New generation electronics

A few years ago I felt there was a risk that marine electronics manufacturers would find it impossible to compete in a changing marketplace.

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Apps for smartphones and tablets had become extremely good, to the extent that they were better than many of the dedicated chart plotters produced only a few years earlier.

However, the marine industry responded with a commitment to development that has seen an accelerating trend towards top-notch products. These offer robust functionality and ease of use that goes far beyond what can be easily achieved with a tablet or phone.

The downside is the cost. There’s no denying it has become more expensive, but those with sufficiently deep pockets can get a level of performance that would have been unimaginable ten years ago. Even better, many of these improvements are often cascaded down to lower-priced models after a few years.