METS, field reports
I’m pleased to pass along METS notes from Andy Murray, Service Manager at Globe Marine, and Kees Verruijt, a software developer/entrepreneur and marine electronics enthusiast. A big thanks to both for some interesting impressions and news nuggets. Of course all biases expressed, or mistakes made, are their own! First up, Andy:
Navico: From what I saw of the radar it looked very impressive but poorly marketed; we only saw the same screenshots as you have online and on the broadband radar web site. There is no pricing or an official launch date; I can say it’s not the prettiest looking unit in the world!
Lowrance: The broadband echo sounder was very impressive and the new HDS units are looking very nice. They are not “NavNet 3D” fast at rendering but they are not exactly what I’d call slow.
Garmin is releasing new firmware next month to make the 4000 / 5000 series “as fast at rendering as Furuno NavNet 3D.”
Furuno have released a new M1835 LCD radar replacing their workhorse 10” CRT unit; this looks very attractive and will be priced to suite. The new NavPilot 611 and other equipment (GP330B and weather station) were on show (not an Airmar but produced in house by Furuno). Also speaking to the R&D Guys about the broadband radar from Navico: “Furuno is heavily down the development path” on solid state radars in S and X band and have field units out there but can’t confirm a release date for this new “radically different from the competition” technology (I think Furuno’s technology will be closer related to Honeywell’s very impressive system).
ICOM is releasing a Class B AIS/radio “soon” according to the MD of ICOM UK.
Intellian were present in a big way; they are coming to visit us in 2 or 3 weeks to install some demo units on the commercial fishing fleet. Intellian will be releasing a Fleet 33 and Fleet Broadband 250 in January along with the I1 and i2 units for small boats.
Actisense: The delay in the NMEA 2000 gateway has been because they needed to redesign the unit with a 32bit processor since the 16bit processor in the unit shown 2 years ago locked up if NMEA 2000 bandwidth was high. So effectively we will be getting the GATEWAY 2 hopefully January / February 2009. I also met a representative from NMEA on the Actisense stand who was telling Actisense that Maretron’s “USB Gateway” is no longer meeting the NMEA requirements and I think the specs for NMEA2000 have moved a bit.
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And here are some notes from Kees that don’t fit with the Navico Broadband Radar, Poly-Planar Marine Stereo, and Simrad AT10 entries he’s already commented on.
Lowrance HDS: Lowrance were showing off their new HDS echosounders/chartplotter/radar displays that Ben reported on last month. I was actually very impressed with them, even though the firmware is clearly a work in progress. (I won't bore you with how they locked up and showed various screen artifacts.) Market introduction supposedly to be April/May. They looked clean, neat and modern. Good screen resolution and brightness. Very shallow and frugal on power (< 1 amp @ 12v). coupled with the broadband radar you have an excellent solution for sailboats and smaller powerboats who are careful with their power draw.
Navionics Platinum+ with TurboView: TurboView was also plastered all over the place. Nowhere though (including Furuno) did I see a really convincing demo of 3D that make me actually want to use it in the field. Nice to show off, it does not help actual navigation IMO.
AIS: The first Taiwanese (who I did talk to) and Chinese manufacturers were showing off AIS-B transceivers. See AMEC (Alltek Marine Electronics Corp). They were quoting a USD 800 end user price for the AIS-B receiver without screen.
Plastimo replaces Navman with advanSea: Now that Navico is pulling their brands closer together that left Navimo (known mostly by their Plastimo brand) without the Navman products that they sold very successfully in Europe. They have developed a tit-for-tat replacement brand of that they completely own themselves. The price point is to be the same as Navman, e.g. low-end. The displays looked a little better than Navman, with clearer LCD displays and the capability to show a lot of data . The chart plotters (that the spokesperson still referred to as "Trackers") looks very much the same as the Navman offering, but I don't really know those very well. I didn't see anything really new there. They do offer NMEA 2000 in the plotters and there's supposed to come a conversion box to convert the displays to NMEA 2000 as well. These do NMEA 0183 normally.
Carbon Wireless Display: A small French company ixsuns showed the Tachyon Carbon Wireless Display. With a handmade real carbon fiber case, IP 68 all the way. It supports Mac OS X and Linux as well as Microsoft Windows. It weighs 2,9 kg, has a 12" XGA display with good visibility. The standard version has a power plug, with a battery there's 4 hour autonomy. Touchscreen is also an option. What I liked about this was that there is a provision to put the screen on a VESA stand for the times where you're not carrying it around. It is quite expensive (starts at €3300 without battery).
Albatross NMEA2000 converters {added 11/24}
Ben logged a brief pointer to Albatross in 2007, but for me it was the first time I'd seen the actual product. For simpler NMEA 2000 installations and refits to existing installations they provide analog to NMEA converters -- which is different from Maretron, Offshore Systems and Lowrance. The interesting idea they have is that a single NMEA 2000 converter can talk to multiple analog sensors, making this a cost effective solution. For instance their ALBA MULTI can interface to not just one but four tank level sensors or any other resistive loads. It can also be used in parallel to existing 0-5V analog (VDO) gauges. That last feature in particular makes it ideal for retrofitting into existing boats.I also noticed that they now say on their website that Lyman-Morse is going to test some of their products, so they seem to be expanding internationally. Ben, that's right next door to you isn't it? (At least from where I am!) Albatross also produces a combined software/hardware solution called Albatross On Board which consists of a PC, software and NMEA inputs & outputs. It goes beyond Maretron's N2KView (which is view only as the name says) and seems to be growing towards complete boat control functionality. In other words, more something like Octoplex.
Ben, whilst your absence from any reports on METS is regrettable, I don't think it's a good idea to use other opinions without first checking them out in the event that they carry no credence. As I've just discovered, Andy Murray (although wearing the title Service Manager) is not technical, and works for a Furuno dealer which is clear from his comments which lean heavily towards Furuno. Kees, on the other hand, is qualified to comment on software.
However, in your own defence you mention both that these are only their opinions and that they differ. When I read your reports I find them professionally presented and objective (as well as enjoyable!) - it's only then that I may or may not read the subsequent comments. Keep up your great work Ben, but don't let others spoil your own efforts!
I hope this post doesn't come across wrongly, I just wanted to say that I regularly read your site because I like what you have to say, and if that provokes discussion then great, but when the personal opinions come without your prior input it doesn't come across as the type of material that I hoped to read.
Steve