More N2K happiness, and a little more nonsense

I believe the hip hop expression is “baby’s got back!” I like this rear view, bigger here, of the new Garmin 4xxx for both its industrial design sleekness and the implied power of all those connections. The three MarineNet (Ethernet) ports, for instance, are a new feature which means that simpler systems—say sounder box, radar, and XM weather/audio—won’t need a hub (though note that one is still possible, and advantageous in multi display setups). But what’s truly lovely is this standard  plug—NMEA 2000 straight up, no patch cables, no “GarBus” or “GarNet” nonsense to confuse everyone. I also learned today that the rumor I repeated in that same “nonsense” entry was wrong: Lowrance is soon going to put standard N2K connectors on its LowranceNet displays and cables. Yo!

Unfortunately, a worse rumor is surfacing. Twice in the last week someone has asked me something like, “Is it true that the U.S. Coast Guard has some objection to NMEA 2000.” Well, I have more research to do but I very strongly doubt that the USCG has a problem (in fact, it was actually one of the earliest and strongest proponents of the standard , because it’s more reliable and hence safer). While there may be a little bureaucratic nonsense going on behind the regulatory scenes, I’m confident that it will not become a true problem. Especially so as today I attended the first ever European Connect Fest, where some 17 manufacturers with 42 different physical devices all shared data on the same backbone, and a lot of trade folks got down with it. Yo!