GPS 406 MHz EPIRBs: ACR vs. NAT
ACR and National Airborne Technology have taken two distinct approaches to transmitting position data along with distress signals. We favor NATs integral GPS over ACRs peripheral connection, but its twice as expensive.
Top 10 Products for 1999
Our annual selection of outstanding equipment, headlined this year by the Spade anchor, Nexus instruments and the Isotemp water heater.
Battery Power Packs: Are They Too Good to Be True?
Batteries dead? Need to jump start your engine? We test four 17-lb., 17-Ah power packs that can do that job and others. The most expensive is also the best-the Solar ES-5000.
Inexpensive E-mail: Magellan GSC 100 vs. SASCO OceanMail 2000
We prefer the SASCO OceanMail 2000
In-Your-Pocket Email
PocketMail is a current favorite of coastal cruisers. It’s inexpensive and reliable. Of two PDAs tested, we prefer the Sharp TM-20 over the BackFlip.
Banish Junky Anchor Rode Markers
For the boat owner who thinks he has everything, there is yet still another bit of electronic wizardry…a widget that tells you how much...
Mailport 08/01/00
Handheld GPSI have the greatest respect for the equipment reviews in Practical Sailor, but I think that you overlooked very critical attributes for your...
Close As A Pencil Point
On May 1, President Clinton announced that the selective availability (SA) system used to degrade GPS (global positioning system) signals was terminated, effective at...
Self-Starting Diesel?
Perhaps it was somebodys idea of a joke. Who walks away from their boat and leaves the engine running? But when I climbed back...
Spinlock’s PX Power Cleat Releases Under Load
Perhaps nothing on boats has developed as steadily and soundly as line-holding devices—cams, clams, jams, clutches, stoppers and plain old horned cleats.There were some...
Why the Catalina 42 Took Over the Caribbean
You see them everywhere — the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, all across the Caribbean. The Catalina 42, especially the Mark II, has quietly become...
Latest Sailboat Review
Dragonfly 25-2 Boat Review
If you’ve ever dreamed of blasting across the water at 25 knots with the wind in your hair and the spray in your face...