Topic: Garmin Panoptix - Low budget multi-beam for SAR

[bigkahuna]

After doing a ton of homework on this product, I finally broke down and ordered one last week.  I had a chance to put it through some initial testing and was impressed by what I learned.  It's not side scan or 360 scan, but it is real time 3D data that is surprisingly accurate.

I posted an initial report on my company website here:  http://marinesimulation.com/?page_id=1517

[rnvinc]

New technology is always interesting for sure ...

Rickie

[DiveExplorer]

How about software or making maps or using the data for this system ?

[bigkahuna]

How about software or making maps or using the data for this system ?

I wish, but so far, no.  Garmin has a reputation for holding their technology very tightly, so I don't anticipate them sharing file / data information.  If someone wanted to interface a computer to the transducer, this might be possible.  But Garmin would not assist and would not allow you to market a program that worked with their products.

[DiveExplorer]

Exactly this technology is cool and interesting to see how it develops.
But you need to use it with some kind of software. Luckily there is a lot of
Unselfish whiz kids out there that could make something that could be used.