A compact marine display with a round face and a fresh perspective has won the top honour at the 2025 DAME Design Awards, held overnight at METSTRADE in Amsterdam. The LXNAV E360 Round Chartplotter, developed by Slovenian firm LXNAV, was named overall winner in a highly competitive field of 146 entries, beating out strong contenders across propulsion, electrical, and navigation categories.
It’s a standout win for a product that takes the humble marine gauge and reimagines it using aviation-grade logic, modern touchscreen responsiveness, and a design that blends retro elegance with full-featured digital integration.
Smart design in a small form factor
The LXNAV E360 Round Chartplotter is a 4-inch round capacitive touchscreen instrument, waterproof to IPX6 and designed to replace a cluster of traditional dash instruments. Despite its size, the E360 functions as a fully-fledged chartplotter with preloaded OpenSeaMap charts, Navionics compatibility via SD, and built-in GPS and Wi-Fi.
But it’s more than just a nav tool. The unit is connected via NMEA 2000, allowing it to serve as a hub for engine diagnostics, battery state, fluid levels, depth, speed, rudder angle, and trim—all displayed in real time with full customisability. A feature called FloatBox lets users set up personalised display layouts, resize data boxes, and prioritise critical information.
Award-winning interface and innovation
What convinced the 2025 DAME Design Awards jury to name the LXNAV E360 Round Chartplotter the best product of the year? According to the panel, it was the way LXNAV brought aviation precision and smartphone-like usability into a format that’s both functional and fresh.
The user interface is designed with smartphone logic, including a tactile menu button and intuitive touchscreen gestures like double-tap to zoom. A built-in anchor watch with user-defined drift alarms adds another layer of utility, while optional jog wheel control—connected via NMEA 2000—makes it easier to operate in rough conditions.
The jury described the E360 as a “market-realistic” product with broad appeal, singling out its ability to deliver a wide feature set without demanding helm space or superyacht budgets.
Versatile, space-saving and stylish
Designed to work in both new builds and refits, the E360’s round format fits traditional gauge cut-outs but offers the modern capabilities of a multifunction display. This makes it especially attractive for owners looking to modernise older dashboards without major rewiring or cutting.
The unit also includes integrated audio control for Fusion and VDO systems, allowing playback and tuning directly from the display. With its brushed aluminium bezel and clean installation footprint, it blends seamlessly into both luxury and performance-oriented helm stations.
A new benchmark for marine electronics?
LXNAV’s success with the E360 underscores a growing trend in marine tech: products that do more with less. As boaters demand cleaner dashboards, smarter integration, and lower energy draw, instruments like the E360 are likely to lead the way.
For the Slovenian firm best known for flight instruments in gliders and light aircraft, the DAME Award represents a powerful entry into the marine market—and possibly the start of a new chapter in display design.
