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Must-See Marine Electronics at the 2020 Miami Boat Show

The marine electronics tent features some of the most advanced boating technologies.

This year’s Miami International Boat Show (Feb. 13-17, 2020) represents one of the best venues on Earth to see the latest in boats and marine equipment. One of our favorite places on the Virginia Key show grounds is the marine electronics tent, where you’ll find the world’s most advanced boating technologies from a wide range of brands. Here is our list of must-see electronics this year in Miami.

2020 Miami Boat Show map
Find marine electronics at the 2020 Progressive Miami International Boat Show in Tent C, shown in yellow at the bottom right of this zoomed, partial map of the show. Courtesy NMMA

Editor’s Note: Most of these can be seen in the electronics, Tent C, although there are also some dockside locations as noted in the text.

FLIR Scion OTM Handheld Thermal Camera
FLIR Scion OTM Handheld Thermal Camera Courtesy FLIR

The new Scion OTM260 hand held night vision scope will be on display. With extremely powerful infrared imaging, higher resolution screen it will be in demand for professional and advanced mariners, law enforcement and SAR teams. It will stream via WiFi to a chartplotter or tablet making it a powerful safety tool for real time imaging during navigation. Location: C709

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ICOM M803 SSB Single Side Band Radio
ICOM M803 SSB Single Side Band Radio Courtesy ICOM

Marine radio comes from 70 to up to 3000 miles away? It’s possible with ICOM’s new M803 SSB Single Side Band radio uses both VHF and HAM frequencies for commercial and advanced recreational cruising needs. It is class E DSC equipped for reliable communications and SOS calls. It also has ICOM’s signature replay feature allowing the listener to play back a recent call. Location: C726

Shakespeare World Band Galaxy WiFi Antenna and AnyWhere SuperHALO 2G/3G/4G Cellular Booster Kit
Shakespeare World Band Galaxy WiFi Antenna and AnyWhere SuperHALO 2G/3G/4G Cellular Booster Kit Courtesy Shakespeare

Two new communications devices for boaters are being introduced at MIBS this year. The World Band Galaxy WiFi Antenna amplifies internet signals making it possible to receive and send via WiFi routers sometimes miles away. Ideal for the boat too far from the marina office, The fiberglass antenna has a stainless steel mount and needs a flange or tilting base. The AnyWhere SuperHALO 2G/3G/4G Cellular Booster Kit brings AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon cellular coverage often from beyond the horizon, giving boaters in the most remote areas cellular and data coverage otherwise unavailable. Location: C803

Lowrance GHOST
Lowrance GHOST Courtesy Lowrance

Lowrance calls their new trolling motor GHOST for a reason. It’s one of the quietest electric motors ever thanks to its brushless motor. Lowrance says the unit is up to 60% more efficient than conventional motors. The GHOST responds to direction input and speed from either a foot pedal or remote control. It can even talk to Lowrance’s most popular chartplotters, following a course or contour line set on the device. An integrated transducer gives crisp clear sonar readings. Location: C836

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SiOnyx Aurora Sport
SiOnyx Aurora Sport Courtesy SiOnyx

SiOnyx has three night vision devices ideal for mariners and the newest one is the Aurora Sport. It has the same powerful night visioning technology, capable of capturing photos, video or live streaming to a smart phone or tablet. But, because SiOnyx noted the need for lower priced night vision technology for boaters, the designed it without internal GPS and compass. It still shoots 720 P video and high resolution photos at night, twilight and daylight and it’s ideal for navigating dark water when streaming to a mounted tabled or smart phone.

Fusion Audio MS RA210
Fusion Audio MS RA210 Courtesy Fusion Audio

The new MS RA210 audio system will debut in the USA at the Miami Boat Show this year. The sleek display is bonded LCD glass, IPX6 and IPX7 waterproof and boasts an integrated Class-D amplifier making possible Fusion’s powerful digital signal processing system that lets you fine tune the audio for each of two zones in their respective environments and its flexible abilities allow use of most Fusion speakers and accessories. Add Fusion Link app accessibility and the system is easy to use and customize to your taste. Location: C811

Furuno NavNet TZtouch3 Displays
Furuno NavNet TZtouch3 Displays Courtesy Furuno

Furuno has introduced the third generation of NavNet multifunction displays – the TZtouch3 series. Available in a 12-inch hybrid touch IPS display (TZT12F), and 16- and 19-inch glass IPS touch displays (TZT16F and TZT19F, respectively), each model features a quad-core processor and a built-in dual-channel 1kW TruEcho Chirp and 50/200 kHz fishfinder with Furuno’s RezBoost. The new displays are designed to accept both C-Map and Navionics cartography. TZtouch3 displays also have a pin code feature that helps guard your data and deters theft of the hardware. Pricing has not been set; furunousa.com. Location: C605.

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Garmin EchoMap UHD Series
Garmin EchoMap UHD Series Courtesy Garmin

Garmin’s EchoMap UHD series includes mid-size combo models with features such as built-in support for Garmin’s Ultra-High-Definition scanning sonar and Panoptix Livescope. Six-, 7- and 9-inch models come with BlueChart g3 charts with integrated Navionics data, and are also compatible with Garmin’s high-resolution relief shading bathymetry. The EchoMap “sv” combos offer 7- and 9-inch keyed-assist touchscreen displays and include a transducer for high-wide chirp and UHD ClearVu and SideVu scanning sonar; the “cv” combos are available with a 6-inch keyed or 7-inch keyed-assist touchscreen display. All feature NMEA 2000 networking and Wi-Fi for downloading charts and software updates. From $499.99 to $1149.99, garmin.com/marine. Location: C724

JL Audio M7 12-Inch Subwoofer
JL Audio M7 12-Inch Subwoofer Courtesy JL Audio

This new ultra-powerful 12-inch subwoofer from JL Audio features more cone surface and greater woofer excursion than any other JL subwoofer. It is capable of handling more than twice the power of JL’s 10-inch M6 subwoofer, and is designed to precisely reproduce powerful, high-impact, low-distortion bass and evenly disperse smooth sound in an open-air boat environment. It features the same grille design as the M6 line of JL marine speakers for cosmetic integration, and is available with JL’s optional transflective LED illumination technology. $799.99, abt.com. Location: Dock 365A

Lowrance Hook Reveal
Lowrance Hook Reveal Courtesy Lowrance

Stop by the Lowrance booth to see the new Hook Reveal series of combo fishfinders/chartplotters. They feature Autotuning Sonar, SideScan and DownScan Imaging, and a newly added function called FishReveal, which combines the benefits of chirp sonar and DownScan imaging on one screen. The units – available in 5-, 7- and 9-inch models – also include preloaded U.S. inland mapping. You can also instantly map uncharted waters with Genesis Live. MSRPs range from $299 to $799, lowrance.com. Location: C836

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Simrad NSO evo3S Glass Bridge Displays
Simrad NSO evo3S Glass Bridge Displays Courtesy Simrad

The new NSO evo3S Glass Bridge displays from Simrad are available in 16-, 19- and 24-inch ultra-bright high-resolution touchscreens and feature six-core processor for faster page-loading times,smoother transitions and screen movements, and greater multitasking capabilities with ability to split the screen six ways. The NSO evo3S Glass Bridge can be purchased as a system pack or as a standalone display. System packs include a display, GPS, keypad and accessories. The displays can also connect smartphones, tablets and internet hotspots. Starting at $6,099 for displays only; simrad-yachting.com. Location: C836.

Standard Horizon HX890
Standard Horizon HX890 Courtesy Standard Horizon

The compact new HX890 handheld radios include GPS and DSC, and the IPX8 waterproof VHFs are designed to float. Available in black or navy blue, these highly affordable handhelds offer six watts of transmit power and two scramblers are built in to enable private over-the-air conversations. Each features an oversize full dot-matrix display and 700 megawatt noise-cancelling speaker. The series incorporates channel scanning capabilities and a built-in FM broadcast band receiver. $199.99, thegpsstore. Location: C732

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