Think of Finland, and you probably think of reindeer and fir trees. It's an unusual country to choose for a product launch.

But Lowrance's "Structurescan" sonar (MRSP $699) is a pretty unusual product.

The product itself is an uninspiring grey box, connected to a rather odd looking sausage-shaped transducer.

Couple it up to a power supply and to an HDS display, though, and the results are absolutely amazing -- an almost photographic representation of the hidden world underwater. It takes a few minutes to get used to the unfamiliar presentation of any sidescan image, but believe me, it's a lot easier when the picture is moving than when you're looking at a stationary screen dump. And out in Helsinki harbour, there was plenty to look at: I saw the remains of an anti-submarine barrier, several wrecks -- so clearly that we could pick out individual hatches on their decks -- and even an abandoned anchor and chain.

Fundamental to its success is that it operates at a much higher frequency than a conventional sonar. This, combined with that oddly-shaped transducer, serves to focus its ultrasound transmissions into a fan shaped beam -- very narrow in the fore-and-aft direction, but sideways and downwards all the way from the surface to the seabed. In the few other sidescan sonars I have seen, that leaves a blind arc underneath the boat. Structurescan, however, fills in the gap, and gives you the option of seeing a hi-res downward-looking image alongside the sidescan picture.

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A single, strongly-worded sentence in President Obama’s first budget proposal seems to spell the end of Loran C. Describing it as an “outdated system”, the budget points out that shutting it down this year could save $36 million in 2010, and $190 million over the next five years.

Loran enthusiasts are surprised and disappointed by this development. The system’s future had seemed secure after last year’s budget transferred responsibility for it (and its annual operating budget of $3 5 million and nearly 300 staff) from the U. S. Coast Guard to the National Protection and Programs Directorate. At the time, the move was said to be “in preparation for conversion of LORAN-C operations to Enhanced LORAN (eLORAN).” The 2008 Federal Radionavigation Plan, which was published only a couple of months ago, also referred to Loran C stations being converted to eLORAN. The conversion, it said, would provide “an independent, dissimilar complement to GPS that will allow properly equipped users to retain PNT (positioning, navigation, and timing) service in the event of GPS disruption.” But the reality of the matter is that in the past ten years, Congress has allocated just $160 million to begin the conversion to eLORAN and that it might well take another $400 million to finish the job.

There’s not much doubt that eLORAN would be a better system than LORAN C, providing the same kind of accuracy as we have come to expect of GPS: the question is whether it is worth it—and whether we’ll have the chance to find out.