Camas, WA - October 5, 2009. Furuno, world-renowned manufacturer of marine electronics, was honored with five awards at the prestigious 2009 National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) Convention in Sanibel, FL. This year's event, held Sept. 30th - Oct. 2nd, celebrated the 38th anniversary of the NMEA awards. This year, 10 NMEA Awards were presented and Furuno received half of the awards issued!
For the fourth straight year, Furuno received the prestigious award for Manufacturer of the Year - Support. In fact, Furuno has secured this award every year the category has been included on the ballot. The award clearly illustrates what an important role customer service plays within Furuno USA and with our technical marine electronics dealer network. "Receiving this award amid the turbulent and uncertain market in which our industry currently finds itself is quite significant. Dealers and Boaters are scrutinizing their purchase decisions now more than ever. They are exceedingly focused on finding not only the best product at a competitive price, but also the backing, reliability, and top notch customer support of a company that instills feelings of security and confidence in them and their buying decision," stated Dean Kurutz, Marketing Manager of Furuno USA. "There is no way a company can win without the Team Effort of its employees, who consistently support our products and technical dealers. Furuno is proud to be supported by an excellent NMEA technical dealer network."
NavNet 3D's extreme popularity was evident by winning NMEA Awards in the two major categories; Best Radar and Best Navigation. Furuno took top honors in the Best Radar Category for the thirty-fourth consecutive year with the NavNet 3D DRS Ultra Hi-Definition Radar Series. The NavNet 3D DRS Radars come in a variety of sizes, from the 2.2 kW, 19-inch Radome to the powerful 25 kW, 6 ft. Open Array. Each sensor incorporates Furuno's UHD Digital Radar processing for the ultimate in target detection and performance.
In the Best Navigation Category, Furuno took home the NMEA award for the NavNet 3D MFD12. This unit sports a vivid 12.1-inch LCD that displays your choice of preloaded NOAA Raster and Vector charts. Enhanced by TimeZeroTM technology, this chart plotter has incredible redraw speed. With its native 3D architecture, you can display your charts in 3D or traditional 2D, while further enhancing the charts with high-resolution satellite photography that can be downloaded at no charge from Furuno's web site.
Furuno's popular FCV585 received the award for Best Fish Finder, bringing Furuno's Best Fish Finder award total to an unprecedented 38 years in a row. The FCV585 is a 600W/1kW digital Fish Finder that incorporates Furuno's award winning FDF (Furuno Digital Filter) technology. FDF technology helps adjust gain, STC "clutter" and output power, as well as suppress main bang (the echoes just below the transducer.) It also makes the picture clearer and easier to decipher.
Finally, the Marine Specialty Product category provides for nominations of special marine electronics niche products that do not fit within the other award categories. Because of the general nature of this category, it attracted a significantly high number of quality nominations and the committee assigned two awards in this category, one for the winner and one for the runner-up. Furuno's recently introduced SC30 Satellite Compass was recognized with a 2nd place award in the Marine Specialty Product Category.
Keeping with tradition, Furuno obtained more NMEA awards than any other three manufacturers combined. In fact, Furuno received as many awards as all other manufacturers combined. Furuno has received a total of 176 such awards since 1971.
For more information on Furuno's full line of award winning marine electronics, contact: Furuno U.S.A., 4400 N.W. Pacific Rim Blvd., Camas, WA 98607. Phone: (360) 834-9300. Fax: (360) 834-9400. Online boaters can also check out Furuno U.S.A.'s Internet Web site (www.FurunoUSA.com).
