Panbo History and FuturePanbo was started in early 2004 by Dutch web guru Yme Bosma. He was interested in the then-new phenomenon of blogging, and he likes boats and gadgets. I was one of many readers who enjoyed his entries until he got too busy with his real work that fall. When Yme sought a new editor, I volunteered and put up my first entry in April, 2005. Frankly it began as a bit of a lark––a way to learn how to write faster, I hoped––but more than 1,600 entries later, Panbo is the center of my work life and the source of great satisfaction. Instant publishing often means instant feedback, and Panbo has collected a group of informed commenters from all over the world. We all learn together. Plus the companies that develop marine electronics often read those comments, and thus Panbo has become an agent of change. All good.
A Forum was added to Panbo in 2009, and in 2012 we added a classified advertising section to help readers turn over their old electronics. In 2013 we hope to spark more life in that section (hey, it's free!) and perhaps add another section devoted to press releases about marine electronics (so we don't have to search around for them anymore). Panbo has survived some hard times in the marine industry, and I think it will continue to thrive. Thanks to all for visiting, and especially for contributing.
Ben Ellison
Well, sure, let's talk about me! I've lived in Camden, Maine, since 1971, when I bought a 1946 wooden sloop (same vintage as me) that was moored here. I was planning to sail around the world, but...um...never made it.
I did live aboard Alice
for most of the 70's, ran her as a daysailing operation, and cruised
twice to the Caribbean (with just a VHF radio and a depth flasher for
electronics). During that decade I also worked on oil field boats off
Louisiana, tried my hand at commercial fishing, delivered yachts and
taught navigation/seamanship. By the 80's, the boat had
morphed into a home-built home and I even started a totally
non-nautical business (which at least got me into personal computers
early). I did keep up the deliveries and teaching, managed some boats,
and in 1985 began a five year stint as director of the WoodenBoat School.
I still get a pitter-patter when I visit there. The 90's? Back to boat
deliveries and teaching, a house addition, work for a tide prediction software company, and
eventually a stint as editor of Reed's Nautical Almanacs. That job was more about marine software, and data manipulation, than sentences, which is partially how
I transitioned into writing about electronics. 
I got started at
Ocean Navigator in 1999 and became Electronics Editor at
Power & Motoryacht in 2001,
added Sail in 2004, and then
switched over to the position of Senior Electronics Editor at Bonnier Marine Group in early 2009. On Jan. 1, 2013, I switched teams again, returning in a sense to PMY and Sail, which are now part of the AIM Marine Group along with Soundings, PassageMaker, and Yachts International. I'll continue to write primarily for Panbo, whose content will be shared with AIM web sites and publications, but I'll also work with AIM editors and electronics writers. In 2013 I also plan to spend significant time aboard the 37' Duffy "lobster yacht" dubbed Gizmo, a near perfect platform for testing electronics along the beautiful coast of Maine and further afield. I'm proud to add that my work has received numerous honors in the annual Boating Writers International writing contest, especially the first place Original Online Content award to Panbo in 2011 and again in 2012!Where am I?
I enjoy trying various tracking technologies and can often be found via my DeLorme Share Map or via MarineTraffic.com's AIS and mAIS online tracking system: