Caterpillar S60 Smartphone
$600 www.catphones.com
Leave it to the folks at Caterpillar to help build one of the most rugged phones on the market today. Based around the unfortunately named Android Marshmallow, it sports a strengthened die-cast frame and Gorilla Glass, making it Drop-Proof from 6 feet while the screen is designed to work with wet fingers or gloves.
It’s also waterproof to 16 feet for up to an hour, meaning you can take underwater photos with it.
Most impressive, though, is that it features a FLIR thermal-imaging camera that allows you to diagnose overheating or underperforming systems in your engine room. It will be available later this year.
Benefit Analysis: More and more boaters are relying on their phones for navigation, communication, and other onboard tasks; having a phone that is essentially boat proof, that’s something that makes a lot of sense.
This article originally appeared in the May 2016 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
