100YACHTINGFE BRUA RY2 01 8INSIGHTS ELECTRONICSG
rowing up in new england, i always appreciated the
four seasons. But since moving to the Pacifi c Northwest, I’ve learned
about two-season living: wet or dry. Fortunately, my gig as Yachting’s
electronics editor provides a third: boat-show season. Each fall, I
travel to the NMEA Conference & Expo, the United States Sailboat
Show in Annapolis, Maryland, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and
Amsterdam’s MetsTrade show to research the latest marine-electronics off erings.
And boat-show season, it turns out, is the one whose gifts just keep on giving.The year 2018 promises to be big for marine electronics, as evidenced by some of the year’s fi rst new-product announcements.per second (Mbps) and uplink speeds of
3 Mbps, which is more than three and
six times faster, respectively, than the
company ’s previous-generation system.
¶ The V7-HTS ($29,995 plus data-usage
fees) off ers a near-global footprint, sans
high-latitude regions. It also has KVH’s
new dual-channel architecture, includ-
ing a secondary unlimited data channel
that operates — free of charge — con-
currently with the system’s fast lane.
¶ KVH achieved the data speeds with its
mini-VSAT Broadband network, which
has HTS overlay capabilities thanks to the
added Intelsat Epic and Sky Perfect JSAT
satellites. ¶ Hardware-wise, the Trac-
Phone V7-HTS system includes an above-
decks antenna and KVH’s Integrated
CommBox Modem, an all-in-one be-
lowdecks control unit. The systems give
yachtsmen use of the KVH mini-VSAT
Manager, providing data-management
tools; KVH’s IP-MobileCast content-
delivery system; and KVH OneCare,
which provides 24/7 tech support.RAYMARINE
Raymarine introduced its Axiom line of
multifunction displays last year, with
touchscreen-only user interfaces. While
these are aesthetically pleasing, some
boaters struggle with touchscreens when
underway, so Raymarine’s new fl agship
Axiom Pro displays have HybridTouch
hard-key and touchscreen interfaces.
¶ Axiom Pro displays come in 9- ($2,299
to $2,699), 12- ($3,399 to $3,999) and 16-
inch ($5,399 to $5,999) sizes. They have
high-resolution IPS (in-plane switching)
displays that deliver bright colors and
wide viewing angles in direct sunlight;
high-speed, quad-core processors; and
built-in, 72-channel GNSS/GPS receivers.
Each of the three displays also off ers two
levels of sonar capability: S models have
a single-channel chirp sonar, while RVX
models have Raymarine’s RealVision 3D
sonar and a 1 kW chirp sonar. ¶ All A xiomFURUNO
Furuno commanded headlines in 2016
with its DRS4D -NXT, a radome-enclosed
solid-state radar with Doppler processing.
While solid-state radars off er a number of
advantages over older, magnetron-based
radars, Doppler processing (known as
Target Analyzer in Furuno parlance) ups
the ante, providing at-a-glance situational
awareness. The radar’s display presents
potentially dangerous targets in red while
depicting slow-moving or nonthreatening
targets in green. ¶ Furuno’s DRS6A-NXT
open-array radars are the company’s new-
est solid-state, Doppler-enabled off erings,
and they are available in 3.5- ($6,230),
4- ($6,575) and 6-foot ($7,075) antenna
lengths, which deliver beam widths of 2.3,
1.9 and 1.4 degrees, respectively. All three
radars sport minimum ranges of 33 feet
and power outputs of 25 watts, as well as
signifi cantly quieter motors compared
with Furuno’s previous open-array ra-
dars. ¶ The DRS6A-NXT radars also have
Furuno’s Fast Target Tracking and Auto
Target Acquire functions, letting them
automatically track as many as 100 tar-
gets within 3 nautical miles of the yacht.GARMIN
Garmin’s EchoMap Plus multifunction
displays are available in 4- ($199 to $349),
6- ($349 to $549), 7- ($649 to $699) and
9-inch ($849 to $1,499) screen sizes,
making them an option for tenders or
smaller rides. The displays — excluding
the 4-inch — have Wi-Fi connectivity and
support Garmin’s new (and included)ActiveCaptain app, which Garmin calls
a “one-stop shop” for all chart purchases,
trip planning, software updates, access to
the ActiveCaptain Community and more.
¶ In addition to supporting chart-plotter
functionality, EchoMap Plus displays have
chirp sonar and Garmin’s Chirp ClearVü
sounder. EchoMap Plus “sv” displays add
Garmin’s SideVü scanning sonar, while all
7- and 9-inch EchoMap Plus units sup-
port Garmin’s Panoptix sonar transducers,
providing real-time, videolike sounder
imagery of fi sh swimming up to 100 feet
away. ¶ The 7- and 9-inch EchoMap Plus
d isplays a lso have a keyed-a ssist touch-
screen interface, providing customizable,
one-button shortcuts to favorite features.KVH
KVH’s TracPhone V7-HTS (high-through-
put satellite) employs a 60-centimeter
Ku-band (12 to 18 GHz) antenna, deliv-
ering downlink speeds of 10 megabitsTHIRD-EYE NAVIGATION
Spotting vessels in poor or zero
light is tricky, but Iris Innovations’
Xeye E3+ handheld thermal-
imaging camera can help. The Xeye
E3+ ($2,695) has four color
palettes (white hot, black hot, red hot
and iron bow), 2x and 4x digital
zoom settings, and 384x288 resolu-
tion. An internal fl ash drive
captures stills and video, and a
composite-video output plus tripod
mount lets users network the camera
with a third-party display.