
Navico Broadband Radar is apparently meeting its promised "Q2" shipping schedule, and I'm already impressed with the install details. Above you can see how a waterproof gland fits over the scanner cable -- which is just a bundle of Ethernet and power wires -- before it's screwed to the interface box. If the ultimate destination is a Simrad NX or a Northstar 8000i, you then run a proprietary serial cable to the 'comms' port, while Lowrance HDS units use a proprietary Ethernet cable to that orangey 'network' port. It all went together quickly and feels solid...
Actually if your HDS unit -- or other Broadband Radar compatible hardware/software (hey, we can dream, can't we?) -- is already connected to an Ethernet hub in a dry area, you can dispense with the interface box altogether; just plug into the hub and feed the power wires (yellow is for on/off) 2 amps of 9-32 volts. More installer-friendly details are shown below: you don't need to remove the radome cover to plug in the cable, and the built-in loop provides both strain relief and some working slack (Furuno uses a similar scheme on its SC30 GPS Compass, testing on Gizmo soon).
I did connect the radome to the HDS-10 on Li'l Gizmo, but it's sitting on its trailer in front of the lab, so I haven't yet seen realistic target imagery from a finished Broadband Radar (and that may take a few days). But I can tell you that the powered-up scanner is pretty quiet and hardly vibrates even when not bolted down; and also that the HDS has a straight forward radar install routine, as well as many more radar features than we saw during the February demo. Finally, I've come up with a new Panbo motto: "Too many Gizmos, too little time."
