Article by Pat Schrawder
A SURPRISING NEW ITEM
In today’s market when everything is being geared towards cartography plotters, you might think that no one is doing anything new with just a plain old GPS. However, that is not the case. Furuno has just introduced its new GP33.
Compact in size, yet big on features and performance, the FURUNO GP33 is the perfect GPS navigator for a wide range of vessels and has a list price of $595.00. This advanced unit sports a 12-channel GPS receiver combined with integrated WAAS technology.
The GP33 can display navigation data in a wide variety of numerical and graphical formats. Selection of the display you prefer is very easy. It also advertises that the screen is easy to read in almost any condition due to a combination of a high resolution screen and large data fields.
This unit has a waterproof display and is built to stand up to tough marine conditions. It is capable of storing up to 3,000 points of ship’s track, 10,000 points for marks and waypoints, and 100 routes of up to 30 waypoints each. Vital navigation data is presented on a 4.3" color LCD. Yes, I said COLOR. This makes it one of the few so-called basic GPS units made by a major manufacturer to have this type of color display in this size screen.
The GP33 can be used as a “stand alone” unit but it also features FURUNO’s CAN bus interface system for feeding highly accurate navigation data to your NavNet 3D, radar, chart plotter, autopilot, fish finder or other navigation equipment. CAN bus is a communication protocol that shares multiple data and signals through a single backbone cable. You can simply connect any CAN bus devices onto the backbone cable to expand your network onboard. With CAN bus, IDs are assigned to all the devices, and the status of each sensor in the network can be detected. All the CAN bus devices can be incorporated into the NMEA2000 network, offering easy plug-and-play installation. NMEA0183 protocol versions are also supported.
Here is a summary of some of its notable features:
•4.3" “Sunlight Viewable” color LCD (Brightness: 700 cd)
•Enhanced data legibility thanks to large characters and high resolution visual aid
•Stores up to 10,000 marks/waypoints, 100 routes and 3,000 track points
•7 display modes available, including 2 user-customized modes
•Supports both NMEA0183 and NMEA 2000 compatible CAN bus interface
•Contact closure capability available on the 10P connector
•SBAS capable for better measurement (**SBAS is a general term for a GPS navigation system with differential correction by means of geostationary satellites. In the US, it is called WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), whereas in Europe and Japan, it is called EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System) and MSAS (MSAT Satellite-based Augmentation System), respectively)
If you are one of the “hold outs” that has not plunged into the chart plotter wave yet, you might want to give this unit a “look see”.
Pat and her husband, Larry are owners of L&L Marine Electronics in West Ocean City, MD.
