When I first read Uniden’s MHS335B handheld VHF press release, the feature that really intrigued me was “Maritime Industry-First Private Text Messaging.” The release was a little short on details and I was left with more questions than answers. But I was glad when Uniden kindly loaned me two radios to see all their VHF, GPS, DSC, and texting features hand’s on…
It’s often hard to get big companies to change or fix arguably minor product issues, and I’m pretty sure the best path to success is to clearly, politely, and persistently state the facts, maybe even illustrate the problem on YouTube. But that doesn’t necessarily work either, which is why…
New this morning and shipping soon is the FLIR Ocean Scout TK thermal camera. It looks a lot like the existing and beautifully made Ocean Scout series, except that it is about two thirds the size and half the weight. What’s really small, though, is the $599 retail price, which is almost one quarter what even the bottom-of-the-series OS 320 model costs. Now it’s true that the TK will become the lowest resolution Ocean Scout camera with the least range, but there’s a lot more to true thermal vision than resolution and range…
I was impressed with Standard Horizon’s original HX850 and I’ve been happily using the slightly upgraded HX851 model above for several years. It’s a fine handheld 6 Watt VHF (if you don’t mind the size) plus it’s always ready to place a DSC distress call and/or navigate a life raft (or tender or kayak or…). But, wow, look what they did with the new HX870 model: The screen is at least twice as large, the interface seems usefully updated with soft keys and icons, the battery is substantially larger, and more…
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…
I don’t have a good image yet, and some really interesting new products have revealed themselves in Newport, but I’ll bet a lot of readers will want to know about Digital Yacht’s iAIS, announced...
It is disconcerting when all the waterfront owners within a few hundred feet of your boat remove their floating docks for fear of hurricane damage! In fact, the harbors in my area were jumping...
Not one but two iPhone NOAA raster charting apps debuted last week, and I had had a little Beta time with each. EarthNC for iPhone costs $25 and incorporates some fresh thinking and a lot of the resources EarthNC has long been developing for its Google Map & Earth overlay products, like EarthNC Online. They’ve turned all NOAA RNCs into tiles that download automatically to your phone as you pan and zoom, or you can batch download an area as illustrated in the screen at upper right. The left screen is busy looking, I know, but note how you can disappear each of those data and icon strips with the little red arrow. Note too how EarthNC is doing waypoint navigation and tracking, fairly elaborate tracking as shown on the middle screen. But that’s not all…
The press release calls SiMON2 “the first alarm monitoring system for the new Apple iPad,” which seems odd given what we’ve already seen from InteliSea. I think what Palladium Technologies was trying to say is that SiMON2 is the first such app designed exclusively for the iPad. It is not just an extension of a full bore PC-based megayacht system, like iSiMON or InteliSea, but rather a new iPad-centered monitoring system designed for “smaller” yachts…
Pardon me if I use an entry on the improving state of marine iPhone apps to illustrate my concerns about NOAA’s local chart screw ups, but it works. Navimatics Charts&Tides 3.6.2 was the first charting program of any sort I’ve seen that includes NOAA’s first 1:20,000 ENC for Camden Harbor, but it will be confusing fog bound visitors soon! Those semi-invented channel buoys that I first saw on the raster chart are worse here, given equal graphic weight with real navigation aids, more precise looking wrong locations, and all without the “Priv aids” label that might help a navigator sort things out…
