Hits the SPOT The SPOT-X two-way satellite messenger is an economical way of staying connected to the outside world via text or e-mail when you’re at sea. As well as the messaging service, it has a distress function that not only alerts authorities if you’re in trouble, but lets ...read more
Be Smart Dealing with a heavy 50-amp shorepower cord can be like trying to wrangle a reluctant python—it goes everywhere except where you want it to, especially in cold weather. Smartplug’s new Superflex50 125/250V cable set puts an end to that. Unplug from the pedestal and the ...read more
Plug & Play Stereo It can be a real pain to install a marine stereo inside a boat, what with the tiresome business of running cables through cramped spaces and finding somewhere sensible to locate the speakers. The audiophiles at Fusion thought about this and came up with the ...read more
TOUCHSCREEN STEREO New Zealand audio specialists Fusion has introduced the first-ever marine stereo with a glass touchscreen display. The Apollo RA770 sets a high bar for boat entertainment systems; among a host of other features it has built-in WiFi streaming and features ...read more
A BETTER VISION Vesper Marine’s Watchmate series has long been the gold standard for user-friendly AIS displays, and the new Watchmate Vision2 transponder improves an already fine product that not only displays AIS data, but can be connected to up to eight devices, including ...read more
Well Gelled Every so often you run across a product you never knew you needed, and then you wonder why it took so long for someone to come up with it. Thus it is with the Gelbox line from Raytech. These reuseable plastic boxes for low-voltage connectors are filled with gel, so ...read more
For many sailors, cell phones have become their primary means of both ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication. Even the Coast Guard will often ask for a cell number after it receives a distress call. None of this, however, makes a VHF radio any less important—and this ...read more
AIS FOR NOMADs Want AIS, but not the hassle and expense of installing a transponder and its associated paraphernalia? The fully portable Nomad from Digital Yacht could be the answer. It combines Class B AIS and GPS functionality with the ability to connect via WiFi or AIS to up ...read more
So you’ve finally decided to splash out on new sailing instruments, and all that remains is the how and where of installing them. That is not necessarily as simple as it seems. There is a number of things to be taken into account. ON THE BULKHEAD The best place for speed, depth ...read more
Pointing the Way Velocitek’s compact new Prism electronic racing compass features excellent accuracy, large, easily read digits and ultra-light weight—under 5 oz. It’s water-resistant to IPX8, class-legal wherever electronic compasses are allowed and comes with a mast bracket ...read more
It Rokks With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets for in-cockpit navigation comes the issue of keeping these devices charged, since running nav software will drain those batteries in no time. Scanstrut has come to the rescue with the ROKK Charge+, the first-ever ...read more
A Light Touch I’ve been in search of the perfect nav station light for many years, and finally found it in the form of the F4 TouchLED task light from Imtra. It’s switched on and off by touching the sole red LED in the middle of the cluster of 15 white LEDS. This also switches ...read more
Color Radio Icom’s M605 VHF fixed-mount transceiver boasts a color LCD screen with an impressive 180 degree viewing angle, backed up by a row of softkeys that lets you access the most important functions with a single button-push. Radios aren’t just radios anymore—the M605 can ...read more
The British-made Tacktick line of wireless instruments arrived on the sailing scene in the early oughties with the Micro Compass, a standalone, solar-powered GPS and heading sensor, and soon expanded to encompass wind, speed and depth instruments. The main selling point of this ...read more
Play it Smart An inordinate number of boat fires are caused by poorly maintained shore power connectors and inlets. The pins on commonplace push-and-twist connectors are prone to corrosion, which decreases the metal-to-metal contact, which leads to higher resistance, which in ...read more
An even Smarter Plug When you’re sailing, you want to connect to the world immediately around you; when you’re back in the slip, it’s time to connect to the wider world. Problem is, there’s been no neat and tidy way to hook up phone, internet or TV cables. This is where ...read more
A HYBRID TOUCH Si-TEX’s new NavStar series multifunction displays (MFDs) offer “hybrid touch” control—that is, the functions can be accessed via touchscreen or traditional controls. The 10in and 12in high-resolution displays are visible even in full daylight, and the powerful ...read more
Be it for safety, navigation or competition, all sailors have a need for information about their boat’s performance and its environment. Many recent advances have been made by marine electronics manufacturers, which have increased the accuracy, quantity and accessibility of data ...read more
Can You Hear Me Now? “Okay, let go. Depth is fifteen feet.” “I can’t hear you.” “I SAID LET GO!” “What? Speak up!” If that sounds familiar, you’re the typical husband-and-wife crew trying to anchor on a windy afternoon. Trying to make yourself heard from 35 or 40ft away can be ...read more
LET THERE BE LIGHT Summer evenings in crowded anchorages or mooring fields are part and parcel of the coastal cruising life, and there is always some activity after dark as stragglers arrive or cruisers run to shore and back in their dinghies. It’s only common sense (and also ...read more
IT’S AN AXIOM Raymarine’s newest line of multifunction displays come equipped with the company’s proprietary Lighthouse 3 operating system, quad core processors and RealVision 3D sonar capability. The 7in, 9in and 12in Axiom MFDs are super-fast all-glass units that will slot ...read more
The Sounds of iHome If you don’t want to go to the trouble of installing a sound system on your boat, or you just want to be able to take your tunes ashore with you, the iHome BT9 could be just the thing. It streams wireless digital audio via Bluetooth, but it’s more than a ...read more
Garmin VHF 110 and 200 Garmin’s latest VHF radios are similar in size but differ in capability. The VHF 110 is your basic entry-level DSC-capable fixed-mount VHF, featuring 25 watts of transmitting power, NOAA WX alerts and Garmin’s Position Tracking, which allows a user to ...read more
Ronstan Vaavud Wind Meter Sometimes the best addition to your boat’s electronics is the simplest one, and the Vaavud wind meter from Ronstan is certainly that. No wires to connect, no mounts to install—simply plug the anemometer into the headphone jack for your smartphone or ...read more
