For the second year in a row, Garmin has received the honour of being the most recognised company in the marine electronics field by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA).
In addition to being named Manufacturer of the Year during the annual NMEA Conference in the US last week, Garmin received seven Product of Excellence Awards in the following categories: autopilot; multi-function display (MFD); mobile application – aid to navigation; mobile application – utility; fishfinder; AIS; and multimedia entertainment.
Garmin vice president of worldwide sales Dan Bartel said the coveted awards were the result of Garmin’s dedication to the marine industry.
“We are incredibly honoured and humbled to yet again be recognised as the Manufacturer of the Year by the NMEA and to have so many of our products and applications receive top honours,” Bartel said. “It’s a true testament to our continued commitment to design, manufacture, sell and support industry-leading products.”
For the fourth year in a row, Garmin received an award in the autopilot category for its GHP Reactor Hydraulic Autopilot with SmartPump. The GHP Reactor was Garmin’s first recreational autopilot system to utilise AHRS technology and boasts the usability, installation flexibility, and many other features that prove valuable for any vessel.
Garmin also earned accolades in the MFD category, another consecutive honour. This year’s MFD award went to the GPSMAP 8624*, a 24-inch all-in-one chartplotter that boasts the highest screen resolution on the market and lightening-fast processing speeds. The GPSMAP 8624 comes preloaded with both BlueChart g2 coastal and LakeVü HD inland maps, and is fully network compatible for support of radar, autopilot, instruments, multiple screens, sensors, remote sonar modules, digital switching, thermal cameras, and more. (*Sold as the GPSMAP 8424 in Australia and New Zealand.)
Smartphone applications are essential tools for boaters in today’s connected world, and Garmin’s mobile app offerings received top honours yet again in these categories. Garmin BlueChart Mobile, a route planning application with streaming weather capabilities, was named the best mobile application aid to navigation; and Garmin Helm, an application allowing boaters to view and control their chartplotter from a smartphone or tablet, won the award for mobile application utility.
Other Garmin products recognised include the GSD 26 CHIRP professional sonar module with broadband spread-spectrum signal technology, in the fishfinder category; and the AIS 600, a blackbox transceiver that sends and receives vessel information and AIS target data, in the AIS category.
FUSION, a Garmin brand, also won the new multimedia entertainment category for the AV750 Marine Stereo System that features a marine-ready DVD/CD player, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity and more.
Garmin’s marine product portfolio includes some of the industry’s most sophisticated chartplotters and touchscreen multifunction displays, sonar technology, high-definition radar, autopilots, high-resolution mapping, sailing instrumentation and other products and services that are known for innovation, reliability and ease-of-use.
Further information, visit: www.garmin.com/en-AU
