N2K GPS favorites?

[wkearney99]

I've got an older Furuno MDF12 NavNet3D system. It's had a Furuno GP-320B connected to it via 0183. It's worked reasonably well, but the MFD12s have occasionally lost position fix. I'm guessing there were some other implementation issues that might have been involved with why that was happening. The GPS was feeding into one of the four plotters and exchanging data via Ethernet. I've discovered some 'past owner' wiring issues and am resolving those. That may or may not solve the position fix issue.

But if not, and for the sake of having GPS that's independent of being run through a plotter, what are people's current favorites for a GPS source to the NMEA-2000 bus? I don't want to break the bank on this, so getting a satellite compass isn't going to happen.

What else out there is worth considering? Or perhaps what's out there that's worth AVOIDING?

[Greg4cocokai]

Following

[smac999]

Garmin 19x is ~$200

Are you looking for an antenna to feed your existing screens? Or a new screen to read gps data off of?

[beetle]

I have had a Furuno GP-31 GPS receiver/display for 19 years now and it has worked flawlessly for my purposes (racing, ocean passages, cruising). I am looking at replacing it with a Furuno GP39 if the GP-31 doesn't handle the upcoming GPS week number rollover - something Furuno has warned me about in regards to the GP-31. There are fancier systems out there, this is a basic stand-alone fixed-mount unit with it's own antenna and dedicated display.

Furuno's GP33 receiver/display has NMEA 2000 (CANBus) and NMEA 0183, your basic waypoint calculations, with an on-deck antenna . If the footprint was that of the GP-31 this is the unit I would purchase, but it is slightly taller in size therefore I am looking at the GP39.

I use the GPS as a dedicated display for lat/lon and UTC date/time independent of everything else on the boat. I will enter waypoints and can then track bearing/distance/crossstrack to waypoint. GPS-derived data is sent downstream to the SSB, VHF, laptop, and on-deck B&G instruments. I keep the GPS receiver below-decks at the nav station, I don't like having electronics up in the cockpit where they are more likely to be damaged by people or weather.

I recommend the Furuno GPS instruments for this purpose; not inexpensive but high quality. You might want to check out the GP33 and see whether or not it would work for your purposes.

- rob

[beetle]

As a follow-up to my prior post, the Furuno GP-31 did not correctly manage the GPS week number rollover; the unit now believes it is 22 August 1999. Position is correct, the UTC time is correct but the date is out to lunch. Disappointing, but there it is.

I have ordered up the Furuno GP-39 as a drop in replacement. I use the NMEA 0183 output to send data to downstream devices, and would like the DSC radio inputs to have the correct date. It also appears the laptop electronic cartography may be using the date to select which currents/tides to display. I'm not yet certain how Coastal Explorer determines the date, but the software is using a date when displaying the tides/currents information.

- rob