AIS recommendation

[GILow]

The nice thing about these units is they let you go without the plotter.

In my case that’s good because:
a) my plotter is old and may go phht tomorrow.
b) I can turn my plotter off at anchor and save considerable power while still having full AIS functionality.

Also, there’s a rather nice display setting on these that gives you speed and heading which makes for a very convenient display inside the boat, in my case, visible from the galley.

[Nicholson58]

We never turn our Watchmate 850 off. Everything else is off

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Paul Klein

Thanks for the replies. I will contact the government department today to clarify regs.

The attached advertisement is from AliExpress.

Much cheaper than eBay,

Regards Paul

Can you post a link to the advert for us here. I tried but couldn’t find that one on AliExpress.

I am serious about buying it as a backup unit at that price. Well worth it I think. My older one is still going strong but life on a boat is full of perils. I suspect I came close to killing mine when I put the HF antenna two feet away from the AIS antenna. Took me a few days to realise what I’d done. It still works, but it must have been a close thing.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Paul Klein

Thanks for the replies. I will contact the government department today to clarify regs.

Good luck getting an accurate answer. I find they default to “no”, which usually means they don’t know and can’t be stuffed finding out.

[abarrow]

You got me curious so I Googled reviews on Matsutec AIS trainsceivers. They were generally positive. There were those who groused about lack of good documentation, a little bigger than other units, and possibly the lack of wifi connectivity, but I didn't find any reviews that said they didn't work the way they should. Seems like a good price. I've been looking at Sci-Tek units, or possibly the unit that Quark-Elec sells, both of which approach twice the price. As someone else mentioned, they seem a little more popular in the UK.

[GILow]

Further thoughts on this one....

To the puritanical mob who feel every boat device should cost a fortune... yes and no.

Some gear, yes, it is too important to cut costs. And yes, a liferaft would be a good example of this. But get some perspective. I mean seriously, comparing an AIS device to a liferaft is a bit of a stretch.

Also, for the cost of these things you can buy two and still be miles ahead on price. A Vesper, which do seem to be the gold standard, are nearly three times the cost, at least here in Oz.

So I have bought a second one. Now I can have TWO devices monitoring for AIS signals, even if only one can send. And if one gets fried by lightning or dies of old-age/crappy build quality, I still have another ready to go.

Horses for courses, these things work well enough. The holier-than-thou responses just are not all that well thought out in my opinion.

[BlackHeron]

Thia cruisers forum. Most aren't. We've got people here who freak out if you have a splice in your VHF line at the mast like you are going to die and are endangering your life because of a tiny increase in dB. Mrs Grundy lives on...

[Lazerbrains]

For a long time Vesper was the best, but now with the newer class B+ technology, Vesper has definitely become "old tech". If getting a new AIS, I would suggest looking into one with class B+ such as the newer ones from Digital Yacht or Raymarine.

https://www.mby.com/gear/ais-b-plus-explained-104136

[NahanniV]

Originally Posted by Lazerbrains

For a long time Vesper was the best, but now with the newer class B+ technology, Vesper has definitely become "old tech". If getting a new AIS, I would suggest looking into one with class B+ such as the newer ones from Digital Yacht or Raymarine.

https://www.mby.com/gear/ais-b-plus-explained-104136

I think you need to have a look at Vespers latest offerings: 5w SOTDM integrated VHF........

Definitely state of the art.

[s/v Jedi]

I actually helped them with software development with their pre-production beta units all the way back in 2005-2006. There were many bugs but after 6 months of debugging and testing, software became pretty solid.

I could program mine to be a class-A unit and ran it like that for years. The internal build quality was just a couple of standard building blocks soldered together pretty badly, but I think production models would be single pcb and okay.

I replaced it with a Vesper black box later but agree with others that Vesper lost their touch with the real world, putting all effort in a toy-like all in one gadget that looks more like a smartphone than a marine quality VHF radio. Their black box versions have not been upgraded.

[Lazerbrains]

I think the main reason Vesper came out on top years ago is because for a long time they were the only one to offer an AIS with built in WiFi and built in splitter - quite a convenient solution and no one else offered anything like it at the time. Also, they proved reliable. But looking at that Cortex system I can't imagine paying for and installing that unit - I already have a great VHF with RAM mic and already have a nice MFD - so what's the point? Spend 2 boat bux and rip out half of my system just to get a Vesper branded class B+? Most folks don't want to do that. I'm installing a Digital Yacht AIT2500 this month - plug and play, and under $700 for a new class B+ system. I have used their products in the past and have had zero issues - quality gear manufactured in the UK.

[barnakiel]

An AIS unit is basically a VHF unit.


If ever there is a reason for a an AIS to cost more than a plain VHF then it may come from:


- screen or lack of,
- waterproofing,
- contained extra circuits (gps, splitter, wifi, etc).


Otherwise we are just buying a specialised dedicated VHF hardware kit. They should then be price near alike.



b.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Lazerbrains

I think the main reason Vesper came out on top years ago is because for a long time they were the only one to offer an AIS with built in WiFi and built in splitter - quite a convenient solution and no one else offered anything like it at the time. Also, they proved reliable. But looking at that Cortex system I can't imagine paying for and installing that unit - I already have a great VHF with RAM mic and already have a nice MFD - so what's the point? Spend 2 boat bux and rip out half of my system just to get a Vesper branded class B+? Most folks don't want to do that. I'm installing a Digital Yacht AIT2500 this month - plug and play, and under $700 for a new class B+ system. I have used their products in the past and have had zero issues - quality gear manufactured in the UK.

Not a bad choice. It doesn’t seem to have an internal GPS antenna and I don’t care for the NMEA0183 nor multiplex functionality. I hope the USB connector offers firmware upgrades.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

An AIS unit is basically a VHF unit.


If ever there is a reason for a an AIS to cost more than a plain VHF then it may come from:


- screen or lack of,
- waterproofing,
- contained extra circuits (gps, splitter, wifi, etc).


Otherwise we are just buying a specialised dedicated VHF hardware kit. They should then be price near alike.



b.

GPS with VHF + software. Assume the radio & GPS are all equal, it is then just package and software

The Vesper (I have 850), has the best intuitive user interface I have ever seen on electronics. The screens commands and options are in full, meaningful words. Someone who has never used it can easily operate it even in rough seas. It has pretty good filters for eliminating nuscience alarms. The anchor watch feature is excellent. The power consumption is small enough to ignore. It stands alone so you don’t need to also run your 50 watt chart plotter. Our Vesper has saved our bacon several times on night transits between Caribbean islands. The most striking was a tug with a tow 1500 meters behind. We had a zero CPA on the tug and would have altered course behind. Vesper said Constrained among the other useful data presented. We hailed the captain and got the whole story. The light on the tow was too dim to see. We would have been dead. We had three other close encounters that night which were helped by the Vesper extra data.

We also bought the newer generation Standard Horizon with built in GPS and AIS. It is the antithesis of the Vesper. I consider it only marginally useful.


I am out of touch with AIS use on the US coast and how many boats have them. Most cruisers in the Caribbean have class B. We find it highly useful to be able to locate friends as we approach busy harbors or even under way. The Vesper has a fleet feature. Boats added to your fleet show a different avatar on screen.

[s/v Jedi]

The most useful software feature for AIS is the ability to see the future... literally. When the software can plot the targets into the future, like for the TCPA of the selected target, you can visualize how you pass targets and if youcan give a bit more room to one without coming too close to another.

I once had software that plotted red no-go areas so that you could immediately see if you are in danger and/or where to steer for safety.

Different symbols for buddies is cute but has no impact on safety.