I was surprised when Tim Flanagan went all Glen Beck on underwater lights last week. It hadn't occurred to me that "no boat owner with an ounce of sense" would drill a hole below his or her waterline just to "make the water glow pretty colors". In fact, senseless me has long considered going for the dramatic effect above (compliments DeepSea Power & Light) on Li'l Gizmo, which has become fairly reasonable and easy thanks to gear like OceanLED's Amphibians. You'll note that they are surface mounted, and hence only need a cable hole through the hull (they also purportedly run cool enough to use on deck). But, heck, I'd consider putting bigger holes in big Gizmo's transom if the LED and thermoplastic casing technologies reach the right cost/performance point, which is where they seem headed. Any underwater fitting deserves especially carefull installation, but I don't think fixed underwater lights compare, danger-wise, to true thru-hulls which involve a forever hole protected only by an often open valve and a hose. Has anyone heard of an underwater light causing a sinking? And while I won't argue that anyone really needs underwater lights, they sure can be beautiful...
Maybe, like me, you’ve been even lamer than usual about Christmas shopping? And maybe someone on your list is a fair-haired fool who’s lame about proper skin protection, also like me? Well, consider the Seawatch, the first ever with a built-in UV sensor…
So Sail Editor Peter Nielsen sends me this shot wondering who makes that articulated stalky thing holding up the B&G autopilot, and where he can get some for his boat. I have no idea, and I’m interested too. Can anyone fill us in? Of course I asked Peter where he’d seen it, and damned if he hasn’t been out goofing around Boston Harbor with Loïck Peyron, the offshore racing demi-god I mentioned yesterday. And he kindly sent along the shot below of Gitana Eighty’s nav station.
Lusting after what looks like a breakthrough cell phone, Internet tablet, video/still camera, and PND (personal navigation device) is way more fun than fretting over FCC frustrations. Garmin surprised a lot of us when it introduced the Nuvifone in NYC this evening. Sure, it looks like an iPhone but the early info suggests that it has even more going for it, especially the GPS/navigation part, but also a tight Google relationship and fast 3.5G GSM cell data.
At least theoretically, Amazon’s super hyped Kindle “wireless reading device” could be a wonderful cruising gadget. Imagine waking up in one of the many U.S. coastal anchorages covered by the EVDO cellular service included in the thing’s $399 price. Any of the several major newspapers, magazines, and blogs that you can subscribe to would have already been downloaded into your Kindle, ready to read, along with 100 plus books you might already have stored in it (but which wouldn’t be weighing your boat down). Plus colleagues and family can send documents to your Kindle email, where they’re put into Kindle format and downloaded to you for a dime a piece. And the Kindle help files suggest that there’s even a basic Web browser among the “experimental” aspects of this gizmo. For more info here’s Newsweek’s thorough cover story (hey, that Ellison byline you may see around Newsweek is my kido!), and here’s Engadget’s more skeptical approach. But please don’t buy a Kindle without coming back here first. Even though currently sold out, Amazon is so anxious to get Kindles out in the field that they are offering Associates like Panbo an extraordinary 10% commission. So if you do decide to buy a Kindle, please start your purchase with this Amazon link, or the one below. Also tell us how you like it. Thanks.
I felt bad about my harsh review of the AnyTrack monitoring device (and the inflated Sprint cell coverage that gives it Assisted GPS abilities). So I held on to the unit, and tried it again on a trip to Cape Cod, where it did pretty well. I also brought it to New York City, where I figured its claimed ability to determine location inside buildings would really shine. Well, not so much. The AnyTrack locator/transceiver and I are ensconced in my mom’s apartment at the corner of 16th St and 6th Ave (aka Avenue of the Americas), but time after time AnyTrack.net—full screen here —claims to locate the unit with “HIGH” accuracy at 84 5th Ave., which is quite a ways away if you were actually trying to find something in this dense urban environment. And that’s despite the fact that I’ve wandered the neighborhood with the unit in my pocket and set to 10 minute auto tracking, which it performed only so so. I can only conclude that this technology needs a lot of work.
So the AnyTrack pitch is that the little GPS-100 above is “perfect” for locating stolen boats or vehicles, or tracking something or someone precious. The interesting technology involved is a built-in CDMA cellular modem and “Assisted GPS” which can supposedly enable online locating even inside buildings (and is so far only available on the Sprint system, according to an AnyTrack tech). The unit appears to be very solidly built, but I’m sorry to report that the overall service, not inexpensive, seems to be pretty much useless, at least on the coast of Maine.
I’ve been intermittently testing this Magellan Crossover for months now, and the fact I haven’t mentioned it here is a sign of my ambiguous feelings about it.
Man, there are a lot of waterproof iPod cases, but if you’re really active in/on the water you might want to consider a dedicated, if limited, solution. The Freestyle Audio MP3 player has no screen and just a gig of flash memory, but it’s waterproof to 10 feet, shockproof, and it floats. The interface is simply a multi-color LED and four stiff buttons for on/off, volume, and track advance/back. For charging and downloads, it has a special USB cord that inserts into the earphone plug, and it comes with a little program for arranging a play list. And it is tough. I tried it windsurfing in the B.V.I. and whereas I had to wear a life jacket, hadn’t been windsurfing in about a decade, and it was gusty, I beat the hell out of this test unit. Multiple high-speed dunkings, earphones ripped out, etc. Freestyle kept the tunes coming.
