The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) has announced its Product of Excellence Awards for 2020, as determined by voting among its members during the organization’s Virtual Education Week (Sept. 21-25). The NMEA Manufacturer of the Year was also announced.
“The member voting count exceeded our expectations,” said Mark Reedenauer, NMEA president and executive director. “This certainly sends the message to the market that manufacturers have focused on producing top quality products for the boating public, even during a pandemic.”
NMEA members selected the winners through an online voting process. Product awards were given in 17 categories, with two ties, resulting in 19 winners:
- Marine VHF—ICOM M605
- Radar—Furuno DRS4DNXT Solid-State Doppler
- Satellite Communications Antenna—KVH TracPhone V3-HTS
- Multi-Function Display—Garmin GPSMAP 8616xsv
- Multimedia Entertainment—Fusion Apollo RA770
- NMEA 2000 Sensor—Furuno SCX20 High Precision Satellite Compass
- Autopilot—Garmin Reactor 40 with SmartPump v2
- Satellite TV Antenna—KVH TracVision UHD7
- Fishfinder—Furuno DFF3D Multi-Beam 3D
- Marine Camera—FLIR M364C
- AIS—Vesper XB8000 smartAIS
- Marine PC Software—Nobeltec TZ Professional V 4.1
- Remote Monitoring—GOST Apparition SM GPS XVR
- Wi-Fi/Cellular Device—KVH TracPhone LTE-1 (tie)
- Wi-Fi/Cellular Device—Wave Wi-Fi Tidal Wave AC + Cellular (tie)
- Marine Apps-Utility—Garmin ActiveCaptain
- Commercial—Furuno FAR2228BB 25kW IMO Radar
- Marine Specialty—Maretron N2KBuilder – NMEA2000 Network Design Software (tie)
- Marine Specialty—Furuno “Deep Impact” DI-FFAMP High-Power CHIRP Amplifier (tie)
NMEA members also voted to select Garmin as the Manufacturer of the Year, based on superior support of its products and service in the field.
The NMEA normally awards a Best New Product Award and an NMEA Technology Award based on in-person judging at the Annual NMEA Conference and Expo. “Because of the pandemic these awards could not be awarded this year,” said Reedenauer.
For more details, visit nmea.org.
