standard horizon Archives | Gael Force Marine

Last Christmas we brought you our top gifts list – this year to save you from tears we are bringing you our top 10 chart-topping nautical and nice gifts to give to someone special.

With just over 5 weeks left until it’s the most wonderful day of the year, the Christmas countdown has well and truly begun!

We’ve created a range of merry little Christmas shops to make your jingle bells rock with inspiration…

Forget Mariah Carey – All you want for Christmas are these…

**1. Nauticalia Noughts & Crosses – £12.99**

Did you know that there are 255,168 possible outcomes to a game of Noughts and Crosses? Given that it’s one of the first games you learn, you’ve probably taken a good bash at quite a few of them.

Add some sparkle to this classic game this Christmas and play in 3D with your loved ones! The set comes in naval-style hardwood and brass with a glass-topped compact case.

**2. Reeds 2020 Nautical Almanac – RRP £49.99. NOW £36.99 (Save 26%)**

We think this is the ultimate gift bible for ‘anyone who goes to sea’. Reeds Nautical Almanac is the indispensable trusted annual compendium of navigational data for yachtsmen and motorboaters, and provides all the information required to navigate Atlantic coastal waters around the whole of the UK and the entire European coastline from the tip of Denmark to Gibraltar, Northern Morocco, the Azores and Madeira.

This 2020 edition includes 700 harbour chartlets; tide tables and tidal streams; buoyage and lights; 7,500 waypoints; invaluable passage notes; distance tables; radio, weather and safety information; a first-aid section, as well as over 45,000 changes from the last edition! It even comes with a free Marina Guide.

We’ve also got the Eastern and Western almanacs available for 2020.

**3. Holebrook Classic Sweater – Black – RRP £136.99. NOW £109.95 (Save 20%)**

What says Christmas more than a Scandinavian classic?

This moss-knitted t-neck sweater with polyester fabric inside of the collar and contrast coloured border is a great addition to your wardrobe and also comes in Navy and Red.

This sweater is guaranteed to keep the sea breeze out with style and class.

**4. Nauticalia Storm Cloud – £16.99**

Everyone loves talking about the weather, so we think this gift is a perfect conversation starter…

The story goes that aboard HMS Beagle during the Darwin Expeditions of 1831-36, Captain Robert Fitzroy developed and refined the 18th-century storm bottle. This involved much testing and observation of crystal formations and resulted in him being able to make a number of weather predictions with a fair(ish) degree of accuracy.

Then, as now, no one is really sure how the storm bottle works. Is it atmospheric pressure, temperature, electrical disturbances…?

You can keep your own records and see if you can confirm or improve upon Fitzroy’s observations.

5. Garmin Striker Plus 4cv Fishfinder with GT20-TM Transducer – RRP £220.00 NOW £189.95 (Save 14%)

The Garmin STRIKER Plus 4cv fishfinder is the perfect gift for the fisherman or woman in your life. The built-in GPS feature (with CHIRP traditional sonar and CHIRP ClearVu scanning sonar) lets them mark and navigate to waypoints and shows the boat’s speed.

The Quickdraw Contours mapping software creates HD fishing maps of the places they’ve been, storing up to 2 million acres of content with 1-foot contours.

This fishfinder makes fishing a breeze and it’s built to work in any environment. The bright 4.3-inch display and intuitive user interface make it simple to navigate so they are ready for anything on the water.

**6. Nauticalia Cribbage Set – £30.99**

Who needs Monopoly when you’ve got Cribbage? For those of you that don’t know, cribbage is a card game traditionally for two players but commonly played with three, four or even more. It involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points.

The hinged lid and base on this set fold out to create the scoring board, which is beautifully made from contrasting strips of light and dark wood, making it a perfect addition to the Christmas games list.

**7. Gill Men’s Hybrid Down Jacket – £89.95**

A gift filled with warmth and natural down insulation. Not only does it provide much-needed warmth at this time of year but the outer fabric is also windproof and water-repellent. Even the down itself is hydrophobic water-repellent, meaning bad weather doesn’t stand a chance.

This surprisingly light and effective jacket, also available for women, perfectly combines performance and style making it an essential festive cold-weather outfit.

**8. Nauticalia Crab Cushion – £17.49**

This year we have the ideal festive fishy gift – whether you use it as a cushion, pillow, toy or ornament, it’s up to you! We even have a Shark and Salmon version too.

It’s 25 inches long and is firmly stuffed to give it an authentic shape and appearance. The cushion is made from strong hardwearing polyester with a shiny gloss finish.

It’s also CE tested for toy safety (ages 3 upwards) so you don’t have to worry about that.

Crab it whilst you can!

**9. Standard Horizon HX890 Handheld Radio – RRP £233.99 NOW £199.95 (Save 15%)**

Forget about having to try and memorize the owner’s manual – the HX890’s brand new Easy to Operate Menu system makes it one of the most intuitive handheld radios on the market. It also boasts one of the largest displays for its size so there will be no mistaking the information displayed on the screen.

DSC calling, position sharing, waypoint and route navigation, and navigation to DSC distress call can all be performed with just a few simple steps. It also comes with a 3-year waterproof warranty so you know you’re covered!

**10. Gael Force Chandlery Gift Vouchers – £10-£50**

Want to save time on Christmas wrapping? Why not give one of our vouchers as a gift instead.

Vouchers are redeemable over the phone or in-store at our Inverness, Glasgow, and Plymouth branches.

Remember vouchers aren’t just for Christmas – they’re valid for 1 year so there’s plenty of time to use them.

It’s beginning to look at lot like Christmas so visit our Christmas shops for more inspiration! We’ve made Christmas easy this year by setting up shops by budget, by ‘who it’s for’ and everything else in between.

Happy shopping!

Last year, we sent an email to our subscribers looking at our top 3 best-selling Handheld VHF Radios to recommend to our customers.

This year, we’re looking at Fixed VHF Radios, so without further ado…

What are our best-selling Fixed VHF Radios so far this year?

1. Standard Horizon GX1700E Fixed GPS/DSC Radio. RRP £213.99. NOW £179.95. SAVE 16%.

Out of the box, the GX1700 is ready to go. DSC calling, position sharing, waypoint navigation, and navigation to DSC distress calls can all be performed with just a few simple steps. Plus, DSC is made easy with internal 12 Channel GPS built into the front panel meaning there is no need to deal with wiring the radio to a GPS for DSC.

The GX1700 is an ITU-R M493 Class D class VHF with a separate Channel 70 receiver, which allows DSC calls to be received even when listening to communications. This model is capable of entering and saving up to 100 waypoints. These waypoints can be selected and navigated to by using a unique navigation compass display with the internal 12 channel WAAS GPS.

The use of Clear Voice Noise Reduction Technology eliminates unwanted background noises like engines and wind during transmission. It ensures transmissions are crystal clear along with dedicated 16/9, H/L keys and channel selection. The GX1700 can also be set to monitor WX channels and provide an audible alert to inform of pending storm advisories.

Find out what our customers have said:

Out of all the radios on the market this one is a cut above the rest in both quality and features. Compact size, clear display even in bright sunlight, Rapid start and satellite aquisiton time with a host of clever features.

My favourite is the way point navigation which is useful as a […] backup in case the plotter packs up. Voice tx and rx both crystal clear and with a good range. Don’t think about it, buy it; you won’t regret it.

Jimmy

If you’re looking for a new radio you won’t go wrong with this one. Easy to install and setup with an impressive range of features. Surely the best value for money radio in this price range.

Michael

If you require private channels to be programmed, please call us on 01463229400 or detail your requirements in the Order Notes section of the checkout process.

2. Icom M330GE Fixed VHF DSC Radio with GPS Receiver. RRP £262.49. NOW £209. SAVE 20%.

Icom created one of the smallest fixed VHF/DSC radios in the world with the M330GE and its front face that is so compact that it matches the size of a modern smartphone. It was also one of the first Icom fixed marine VHF radios to comply with the maritime ITU standard “ITU-R M493014” which required it to have an external GPS antenna.

The combination of the directional keypad and soft keys provides simple and smooth operation. The most-used functions are assigned to soft keys for quick one-push function access. The newly designed speaker offers distortion-free, dynamic and clear audio, even when it’s at full volume, over a wide bass and treble range.

The radio will also monitor CH 70 continuously, even while you are receiving another channel. DSC functions include distress, individual, group, all ships, urgency, safety, position request/report, polling request and DSC test calls.

The GPS receiver provides your location, bearing and speed by using information from GPS, GLONASS and SBAS. The acquired position information can be used for DSC calls. An external GPS antenna is supplied to maximise coverage.

3. Standard Horizon GX2200E Fixed VHF DSC Radio. RRP £394.49. NOW £339.95. SAVE 14%.

The Matrix AIS/GPS GX2200 makes AIS simple and easy right out of the box. The GX2200 is the first fixed radio to include built-in receivers for both GPS and AIS.

Remarkably, it can display AIS targets in a radar-style format on the large 1.8 inch LCD screen featured at the front of the radio. This allows the user to not only clearly identify each target from the MMSI information being transmitted, but also to determine its course.

The screen will provide a target’s MMSI number, call sign, ship name, bearing, distance, speed over ground and course over ground. There is also a Closest Point of Approach alarm if a target vessel strays too close.

For quick and precise communication, an automatic DSC call can be made to a specific AIS equipped vessel by simply selecting the target and pressing the call button. Polling is used for vessels that wish to keep abreast of each other’s location, such as a cruising flotilla, or a group of fishing boats.

Find out what our customers have said:

Simple to install, amazingly feature packed, reasonable to operate given number of functions available. With DSC, GPS and AIS all built-in [it] is excellent value for money.

Garry

Having used secondhand radios previously, this Radio is the Bees Knees, as they say. Not used all of its features yet, but simple to add all the detail you want. GPS connects quickly, and the AIS is a real help, especially for a small boat offshore.

Geoff

If you require private channels to be programmed, please call us on 01463229400 or detail your requirements in the Order Notes section of the checkout process.

Gael Force Marine

Marine Equipment and Chandlery information, tips, advice and recommendations.

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