That’s a hand built prototype and not all the software is done yet, but there’s no question that Garmin’s totally refreshed marine line is major news for boaters everywhere. Notes on the image above, bigger here: * The casing is now aluminum and looks far better than this funky photo indicates, and the 12” screen seems very bright and color rich, even though the suggested retail on the 4212 version—with all U.S. charts, and now Bahamas Explorer charts too, built in—is about $2,670. * A lot of 3000 series buttons are gone (there really were too many), replaced by eight vertical soft keys. So many potentially wide soft keys mean that labels can be thorough (and easily multi lingual) and menu trees simplified. Note on this specific screen how panning onto a POI automatically suggested the info you access under it (that’s what I’m talking about!), and how there’s a “Stop Panning” soft key instead of the old Quit button that confuses so many new users. * The optional, now SD card based, g2 Vision charting shown seems to nicely mimic or improve on many of the features pioneered by Navionics Platinum and the Raymarine E-Series, like variable blend photo overlays (land only or land&sea), street overlay, 3D etc. Garmin adds a 2nd lower resolution world photographic base map (as does C-Map’s Max Pro), and an underwater 3D view that incorporates sonar. * While not ready for demo yet, Garmin’s new “Auto Guidance” sounds like a smart compromise. You simply choose your destination and the unit will search for all ‘safe’ passages based on your parameters. It will mark those boundary fashion but it will not create waypoints, which might be just too automatic.
I need to get back to the show where there’s something like a 1,500 other exhibitors, but there’s lots more to this story, even more new products than Garmin mentioned yesterday. For instance, how about this first ever 18” 4kw radar—which, like their others, does all its processing within and outputs via Ethernet, and which will retail for only $1,000. Hot damn!
Well, Garmin (having quite a week) didn’t mess around, releasing marine 2007 preview dope before METS opens its doors. Even an elaborate Flash presentation. Key features at the new 4000 series high end: 12” XGA screen, NMEA 2000 compliance (big news for the protocol!), support for new g2 Vision charts with worldwide satellite imagery and under/over-water 3D, and a brand new interface, including simplified “navigation with Auto Guidance.” A hands on look later, hopefully.
Speaking about how terrestrial navigation, at least in some ways, is now informing marine navigation, the big kahuna of non-marine GPS yesterday opened a fantastic looking flagship store on Michigan Ave in Chicago. It looks like Garmin took a cue from Apple—not a bad idea—creating many thousand elegant square feet where you can try all their gizmos, ask questions, take seminars, etc. Shoppers as passionate about GPSs as they are about iPods? Yeah, man! Which is interesting. When I bought my Garmin 45 in, what, 1993 (when did that beauty arrive?), I already knew a lot about navigation, like most every other fool who’d ventured over the horizon. Boaters broke GPS! There were years there where I was proselytizing handheld plotters first to my hiking friends, then to my long distance driving friends. But the shoe may soon change feet. I’m not sure that our children—weaned on geocaching, location-aware cell phones, arm bands that plot their jogs on Google Earth, who knows what—are going to sit on our knee for a nav lesson. “Hey, pops, do you mean to say that box you paid so much for won’t figure out your route, show hi res photo maps, or connect to the Web for user dock’n’dine recommendations?”
At any rate, I was honored to be invited by Garmin to the store opening—as a representative of old guard, I guess—but I already had other plans. I just arrived in Amsterdam for METS (starts Tuesday). In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing some new marine machines that Garmin is supposed to preview, but am also hoping to check out the POI advances on their car navigators and PNDs (Personal Navigation Device). I too just recently heard the term “PND”, but I’ll bet it’s not the last time.
Another intro at FLIBS, this is the new YTS model of the Nautamatic TR-1 Gladiator autopilot I wrote about a few years ago. The new control head is a nice simple alternative to the somewhat daunting 10–button wired remote that is the primary control on other models. As I understand it, you still get the remote and need it to make the pilot do all the customizable maneuvers that get fishermen excited (I’ve also seen it perform a perfect Williamson man overboard circle). YTS, by the way, stands for “yachts, trawlers, and (big) sportfishers”, who are the new customers Nautamatic is trying to attract. The head will help, but perhaps more important is the performance reputation the Gladiator has earned in the last few years, confirmed pretty emphatically by a recent Powerboat Reports shoot-out. Of course you have to pay for that report, but I have and think it’s one of the most well done product comparisons I’ve seen there. Here’s some detail on why they thought the TR-1 performed the best when compared to a Furuno Navpilot 511OB, Raymarine ST6002+G, and Simrad AP16VF:
“We were blown away by every aspect of the product’s performance. There was nothing that we could do to the boat to throw this unit off course. At 2 knots with one motor in gear, we actually had to verify that the sea anchor had opened properly—the boat’s heading didn’t change even a degree. At 15 knots, when we dropped out an engine, there was again no change. It appeared as if the TR-1 program algorithms are monitoring the engine RPM’s very closely and knew what to expect when we abruptly killed an engine. Even Nautamatic’s GPS interface exceeded our expectations. At 15 knots, when we engaged a waypoint 180 degrees behind us, the TR-1 immediately put us into an aggressive, but controlled, turn. Nautamatic calls this a G-limited turn. All we can say is that within two seconds, we were spun around and tracking back toward the waypoint before the GPS plotter had time to calculate any cross-track error.”
Nautamatic doesn’t have YTS on its Web site yet, but these feisty folks—who are, um, very confidant about their technology—weren’t entirely pleased with the shoot-out and have their say here.
Geez, anyone know where the “Big Belly Reduction” Tool is in PhotoShop? Also, what’s the drill when your full res photo reveals a half-naked Florida boat guy? At any rate, here’s another FLIBS product intro, this one splendidly orchestrated by Raymarine’s well oiled marketing machine. Simultaneous to this “VIP preview” event in a nicely shaded and catered boat shed, Raymarine “insiders” got the news via HTML e-mail (you can be an insider too). In fact, there’s no need for me to repeat the awesome specs on the new 17” and 19”, nine-input monitors, nor mention the spectacular prices. But I will point out how neatly they can work with an E-Series VGA Out port (pictured) or a PC running RayTech 6.0, though apparently you can’t do both with the same cool dedicated keyboard. They look similar but one is SeaTalk2 and the other is USB. And I’ll add that a trustworthy Raymarine Product Manager told me that he’s seen these puppies in direct sunlight head-to-head with the competition and with an E-120, and “they rock”.
Hey, (brag, brag), who got to be the only unSimrad guy at the dealer/installer GB60 preview (and more here) at Simrad’s Dania Beach office today? I not only learned a LOT about the system, but it was illuminating to hear the feedback from the gents who are going to sell and install these mega systems. I can’t say much more now, as I agreed to certain “off the record” rules, but one thing for sure: the resemblance between GB60 and Nobeltec Admiral is more superficial than I had presumed. Simrad has already done a lot to mold the code into its own more purposeful (Nordic?), and perhaps more stable, vision of an ECS, and plans to add more of its own exclusive features, and simplicities (minus features?), in future releases. Meanwhile, the hardware platform is as powerful as possible, and the worldwide support plan is awesome. I wasn’t surprised to learn that GB60 Product Manager Tim Ryder, with me above, also seems to manage Simrad’s ECDIS…err, make that PLECDIS for “Paper Less”…product. Tomorrow: the actual Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show (if I can still type).
So I spoke to “the boys” on Saturday; they’d had a great first sail on their own. Good Enough is slippery, as I saw myself (note the 6.3 knots on the GPS, relatively flat seas in background). And, good news, Jo found himself getting more comfortable with his Garmin. Here's a bigger shot of the screen above, showing some of the things I set up that may be helping him: * In Map Setup, the Prefs sub tab, I put Orientation to “Track Up”. Now I know that some salts think North Up, paper chart style, is the only way to go, but I’ve come to believe that head up makes it easier to sort out what’s important on these little screens. That’s especially true on this Garmin (the Navman 8120 too) because Track Up and Course Up automatically put the screen into a “look ahead” mode so you see more chart ahead of the vessel. * In the same setup page, Nav sub tab, I set a Heading Line based on a distance of 1 nautical mile. I always set up one of these lines, which I think Garmin should be calling a COG line (there could be Heading line too, like on a Raymarine, but it would be based on compass input). Usually I use time, but in this case, with inexperienced users and those tiny lower right map scales, the 1 mile really helps the eye to understand the current chart scale easily. The effect is pretty obvious on this Split Chart page, which I think is another boon to maximum situational awareness on a minimal screen. * Finally, I also goosed up the spot soundings font size in the Labels sub tab, but I’m not sure that helps. I really wanted to enlarge the nav aids but couldn’t figure out a way to do this. Anyone? Or do you have any other ideas on how to make a small Garmin screen as easy and informative as possible? Do tell!
PS. In regard to inspirational old boat guys, I’m happy to report that my buddy Max didn’t last long without one. Plus: Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who won the first non-stop race around the world, aka the Voyage for Madmen (excellent book), is doing it again.
Since my first Simrad Glass Bridge post, the company has posted more information plus an 8 page PDF brochure. That’s where I snipped this hind-end shot of its super-connected black box computer (also here in a larger, unlabeled version). Check out the dual SimNet/NMEA 2000 and four serial ports—no multiplexers needed around here! Note too that the GB60 will support up to to two radar scanners (via that built in Ethernet switch) from a wide range especially designed for the system, or can connect to stand alone, even type approved, Simrad radar sets (via the RSI).
I understand that Simrad is hoping to demo the GB60 at the NMEA Conference and Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show, both in late Oct. I’ll be at both myself, and look forward to seeing it. I know that megayacht specialists can build systems even more powerful, and Raymarine has its elegant H6, but isn’t this is the new king of really high-end all-from-one-manufacturer systems?
With so many megayachts in the world—some with extra large tenders that they have to tow offshore, some with wild and crazy champagne-guzzling jet-ski-riding charter guests—tender tracking is a big deal. The Nobeltec Admiral 9 Plus Pack looks like quite a complete offering, as seen in these screen shots, and I know that there’s another interesting product about to enter this niche. Some thoughts: * I think Admiral can track more sorts of targets than anything else out there: MARPA, AIS, DSC, and now tenders. Won’t other navigation systems follow suit? And what new target type next? * The Seetrac transmitter/base station system that works with Tender Tracker (with Transas too) can also send wind info, using an option that sounds like the Airmar WeatherStation. Thus you could send your sailing yacht’s tender out to survey a race course America’s Cup style. * By the same token, your tender can also send back depth readings. I’m not sure how they are displayed in Admiral, hopefully as a track of varying colors, but I do know that if you have the optional Bathy Recorder, the tender’s readings can rebuild the 3D data right ahead of your yacht. Yeah, you’d be down $2,300 just in software options (and I can’t find Seetrac prices), but how cool is that! (Actually, has any reader devised a poor man’s way to collect soundings from a dinghy, lead line excepted?)
The above screen shot, full size here, is actually Nobeltec’s Bathy Recorder, a “plus pack” option to Admiral and VNS 8 that Jeppesen Marine introduced last year. I’ve seen these results of a tester’s survey of heavily dredged Port Everglades, and all the ways you can display it, demonstrated at a boat show, and it was quite impressive, though not inexpensive. But I’d neglected to mention this for so long that we are now seeing the arrival of Nobeltec 9! The press release went out last night, marking the start of the Newport Boat Show today (Admiral PDF here and VNS PDF here). Some highlights:
* Both Admiral and VNS will now display regular GRIB weather files and have new “Nav Info Panels” which can show strip charts as well as numbers. (All seen below and bigger here). * Admiral also gets “AIS Filtering” (I don’t know what that means yet) and now include OCENS WeatherNet. * Admiral 9 can also support a new Plus Pack called Tender Tracker which integrates with Seetrac hardware. * Either charting package can work with the new Sailing Plus Pack, which can display existing polars, build new ones, overlay laylines and wind info, and provide “basic instrument support for B&G and Ockam instruments”. * And either can support the new XM Plus Pack, which apparently integrates the WxWorx PC version of XM Marine Weather with Nobeltec.
So…wow…goodies for megayachts, racing sailors, and all the rest of us who care about weather (more detail and screen shots coming to Panbo soon). And we already know that Jeppesen/Nobeltec has been working with Simrad, and is also in a quiet period while it finalizes a deal to acquire C-Map. Looks like a really big year for these guys.
imple alternative to the somewhat daunting 10–button wired remote that is the primary control on other models. As I understand it, you still get the remote and need it to make the pilot do all the customizable maneuvers that get fishermen excited (I’ve also seen it perform a perfect Williamson man overboard circle). YTS, by the way, stands for “yachts, trawlers, and (big) sportfishers”, who are the new customers Nautamatic is trying to attract. The head will help, but perhaps more important is the performance reputation the Gladiator has earned in the last few years, confirmed pretty emphatically by a recent Powerboat Reports shoot-out. Of course you have to 
