Alternatives to Certain Maretron Gear?

[lateral]

Good gear, but you have to be prepared to pay. (& pay!)

For me I either have to buy a dsm150 or a usb100.
I really don't want either, just would like to configure my SSC200 with out
hyperterminal, the 0183 port, and a spanner. At least they have provision for the cheap seats. I would wager, more by the early nature of the ssc200's release than
intent! It is old product now.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by lateral

Good gear, but you have to be prepared to pay. (& pay!)

For me I either have to buy a dsm150 or a usb100.
I really don't want either, just would like to configure my SSC200 with out
hyperterminal, the 0183 port, and a spanner. At least they have provision for the cheap seats. I would wager, more by the early nature of the ssc200's release than
intent! It is old product now.

Are you sure you need to configure it? I have the H2183 and didn't need to do anything to it except swing it and change the instance number. Instance number can be done with any MFD.

If you do need to configure it, I don't think this is all that tragic. Surely everyone could use another instrument display -- the DSM150 is quite useful. And then if you later add more Maretron gear, you'll have a way to configure and use it. I have the DSM250, and use it for a multitude of functions on my network. It's overpriced and clunky but extraordinarily useful. The weather screen alone is worth the price. The DSM150 has exactly the same screens and functions, and even the same screen resolution (QVGA), just in a more compact size and much better price.

Or you could just fleabay the SSC200 and buy the much superior H2183 compass.

[lateral]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

If you do need to configure it, I don't think this is all that tragic. Surely everyone could use another instrument display -- the DSM150 is quite useful. And then if you later add more Maretron gear, you'll have a way to configure and use it. I have the DSM250, and use it for a multitude of functions on my network. It's overpriced and clunky but extraordinarily useful. The weather screen alone is worth the price. The DSM150 has exactly the same screens and functions, and even the same screen resolution (QVGA), just in a more compact size and much better price.

Or you could just fleabay the SSC200 and buy the much superior H2183 compass.

If it works well with the AC12 then I will be happy enough.Using terminal commands is ok, just clunky.
I have 3 tritons & don't need any more displays. I will look to replacing it with an H2183 though.
Pity about the disabled one at masthead. (In the pb200)
Somewhat ironic, too high to be stable.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by lateral

If it works well with the AC12 then I will be happy enough.Using terminal commands is ok, just clunky.
I have 3 tritons & don't need any more displays. I will look to replacing it with an H2183 though.
Pity about the disabled one at masthead. (In the pb200)
Somewhat ironic, too high to be stable.

Maybe at the nav table? I have 6 Tritons and wish I had space for one or two more

But anyway, you won't go wrong with the H2183. This is the best compass you can buy for less than $1000, and the compass is one of the most important things in your network, crucial for autopilot performance, radar overlay, MARPA, etc. You will notice a big improvement in autopilot performance because the H2183 is stabilized in three dimensions. Yes, it works fine with Simrad pilots (I use mine with the AC42).

[lateral]

"Maybe at the nav table? I have 6 Tritons and wish I had space for one or two more "


At least 3x the work space. You are not trying hard enough!

When I launch I have vowed to keep everything off for a month. Learn to sail
with my senses. I wonder if I can do it........

[colemj]

Originally Posted by lateral

For me I either have to buy a dsm150 or a usb100.
I really don't want either, just would like to configure my SSC200 with out
hyperterminal, the 0183 port, and a spanner. At least they have provision for the cheap seats. I would wager, more by the early nature of the ssc200's release than
intent! It is old product now.

What configuration do you think you will need to do? If only calibration, then this is accomplished by turning 4 circles within a couple of minutes of powerup (doing so initiates its autocalibration mode). It doesn't need any display or interface to do it. This should be explained somewhere in its installation manual.

Mark

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by colemj

.....
The DST transducer is made by Airmar - Maretron simply rebrands and resells it like many other companies do. This particular transducer has been problematic for many, regardless of which manufacturer it was bought from. However, since Maretron sold it, it is their problem to fix.

Mark

What problems are you seeing with the Airmar DST transducers ?

Thanks,
JM.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Sir Rondo Normal

Yup the geography explains it.

What could have been done to keep a customer happy? Well for starters, caring enough about a lowly little customer to suggest some way of helping. I bought over $2000.00 worth of equipment on the recommendation of a salesman. He "designed" a system for my boat and assured me that it would meet my requirements. One of which is compatibility with Mac OSX.

As a last ditch effort they could have offered me a IPG100 for the price of a USB100 if I bought the N2K View application. They indicated no willingness to try to alleviate the situation. As far as I'm concerned the dealer should have stepped up to offer up a solution but obviously he didn't feel he had to when he had the Mfg'er backing him.

So to hell with the customer, we have your money now go away! That is their attitude and I would never recommend any of my friends buy anything from Maretron or especially Global Marine in Richmond, BC.

I'm sorry you have this problem, but I still don't see how any of it is Maretron's responsibility (perhaps the DST).

You hired an independent contractor who possibly sold you inappropriate Maretron equipment and maybe told you some things that were not true. None of that was Maretron's fault, or even within their ability to influence.

The IPG100 costs more than twice the USB100, so expecting an even swap isn't fair on your part. I do think the dealer should allow you to give back the USB100 for credit toward an IPG100, if that is what you wish.

I don't see how Maretron is on the hook for doing that - there isn't anything physically wrong with the gear and they didn't advise you on the purchase or installation. Your dealer is the only one responsible.

Like I mentioned earlier, our USB100 works just fine on our Macs. It is only a serial USB interface using a standard CDCACM driver. Here is a blog post from a CF member describing running N2Kview software on a Mac via the USB100: Adventures of Tanglewood: Maretron monitoring

I don't know why this isn't working for you.

Mark

[colemj]

Originally Posted by NahanniV

What problems are you seeing with the Airmar DST transducers ?

Thanks,
JM.

We don't have one, but I know several people who have had theirs fail after a short time. The depth seems to stop working. Googling for problems with this unit also shows many others with failures.

We have separate Airmar depth and speed and these have been flawless.

Mark

[Sir Rondo Normal]

Yes you are absolutely right, the responsibility lies with the dealer. Didn't I just say that?
Anyway, when the dealer screws a customer over, it would be wise for them to try to alleviate the situation in one way or another. Many other companies do value their end-users. Maretron does not.
If you are happy with your Maretron gear, great but you defending them when you clearly did not have the first-hand experience that I had is akin to them defending their dealer in spite of the screw-over that I was getting.
And in retrospect, maybe the USB100 would have worked if the N2K View was actually a free download. I don't know because their salesman, who was described by management at Maretron as being "well versed in our line of products" insisted that I should either go with the IPG100 (twice the price and not otherwise needed) or the Actisense NGT-1, which was $50.00 cheaper.
Btw, I did point out to him that N2K View was in "Demo Mode" and asked how to get it out of Demo Mode, as there is no way to buy online and download or unlock the application. He didn't know and insisted that it should work the way it was. Probably because he didn't have it in stock, probably because he didn't know that he should order it. ("Well versed" eh?) Now that I have an Actisense gateway, it definitely won't work because it will only recognize one of Maretron's own gateways.
This all took place between April of 2014 and January 2015 when I finally ceased communication with both Maretron and Global Marine.

As far as the DST110 goes, right from the get go, the depth has read correctly most of the time but but will read 4.0' or 3.9' for a while regardless of the actual depth. The STW is always aproximately 2kn higher than SOG (in slack water). The water temp is a constant 20 deg. C. (I wish! This is the Pacific Northwest for Christ sake.) It never gets to 20 deg. C.. Like I said before
I will use it until the boat comes out of the water and then out it comes.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by lateral

. . .
When I launch I have vowed to keep everything off for a month. Learn to sail
with my senses. I wonder if I can do it........

I did that for about 20 years, starting 40 years ago, in 420 racing dinghies, on to a Chrysler Man O' Way dingy, and several other sailboats lacking any instruments except a compass, at best. Threw a lead line when I needed depth; looked at bits of yarn on the shrouds for wind (and sometimes the luxury of a windex); determined position with three-point fixes (couldn't even dream about affording a LORAN set).

After 20 years of that, I'm well ready to have the best electronics I can afford

Why would I want still more than the already ridiculous sounding number of Tritons I have? Well let me tell. I have one Triton at the nav table always hard at work. I often use the GPS screen, or one or another of the wind displays, or wind history. A second one at the nav table wouldn't be at all too much, in order to use more than one of these screens at a time.

I have one Triton at the helm, used for pilot control head, or whatever task is keenly needed at a given moment -- engine readouts, wind, depth with history, GPS, compass screen, whatever. A second one here would also not be excessive.

At the scuttle, I have four more. One permanently set on speed/depth. One permanently set on apparent wind. One permanently set on the GPS screen. The last one according to circumstances -- compass, wind history, engine readouts, ground wind, heel. If I could have five here, the compass screen would become another permanent one.

So even three more would not be overkill, to my mind.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by colemj

We don't have one, but I know several people who have had theirs fail after a short time. The depth seems to stop working. Googling for problems with this unit also shows many others with failures.

We have separate Airmar depth and speed and these have been flawless.

Mark

I've heard this also. Avoid the combined units; go for separate speed and depth.

[lateral]

Originally Posted by colemj

What configuration do you think you will need to do? If only calibration, then this is accomplished by turning 4 circles within a couple of minutes of powerup (doing so initiates its autocalibration mode). It doesn't need any display or interface to do it. This should be explained somewhere in its installation manual.

Mark

G'day Mark,
Nice to know that the 3/4 circles have been completed within acceptable parameters on a display. Also tweaking update frequency, output frame of reference, ie true, geographic etc. Reader does give the PGN's but does not allow tweaking. I'm aware a lot of this can be done downstream.
I would be better off with H2183 to go with all the other airmar stuff and weathercaster however DOS'y it is. Just being fussy.

More important items on the budget. Besides soon the sensors will have IP addresses & N2K will be hohum.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Sir Rondo Normal

As far as the DST110 goes, right from the get go, the depth has read correctly most of the time but but will read 4.0' or 3.9' for a while regardless of the actual depth. The STW is always aproximately 2kn higher than SOG (in slack water). The water temp is a constant 20 deg. C. (I wish! This is the Pacific Northwest for Christ sake.) It never gets to 20 deg. C.. Like I said before
I will use it until the boat comes out of the water and then out it comes.

OK, we have different opinions regarding the responsibilities to an end user from a manufacturer and from an independent non-affiliated dealer that sold the customer the manufacturer's equipment as part of a contracted job by the customer.

If you went to your local NAPA store and they sold you a Fram air filter that they advised you would fit your car and it didn't - would this be Fram's fault and responsibility to rectify or NAPA's? If NAPA refused to take it back, would you blame Fram and demand they solve the issue? If NAPA told you Fram's filters were free and Fram refused to give them to you, would you blame Fram?

Anyway, I may be able to help you with your DST issue. Recently on a friend's boat, his DST was also randomly reading a strange depth. We were sitting in his slip, so the depth was not changing at all, and he had a recording depth sounder, so we could see that the depth always went to the same wrong value and did so randomly.

He had also recently been experiencing a couple of other random electronic bugaboos with other equipment (strange alarms, etc). Doing some diagnostics on his N2K system showed that one piece of gear was loading the bus with bad data and errors. When that piece was taken off the bus, everything worked fine again.

So you may want to look at your N2K installation and see if something is wrong - incorrect topography, poor termination, faulty gear putting bad data on the bus, etc.

The speed and temp transducers do not come calibrated (at least mine didn't, and neither did the depth). It is not unusual to have to set an offset on these to calibrate them. This is easy to do from any MFD, or you can use Maretron's N2Kanalyzer software (PC only, but you can borrow one or run a virtual machine on your Mac). Since you have an NGW-1, you can also calibrate them using Actisense's software (I forget the name of it).

Mark

[colemj]

Originally Posted by lateral

G'day Mark,
Nice to know that the 3/4 circles have been completed within acceptable parameters on a display. Also tweaking update frequency, output frame of reference, ie true, geographic etc. Reader does give the PGN's but does not allow tweaking. I'm aware a lot of this can be done downstream.
I would be better off with H2183 to go with all the other airmar stuff and weathercaster however DOS'y it is. Just being fussy.

More important items on the budget. Besides soon the sensors will have IP addresses & N2K will be hohum.

If you also have the USB100 gateway, all of that stuff can be done with N2Kanalyzer. That software has a virtual DSM250 in it, which basically turns your PC into a DSM250 and allows you to do everything an actual display does.

If you do not have a USB100 gateway, they are half the price of a DSM150, and a quarter of the price of a DSM250. That would be the way I would go if all I wanted was the ability to occasionally access the Maretron gear and set parameters (and it is the way I went).

Mark