Highest Rated Fishfinders
1Humminbird Helix 5 CHIRP G2
4.8/5
2Lowrance HDS 7 Gen3
4.7/5
3Garmin Striker 7sv
4.6/5
4Garmin echoMAP CHIRP 73sv
4.6/5
5Raymarine Dragonfly 7 PRO
4.4/5

Boat Gear 101

Marine Radar

Marine radar has helped me immensely in navigating to destination while providing both another layer of safety and a certain level of peace of mind on several tough trips this past year. Even though I operate in sunny South Florida, weather and darkness can and do occasionally join forces to

What Is Marine AIS?

Marine AIS, an acronym for Marine Automatic Information System, is ship collision avoidance technology, which has been required on large commercial ships since 2002, that has finally trickled down to recreational boaters. Automatic Information System (AIS) is similar in function to the mandatory collision avoidance system carried on airliners. Simply

Iridium 9555 Review

The Iridium 9555 is a compact self-contained satellite telephone and the newest addition to the companies sat phone lineup. From the factory this Iridium sat phone ships with the handset, battery, AC and DC chargers, an international plug kit, headset, auxiliary antenna, and antenna adaptor tray. The sat phone case

Iridium 9505A Review

The Iridium 9505A is a self-contained sat phone designed to operate in rugged remote areas. Coverage exists worldwide so no matter where you and your boat might be you’ll still be connected to home. From the factory this Iridium satellite telephone ships with the handset, two batteries, AC and DC

GizzMoVest Handheld Protective Case

California based GizzMoVest is a small upstart designing and building a line of protective cases for handheld devices. Sailors and powerboaters will appreciate the case and mounting solutions available for mariner favored handheld GPS from Garmin. Each GPS case is manufactured from Ethylene-based foam offering outstanding protection against impact while

Furuno Software Update

The just released Furuno software update for the NavNet3D system adds several new features, improves a few others, and fixes one known issue. Software version 2.05 contains files to update the 12-inch and 8-inch MFDs, black box MFD, radar, and both black box sounders, DFF1 and DFF3. Any of these

Fishing Electronics

Having useful fishing electronics on your boat will help you catch more fish. So you’ve bought yourself a boat and you want to become a decent fisherman. You’ll want to be armed with an arsenal of marine electronics. Sonar and Global Positioning System (GPS) stand out as the primary weapons

Boat Electronics

Boat electronics have become part of the basic equipment on a vessel. Today, a boat without a marine radio and GPS seems as rudimentary as a household without a computer. Every mariner should also consider a VHF radio to be as vital as any single piece of marine electronics, even

How We Test Electric Bilge Pumps

We gathered actual flow rates and power ratings on all the bilge pumps at two voltages while pumping water into a tank set five feet above the pump using saltwater. Each pump was mounted to our test bench and connected to a fuse panel using the factory wire leads. The

Bilge Pumps Main Page

Our 25′ Contender test boat came from the factory with only one bilge pump. And even though a bilge pump is not marine electronics per se it is still an extremely important piece of marine electrical gear that we cover in our reports. After much research we determined this single

Best Marine Radio

Choosing the best marine radio for your situation depends largely on how you intend to use your boat, how much you are able and willing to pay for this important piece of marine electronics, and whether or not you will permanently install the radio. The marine VHF radio is the