garmin

5 stories we missed bringing you during the Fort Lauderdale International Boatshow

The multiple layers of Garmin wireless communications going on above may seem crazy, but they all work well and have endless practical and/or fun applications around a boat.

At this moment in time, the Garmin GPSMAP 8600 multifunction display announced in February may be the most powerful premium MFD available, and they had plenty more to show during their recent press event.

While Ben suggested some topics to cover, the story I must tell largely involves kites and sailfish, though the electronics could not be ignored.

While Doppler effect is a seasoned and fairly well known concept, I suspect that its sudden and intriguing arrival to marine electronics is going to effect change.

While we've barely begun 2016, the state of recreational marine radar is entirely different than it was in 2015. Thanks to a wide variety of fixed and moving targets, the Miami area is a pretty good place to test radars.

Digital switching is one of the most intriguing aspects of modern marine electronics, but also one of the most mysterious.

The white box contains a fast GPS receiver plus barometric pressure and 9-axis inertial motion sensors, as well as NMEA 0183/2000 ports, WiFi, Bluetooth, and lots of computing power.

Yup, you're going to be able to easily collect soundings as you cruise, if you want, you can watch the resulting high def sonar chart materialize in your wake.

This week I've been exploring the engine alarming features found in current Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad, and Furuno MFD operating systems, and I came away impressed with how well organized and comprehensive they've become.

The competition around sonar burns hot on many fronts and the more the merrier, I say.