posted 02-10-2010 08:47 AM ET (US)        

Garmin Introduces the AIS 300 Receiver With Class A and Class B Reception, NMEA 2000 Support

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., the global leader in satellite navigation, announced today the Garmin AIS™ 300 - a black box receiver that enables monitoring of other nearby Class A and Class B Automatic Identification System (AIS)-enabled vessels that may pose a collision risk. The Garmin AIS 300 receiver is NMEA 2000 certified making installation and integration into a Garmin system quick and easy. Garmin is the first manufacturer to offer an AIS receiver with NMEA 2000 support. The Garmin AIS 300 is being announced in conjunction with the 2010 Miami International Boat Show (booth #1689).

"An AIS traffic monitoring system plays an invaluable role in crowded channels or under low-visibility conditions as it allows mariners to identify and monitor other vessels in their vicinity, minimizing the risk of collision," said Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of worldwide sales. "The receive-only AIS 300 offers an affordable solution for mariners who want to listen to AIS traffic from both commercial and leisure vessels."

To ensure no loss of critical information, the Garmin AIS 300 receives both Class A and Class B signals simultaneously and allows mariners to independently monitor both channels. A built-in passive splitter eliminates the need for two VHF antennas - giving you more space and making installation easy without the need for additional hardware. This feature ensures that all VHF and AIS communication are received with minimal interruption.

The new black box AIS 300 receiver is NMEA 2000 certified and can be easily integrated into the Garmin network on both 12-volt and 24-volt systems. In addition, the Garmin AIS 300 offers a NMEA 0183 output with selectable speeds. With the AIS 300, the chartplotter can display and provide detailed information like ship identification data, position, and course and speed for vessels equipped with an AIS transmitter within range right at your fingertips. Users can make the AIS target's position appear on their electronic chart for a variety of ranges. When integrated with a Garmin chartplotter and VHF radio via NMEA 2000, users can initiate a call to any MMSI target directly from the chartplotter by selecting the "call with radio" function. Boaters may also activate the AIS target which will draw a heading line from the target in the direction of travel, as well as graphic representation of turn direction and rate of turn.

The Garmin AIS 300 has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $499.99 and will be available in May 2010. For more information on this and other products in Garmin's marine line up, visit www.garmin.com.

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A lot of new equipment will be on display at [the Miami Internation Boat Show] from many of the key players in the marine electronics business.