This past week I was at the National Marine Electronics convention and show in Orlando, Fla. In addition to attending the show, I was the head judge of the NMEA Technology Award. Sounds simple enough, right? But not when you're faced with picking one product out of 23 great products. My fellow judges — Glenn Law, executive editor of Saltwater Sportsman, and Bill Bishop of Patman Boatworks and his excellent (and funny) blog, The Marine Installer's Rant — had a tough time winnowing down the group. Solomon himself never faced a harder choice (well, except maybe for the two women and the baby thing).
Airmar Technology – CHIRP Broadband Transducers
Egersund Marine Electronics – Sea-Data Windows Professional
FLIR Systems – M-618CS Gyro-Stabilized Thermal Imagining System
Furuno – Furuno NavNet TZTouch TZT14 MFD
Fusion Electronics – Fusion 700 Marine Stereo Series
Garmin International – GSD26 Digital Black Box Newtwork Sounder
GEOSAT Solutions – Marine Broadband Router by Wave WiFi
GOST – Gost Phantom
ICOM – ICOM M424 VHF Marine Transceiver
Jefa Steering Systems – Jefa AP1 AutoPilot
Jeppesen Marine – High Resolution Bathymetric charts
Kannad Marine – Safelink R10 Survivor Recovery System
KEP Marine – KEPMPC-RAC-NAV computer
KVH – Tracphone V3
Livorsi Marine – Adjustable LED position indicators
Navico – Lowrance LSS-2 Structure Scan HD
Raymarine – e127 MFD
SeaTel Cobham – 3011Ku-Band VSAT antenna
Seaview – Modular mount system
Si-Tex Marine Electronics – Metadata Zero Loss AIS antenna splitter
Standard Horizon – GX1700 Explorer GPS
Thrane & Thrane – Sailor 900 VSAT
Transas – Nav Planner
We worked hard to cut this extensive list down to nine. Then we got it down to six. Finally, after much discussion and many votes, we decided on the Fusion 700 Marine Stereo Series as the Technology Award winner, with the Si-Tex AIS splitter and the Furuno NavNet TZT 14 as very deserving honorable mentions.
Whew!
