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InTheBite’s Holiday Gift Guide

November 30, 2020 By InTheBite Digital Editor

As the year comes to a close and the season of gift-giving is right around the corner, we’ve compiled what we believe to be the ultimate package of gifts for people who enjoy boating and fishing. We’ve included some really useful and highly practical gifts that will come in hand on the boat, from some of the latest and greatest in onboard electronics and weather-ready clothing to trusty tools that help with the daily grind.

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Filed Under: Equipment, Featured Stories, Fishing Accessories Tagged With: AFTCO, aquatech, danco, fujinon, Garmin, GoPro, grundens, mustang survival, olukai, pilar rum, plano, Release Ruler, scales gear, yeti

Gallery: The 2020 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

October 30, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

With comprehensive safety measures in place, the 61st annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was underway. Despite anticipation that attendance would be down significantly, everyone we spoke to was thrilled about the turnout. If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s FLIBS be sure to check out some of the highlights from the industry’s leading manufacturers in the gallery below.

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Filed Under: Events, Featured Stories Tagged With: blue water chairs, blue water desalination, boat show, casa vieja, castaway, fort lauderdale international boat show, furuno, galati, Garmin, HMY, hooker electric, magbay, MTU, murray ventilation products, neptune boat lifts, scales, valhalla

Splash Report: Weaver Boatworks 70′ Southern Pride

October 6, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

Southern Pride Races On

By Dale Wills

The latest 70’ Weaver Boatworks Southern Pride—splashed August 2020—could easily be called “Rocket Ship.” Simply put, she hauls ass! InTheBite recently had the opportunity to jump aboard and go for a ride. The very first thing I noticed was how very quiet the boat was. Both underway and idling. Clearing the final marker out of the Ocean Reef Club channel in Key Largo we headed south into a brisk 20-knot wind.

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Filed Under: Featured Stories, News, Splash Reports Tagged With: 2020, Garmin, MTU, new boat, southern pride, Splash report, Weaver Boatworks

Garmin Announces New Remote Connectivity Solution OnDeck

September 16, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

Photo courtesy Garmin

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Filed Under: News, Press Releases Tagged With: Garmin, gps, new boat product, ondeck

New Garmin Open-Array Marine Radars Offer 250W of Pulse Compression Power

September 8, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

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Filed Under: News, Press Releases Tagged With: Garmin, gmr fantom radar, marine radar, Radar

Four Things to Bring On Board During Your Next Long Fishing Trip

August 12, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

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Filed Under: Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: boat stuff, columbia, fishing gear, Garmin, impeller, yeti

Boat Stuff: Three New Products Every Boat Owner Could Use

June 3, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

white 8 rod rocket launcher from bluewater chairs

Photo courtesy Bluewater Chairs

The Curved 8: The Latest Rocket Launcher from Bluewater Chairs

Bluewater’s new Curved 8 Rod Rocket Launcher is available in both teak and fiberglass. This model is very popular in mid-sized boats and outboards. These days fishing is all about having “your guns loaded”—this product was designed with that in mind. The Curved 8 accommodates eight rod positions.

This configuration is ideal for kite fishing, as everything is centrally located. When running from spot to spot or out to the grounds, the kite reels can be set in the back two holders that are installed at a 90° angle.

teak 8 rod rocket launcher

Photo courtesy Bluewater Chairs

There is a tray area finished in clear non-skid on the teak model and a smooth finish on the fiberglass model. A drawer under the tray with inside dimensions of 10 ½” by 6 ½” allows for storage of the typical cockpit necessities. All of this is offered in a compact size with overall dimensions of 43” wide and 19” deep. Standard is a straight pedestal but custom offset pedestals can be made to allow for deck hatches, bilge access and baitwell installations. For more, visit www.BlueWaterChairs.com.

fusion boat speakers

Photo courtesy Garmin

Garmin® and Fusion® Unveil Signature Series 3 Marine Speakers And Subwoofers With Industry-First Five-Color LED Lighting

Garmin redesigned its Fusion-branded Signature Series marine speakers and subwoofers with innovative LED lighting that delivers an unprecedented spectrum of color variations. The new Fusion Signature Series 3 combines traditional red, green and blue LEDs with cool and warm white (CRGBW) to offer a full color palette. The Signature Series 3 also introduces an all-new 12-inch subwoofer that provides 1600 watts of peak power.

Available in 6.5-, 7.7- and 8.8-inch speaker sizes and 12- or 10-inch subwoofer sizes, the Signature Series 3 is offered with a Sports White or Sports Chrome grill finish. They also feature a ‘CURV’ cone composite technology that provides greater sound definition and higher output. The Signature Series speakers and 10-inch subwoofer are also available with a Classic White finish without the CRGBW illumination.

Engineered to the True-Marine standard, the entire Signature Series 3 line of speakers and subwoofers have passed stringent pressure and water-tightness tests, and are designed to deliver crisp sound and quality entertainment season after season. For more information on the Signature Series 3, or the full range of Fusion audio and entertainment products, visit fusionentertainment.com.

Release Marine mini rocket launchers for center console

Photo courtesy Release Marine

Swing Out Launcher: Release Marine’s Center Console Solution

With deck space at a premium on center consoles, Release Marine recognized the need for a creative, new take on the rocket launcher. The result of this realization, the Swing Out Launcher, is as intuitive as it is functional. Composed of polished stainless steel, the Swing Out Launcher’s hardware swivels to allow tables or rocket launchers to be mounted at multiple locations without changing bases.

This eliminates the need for a hard-mounted stanchion. The built-in adaptability provides boat owners with increased flexibility in how they use their space—when fishing or otherwise. It was this commitment to innovation that created Release Marine’s motto— “Always Lead, Never Follow.” For more, visit www.releasemarine.com.

Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Equipment, Featured Stories, Fishing Accessories, General News, News Tagged With: Bluewater Chairs, boat stuff, fusion, Garmin, gear and gizmos, release marine

The Boats of 2030

May 13, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

 

4 Yamaha 425 ph XTO engines on back of boat

Ever wonder how modern center consoles can support so many complex systems? The answer lies in outboard engine advancements—and the free amperage they produce.

By Elliott Stark

There was a time, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, that 50-knot sportfishers, 42-foot center consoles that run 75-knots and can dock themselves, and machines that eliminate seasickness sounded like the stuff of science fiction. As futuristic, and magical, as all of these things may have appeared in 2005, I’ll be damned if they’re all not on full display in 2020. In the world of boats, quite a bit of advancement has taken place in a relatively short amount of time.

  • Bionic Bait

In many ways, the boats of today are defined by these rapid technological advances. No longer are vessels comprised of individual components that perform independently of another—each focusing only on its singular role.

These days boats are interconnected systems that communicate with one another. Not only can these systems “talk” to one another, many of them are linked to satellites and possess the plenty of bandwidth and can display data as clearly as a plasma television.

Given all of the tools and the incredible amenity included in the package that is the modern boat, it would seem like an act of extreme arrogance to wonder where boats are headed next.

Questions like, “How much more could you want?” give way to the reality that things will continue to progress and refine. What follows is our best prognostication as to what the next ten years or so holds for the sportfishing and center console market.

To help provide context for this look into the future, we have queried experts across an array of fields.

MAN engines in a 62' Viking

The engine room of the Viking 62’ demo boat is a high-tech wonder. How might the scene compare to the boats of 2030? Photo courtesy Viking

Outboard Engines

The large center console market lies in many ways at the cutting edge of modern boating innovation. It is also a segment of the market that is exploding. A large reason for the proliferation of large center console vessels in the past dozen or so years can be found in the advancement of the outboard motor.

“What you see now, in terms of the proliferation of larger boats was due largely to the horsepower gains in outboard engines. The 350 hp in 2008 was revolutionary—these engines gave boat builders so much more room in the boat, when compared to (inboard) stern drives. Now you’re seeing boats that are bigger and bigger and bigger,” explains David Meeler New Product Introduction Manager at Yamaha.

“What we’re seeing now is generation two of that. The XTO offers a greatly improved charging system that provides lots of amperage at low power. This lends itself to the addiction to electronics that the market is seeing. In the future, we’ll see lots more integration and more connectivity,” he says, describing Yamaha’s latest generation of outboard—the XTO.

These higher horsepower engines are even more influential to the development of the center console market than are innovations in the inboard diesel space to the sportfisher segment of the market. As center consoles generally do not include generators (though these days some of them include most anything you can think of), the higher horsepower engines not only propel ever-larger boats, but provide the power necessary to run the many systems that modern boats employ.

Innovations in motor design not only focus on power, but on increased production (and efficient allocation) of free amperage—the electricity needed to make everything else run.

“The XTO puts out the vast majority of its amperage at low rpm. It produces 72 amps per engine— which is multiplied in a multiple engine configuration. Fifty-seven of those amps are produced at idle—which was more than the F350 produced at wide open throttle,” Meeler says. “The engines employ a magnetic system that converts power produced by the engines. It routes the amount of power needed to the engines and the remainder is sent to applications.”

“The technology today provides the ability to produce a smart system. It’s no longer just about propulsion, but rather motors are part of the boat—integration,” Meeler describes. The positioning and location systems that can dock a boat and keep it in position provide perhaps the most direct reflection of integration and emphasis on system as opposed to singular components.

The number of ways to control the engines and the precision to which engines (and their applications) can be used to maneuver the modern boat is nothing short of miraculous. If you believe this definition to be an exaggeration, go ask an old-timer…you know the man who has been fishing in his two-stroke, tiller-drive john boat for the past 50 years—the guy who shoots more ducks and catches more speckled trout than anyone you know.

Take this gentleman onto a boat equipped with Helm Master and put it through its paces—a 360 turn with a joystick and the like—then try to claim it’s not amazing.

“There is the joystick for low-speed operation. Then there are the fishing applications: fish point, stay point, and drift point—the feature that can keep the stern positioned into the drift. There are convenience features that are designed to help customers get more out of the boat that they’ve just bought,” Meeler says. “Thinking about it, sometimes reminds me of that old sign I saw in a bait shop sometimes. ‘Remember when your fishfinder was your grandpa?’”

furuno factory and a look inside at radars

The Furuno Commercial Service Team means business. They are just a few faces behind the magic. Photo courtesy Furuno

The Electronics of the Future

If there were a single piece of “the future is here, now” technology, there’s a pretty strong argument that it could be the 8L Omnidirectional sonar from Furuno. This piece of equipment has turned the fishing world on its head by introducing a sonar that scans in 360-degrees every half of a second to provide a nearly real-time representation of what is going on beneath the water.

Given that Furuno has a pretty good handle on where things sit now, it stands to reason that Matt Wood, National Sales Manager for Furuno USA might be a pretty good source to speak with about where things are heading next.

“It’s 20 years since the introduction of the Furuno NavNet vol. 1. NavNet introduced ethernet networking—a multifunction GPS, chartplotter and fishfinder on the same device. We will continue to see that kind of development—a selection of appropriately large MFDs (multi-function displays), with large screens that are easy to install across an array of boat sizes and styles,” Wood says. “The black box style processor is still valid. It’s a lot more straight forward to have a display that doesn’t change, but rather to change the black box behind the scenes instead of changing the dash and control mechanisms.”

group of people from furuno standing for a picture

The Furuno Commercial Service Team means business. They are just a few faces behind the magic. Photo courtesy Furuno

From a big picture perspective, Wood sees much of the interface on the boats of the future having a very familiar feel. “We’ll continue to see the man/machine interface borrowed and refined from the office—the mouse and keyboard, etc., or the industrial space. We’ll also see streamlined installations, and improvements in the quality of installations and decrease in the price of installation,” he explains. “It reminds of that from the guy in the US patent office in the 1800s—’Everything than can be invented has been invented.’ We know that that’s not the case…”

When considering what comes next, Wood is thoughtful in describing the impact of the recent, rapid advances in technology.

“When it comes to conventional navigation, we haven’t reached the limit but for the most part we have everything that a boat owner/operator needs. Now we will make it easier and improved—smaller, portable, remote-controlled. Look for things like theft proofing, security applications and vessel monitoring. Look for the general application of things from the home or office to boats.”

“The grail for the future is the desire for a fixed, forward looker for navigation. It would be a fixed mechanism without using a hoist, a transducer that looks forward and down at the same time to provide a real-time, three-dimensional view of what is ahead of the boat. That’s a long-standing body of work that we’ve been involved with for a long time,” Wood concludes.

a guy using a big shimano reel catching a marlin

Dave Dunn brings passion for fishing to Garmin’s outlook and trajectory. Photo courtesy Garmin

Integration and Telematics

Dave Dunn is Garmin’s Director of Sales and Marketing. He is also a tournament fisherman and a man bitten by the urge to chase billfish. It is this combination, along with an eye for what works on boats, that makes Dave a great resource for projecting the future. Dave introduces a new and exciting word that will likely continue to make boating even more easy and exciting: telematics (remote monitoring and control through phones or other devices).

“The biggest thing now is the integration of technology. You can soon expect the same integration on a boat as you can with your car and home and phone. This integration makes it possible to use equipment from different companies—control your Lumitech lighting with your Garmin devices,” Dunn says. “One particularly hot topic that you’ll see more of in the future is remote monitoring. Telematics will be a big concept—using your phone to remotely monitor the boat.”

In terms of big picture prognosis, Dunn sees innovation and technology being applied for specific considerations. “Our goal will continue to be making it easier for people on the water and to make the boating experience simpler and more robust. Look for the trend of larger screens with multiple functions to continue.”

The larger and more capable screens are far from solely cosmetic. The past year or so has witnessed incredible increases in cartography and underwater mapping. “New MFDs have more processing power and can computer larger amounts of data. This has allowed the use of more high-resolution relief shading. NOAA (the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has vast amounts of data that we can now access.”

“There is a trickle down of technology which all stems from phones, laptops and tablets. Ultimately the technology makes its way to MFDs,” Dunn says. “Garmin is a large company but we’re small compared to the Apples and Samsungs of the world. Marine electronics will continue to benefit from advances in technology. The future is exciting, especially when you think about Moore’s Law… that technology doubles every 18 months or so.”

“The biggest thing for us is to keep up with expectations. We’re already looking at products for 2025—there’s so much testing and proofing,” Dunn says. “If you were to speculate about what is coming next for boats, look at trends with cars and the home. Garmin has the advantage of being involved in the aviation and outdoor markets, so often times we can identify trends before they make it to the marine space.”

Valhalla center console running fast across the water

The future is likely to bring even more intuitiveness and simplicity to the boat systems of today. Photo courtesy Valhalla Boatworks

Transducers that See Underwater (and into the Future)

The AIRMAR Technology Corporation makes the transducers that make it possible for many of your favorite fishfinders and bottom machines to work. While you’ll likely never see an AIRMAR product on the console, there’s a better chance than not that your boat has an AIRMAR product or two—and you’re better off for it. Given the integral role of AIRMAR’s transducers to the boating industry, an article about the future that did not include their perspective would be incomplete. Thankfully Craig Cushman, AIRMAR’s Director of Marketing was there for us.

Cushman sees many of the same trends ahead in the marine electronics space.

“In regards to the forward-looking transducer, it’s not a matter of if it can be done, it’s how. The main question is how to affix it to the vessel. We’ve been working with a company called Far Sounder out of Rhode Island. They offer the Argos System,” Cushman says. “We have been a provider of forward lookers to the cruise ship industry and large commuter vessels. We are bringing the technology down. Far Sounder introduced the Argos 350 for vessels in the 50 to 100 foot range.”

“Most of these boats are of the trawler configuration, their hulls are more conducive to affixing the transducers. For the sportfish market, it’s difficult to transfix the forward lookers to the hull, given their shape. AIRMAR provides the technology to companies to make this happen. Right now it’s a matter of waiting for vessels to be designed to enable that ability.”

AIRMAR is also hard at work on the trends of technology scaling from other sectors. “At the big picture level, there are a number of technologies at the high end—in the commercial fishing space that the recreational fishing market would love to have. Right now they are very expensive and we have to bring the price down. We are considering new technologies and looking for ways to do that. CHIRP was a similar process—it was in the commercial fishing sector for years before it was price appropriate for the recreational fishing market,” Cushman says. “The Far Sounder is along the same lines.”

The Garmin research team’s offices may not look too exciting, but the products they make sure are. Photo courtesy Garmin

Viking Yachts: Predicting the Future and Guiding its Course

Given the size and influence of Viking Yachts, the company casts a large footprint over the boating industry. With this scale comes not only intimate familiarity with where things sit now, but also the ability to actively influence how the future unfolds. There is perhaps no person with more singular influence on the trajectory of the sportfishing boat market than Viking CEO Pat Healey.

“The last ten years have been awesome. A while back some writers asked me what was next. The answer then was big boats, mezzanines, Seakeepers and the like. There has been so much innovation and component development in the last ten years—you can control boat systems from your phone or I-pad, you can steer your boat from a watch. It’s incredible.”

“In doing all of this, we’ve incorporated all kinds of complexity to make the systems work. All of that takes a lot of engineering,” Healey explains. “Taking all of these systems and integrating simplicity is the next step. In the last ten years we’ve added complexity, next we’ll look at simplicity.”

Along with rapid advancement in boat systems, the last ten years have witnessed evolution in material technology and applications used in manufacturing boats. Healey sees the next ten years as an evening out period within this realm, too. “We’ve seen advancement in materials as well—carbon fiber and infusion. It was ten years ago that hull infusion started. The next ten years will bring affordability to these systems and processes. It will bring the price down.”

As prices for materials and input processes decrease, it will not only affect the purchase price of the boat. “Harnessing the cost of systems and materials will harness the insurance costs as well,” Healey explains. “Our focus is on building what we build now—building it better, making it more simple and more economically.”

From the hull to the tower, the 92 Viking is full of innovation. Here is the infusion process. Photo courtesy Viking

Healey’s prognosis is borne out by product trends generally—those that occur across markets beyond the sportfishing space. As new technologies emerge they cost quite a bit when they are new. After their introduction to the market, successive generations of the product are not only more refined than the first generation, but also increasingly economical through time.

These price adjustments can result from standardization of manufacturing techniques, decreases in product cost through bulk purchases of materials, or introduction of similar products that cost less. Such cycles of technology gains leading to price adjustments through time occur in such things as smart phones, computers, televisions, cars and boats.

As for the next horizons for boats themselves, Healey looks to alternation propulsion systems.

“We will likely have hybrid propulsion systems in the next five or so years, probably. The day where the main engines get you in and out and the rest of the day you operate on electric motors (while trolling). Under this scenario, instead of putting 750 or 1,000 hours a year on your mains, you might put 200 on the main and 800 on electric motors. How about that?”

“Over five years, that would mean 1,000 hours on your main engines and 4,500 on the electrics. Electric engines have no real shelf life, they run and run,” Healey says. “That’s the thing I see coming. There’s already some of it happening in Europe, some on lakes. It started on motor yachts in Europe.”

Electric motors for boats face similar issues as those in cars—among them the length and weight of batteries. “There are some problems with the variable speed generators right now. We are working with different diesel manufacturers and will be at the leading edge of its development. It’s basically the Tesla model, which is not new news.”

Just how will these alternative propulsion systems function on a boat? “Electric motors are basically power packs that go into the coupler between the mains and the transmission. You can use them either instead of your mains or like a nitro boost type deal to provide a boost of top-end speed.”
It sounds like the boats of 2030 will be awesome.

Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.

 

Filed Under: Boats, Design, Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: 2030, airmart, furuno, Garmin, transducers, yiking yachts

Electronics Packages for the Modern Center Console

April 29, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

helm of a 37 center console

By Capt. Adam Peeples

Selecting an electronics package for a center console is no simple task. Multi-Function Displays (MFDs), sounders, transducers, autopilots, radar, forward-looking infrared (FLIR), and boat handling technology such as Yamaha HelmMaster give the boat owner a seemingly endless list of options to choose from.

Settling on the package of products that works for your situation, involves wading through the sea of choices and ultimately selecting the manufacturer and components that suits your needs.

Garmin, Simrad, Furuno, and Raymarine are the primary manufacturers of complete electronic packages for center consoles. I personally prefer Garmin electronics, as their user interface is extremely intuitive, and I have the most experience operating Garmin systems. All of the top marine electronics manufacturers make a solid product that can get the job done.

The electronic systems on your boat should aid in navigation and increase your ability to find and stay on your target species. Electronics should make your boat a safer and more effective fishing platform. When outfitting a boat, it is wise to ask the question, “How will this system help me?” If there isn’t an easy answer to this question, you could bypass the addition of the product or system.

While brand preference is a personal choice, the basics of a center console electronics package comes down to two things: navigation and fishing capabilities. The electronics you install on your boat will either help you navigate or catch fish. Any systems that do not accomplish one of these things aren’t necessarily not needed, but are excluded from this article.

The Multi-Function Display is the piece of equipment that ties all the electronic system together. After installation, the multifunction display is the part of the system that most users will interact with most often. While it is possible to get by with only one MFD, the ideal setup will have two or even three. This will allow you to monitor multiple systems such as the chart plotter, radar, and sonar easily, while giving the crew the added safety of redundancy. Being 50 miles offshore and having your boat’s only MFD go south is not a good scenario.

Garmin’s GPSMAP 8612xsv is a 12” touchscreen monitor that is NMEA 2000 network capable. Packing a wide array of features, this MFD networks sonar, radar, cameras, and media such as Sirius satellite weather services and is available from 10” to 24”. It offers wifi capabilities to pair with a smartphone app through which users can monitor and control all the systems on the boat. Other manufacturers offer similar, equally capable MFDs.

In my opinion, it really boils down to which user interface one prefers. Once you have decided on an MFD, the rest of the process is a bit easier. For many boaters, the rest of the electronic systems on the vessel will be from the same manufacturer that produces your MFD. At this point, where you fish and how you fish will dictate the requirements for the rest of the electronics package.

Radar is a must have for navigating at night and during periods of limited visibility. A high-performance open-array radar such as Garmin’s GMR 606 xHD provides not only
the safety of navigational and weather reading capability but is also powerful enough to find birds working tuna schools. A smaller and more compact dome radar, such as the Garmin GMR 18 xHD, has ample power for close range navigational use and weather reading out to 48 miles.

A good sounder and transducer are vital to just about all types of offshore fishing. While products like Garmin’s XSV line of MFDs contain processing capability for your bottom machine, a sounder such as the GSD-26 will allow you to get the most out of your transducer.

Compressed High-intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP) technology transmits across a range of frequencies—traditional sonar relies on a single frequency. CHIRP provides better target distinction at depth. Rather than seeing a single mass of tuna 300’ under the boat, CHIRP allows you to see the individual fish while distinguishing between the target species and bait returns.

The advantages of CHIRP over traditional sonar make it a must have on any offshore boat. The transducer is the key to bringing the entire fish finding capabilities of the system together. With bilge space being tight on most center consoles, a compact CHIRPready transducer is ideal for most systems.

Craig Cushman, the Director of Marketing for the AIRMAR Technology Corporation, says that the most popular AIRMAR transducer for center consoles is the B175 series of thru-hull transducers. Requiring a hole of only 3 7/8” hole and taking up minimal space in the bilge, the 1kW B175 supplies powerful CHIRP capabilities in a small package. I have a B175H and a B175L on my Cape Horn.

They perform well for bottom fishing, deep dropping, and daytime sword fishing. For larger center consoles such as Captain Shane Toole’s 42LR Freeman Necessity, the option for larger and more powerful transducers exists. Fishing out of Orange Beach, Captain Toole describes AIRMAR’S R599 3kW CHIRP-ready in-hull transducer as his “secret weapon” for projecting a high-quality return of structure and bait.

Toole runs a full Garmin electronics package with two GPSMAP 8624s, a GHP-20 Autopilot, GSD-26 sounder paired with an AIRMAR B175H and a R599 CHIRP-ready transducer, GMR 606 xHD open-array radar, and a GXM-52 SiriusXM marine receiver. According to Toole, the capabilities of the system along with Garmin’s user-friendly interface increase his ability to find and stay on the fish.

Captain Adam Peeples runs the One Shot Charters out of the Destin, Florida area. In addition to running a first-class operation, Peeples is a combat veteran with two deployments in Iraq and a stint as an instructor at the US Army Sniper School to his credit.

Do you have any comments or questions for us? We’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Electronics, Equipment, Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: airmar, Center Console, center point, electronics packages, Garmin

Garmin introduces quatix 6 Marine GPS Smartwatch

April 2, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

three Garmin quatix watches

Photo courtesy Garmin

OLATHE, Kan./April 2, 2020/Business Wire — Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the world’s leading marine electronics manufacturer1, today announced the quatix 6, its next-generation marine GPS smartwatch series designed specifically for life on the water.

More than a watch, the quatix 6 combines all of the best features of Garmin’s flagship fēnix® 6 GPS smartwatch with specialized boating, fishing, cruising and sailing capabilities, including comprehensive connectivity with compatible Garmin chartplotters and other marine electronics to offer autopilot control, data streaming, sail race assistance, Fusion-LinkTM entertainment control and more.

With a rugged yet refined design, the quatix 6 is preloaded with activity profiles for nearly every sport and adventure at sea and on land, including paddle boarding, golf, hiking, rowing, skiing, kayaking, just to name a few.

“The quatix series has made a name for itself as the most sophisticated and connected general-purpose marine smartwatch series on the market today,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Whether you’re chasing bass or billfish, cruising or sailing, canoeing or kayaking, the quatix 6 has everything you’ll need on the water. With the addition of some of our most sought-after features, like built-in music, contactless payments and preloaded topographic and ski maps, we’ve redefined marine smartwatch standards once again.”

With daily activity tracking2 and a host of connectivity features, the quatix 6 doubles as a stylish smartwatch that can be worn 24/7 and easily transitioned from water to land. Stay connected with the quatix 6 that allows users to receive alerts on their wrist for incoming calls, texts, emails and more by enabling smart notifications3. And thanks to the Garmin PayTM contactless payment solution4, it’s easy to make purchases quickly on the go with nothing needed but the watch.

four Garmin quatix watches

Photo courtesy Garmin

The quatix 6 series also features on-device music storage of up to 2,000 songs, so users can sync playlists from several of the most popular music services5 to their watch for phone-free listening. Thanks to its full marine-centric toolset, the quatix 6 acts as a wearable instrument that, when paired with onboard Garmin electronics, can stream NMEA® 2000 boat data to give users access to important sensor information like speed, depth, temperature, wind data and more – right from their wrist, no matter where they are on the boat.

Like previous models, when the quatix 6 is paired with an onboard autopilot, it can also be used to control the autopilot to change heading, engage pattern steering, and follow a GPS route.

With a quatix 6, it’s easy to mark and save a waypoint from anywhere on the boat without having to return to the helm. It can also be used to control an onboard entertainment system thanks to the built-in Fusion-Link Lite app. The quatix 6 also adds support for optional BlueChart® g3 coastal charts and LakeVü inland maps with integrated Navionics® data, so it can be utilized as both a dedicated or back-up navigation tool.

Specifically designed for the water, the quatix 6 gives mariners up-to-date tide data downloaded for their chosen area through a smartphone, and will have access to that data for seven days. It’s also equipped with an anchor alarm to warn users of drift and an anchor rode calculator that tells the user the proper length of anchor line to put out.

For fishing, a competition timer and fish catch log are available to help users keep track of the fish they’ve caught and the time remaining before getting back to weigh-in. When it comes to sailing, the quatix 6 is loaded with SailAssistTM capabilities with improved sail racing features like virtual starting line, distance to start line, race countdown timer and tack assist.

The quatix 6 also features wrist-based heart rate2 for all-day stress tracking, underwater wrist-based heart rate for swimming and Pulse Ox6 blood oxygen saturation to support advanced sleeping monitoring and acclamation. Plus, the innovative Body BatteryTM energy monitoring feature lets users see their body’s energy levels at any given moment, which can help with scheduling workouts, rest times and sleep.

Measuring at 47mm, the quatix 6 features a bigger, always-on 1.3-inch color display with an LED backlight so data is easily visible in any light. Water rated to 100 meters7, the quatix 6 was built to withstand the elements and boasts up to 14 days of battery life in smartwatch mode, 24 hours in GPS mode and up to 60 hours in UltraTracTM battery saver mode. Thanks to the new customizable Power Manager, users can also see and control how various settings and sensors impact battery life, and even adjust their battery saving modes to extend battery life on the fly.

The quatix 6 is available now in two versions: the quatix 6 and the quatix 6 Titanium. The quatix 6 Titanium has a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal lens, titanium bezel, buttons and rear case and includes a titanium watch band as well as a cirrus blue silicone QuickFitTM band with a suggested retail price of $999.99. The quatix 6 has a stainless steel bezel, buttons and rear case and includes a captain blue silicone band with a suggested retail price of $699.99.

Compatible marine products include: GPSMAP® 7×2/9×2/12×2 Plus, GPSMAP 10×2/12×2, GPSMAP 74/7600, GPSMAP 84/8600, GHCTM 20, GNXTM Wind and the GNT 10. Garmin was recently named Manufacturer of the Year for the fifth consecutive year by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA), an honor given to the most recognized marine electronics company for support of products in the field.

For more information on Garmin, please e-mail info@inthebite.com or fill out the form below and our InTheBite concierge service will be happy to assist you.

1 Based on 2018 reported sales
2 See Garmin.com/ataccuracy for more details
3 When paired with compatible smartphone. See Garmin.com/ble for more details
4 View current supported country, payment network and issuing bank information at Garmin.com/GarminPay/banks
5 Requires premium subscription with a third-party music provider
6 This is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the diagnosis or monitoring of any medical condition; see Garmin.com/ataccuracy. Pulse Ox not available in all countries
7 See Garmin.com/waterrating for more details

Filed Under: Electronics, Equipment, Featured Stories, News, Press Releases Tagged With: Garmin, Garmin chartplotters, marine electronics, smartwatch

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