I installed the system and have an additional cordless handset at the
helm. I'm not really prepared to fully review it, but at this point would say "caution". Maybe in 6 months I can give a better review of it after it's fully functional with the
monitor app. Here is some stuff that's just off the top of my
head.
I bought it because my 20 year old
Icom had stopped working AND I wanted a high
power VHF at the
helm. Before this I just used a handheld. The second reason was my Vesper 850 had stopped working. I loved it and therefore really only looked at Vesper for an
AIS solution. I was going to buy a Vision system until talking to a rep for Vesper. He added in the
remote monitoring feature which I hadn't considered. As we are going to leave the
boat at a marina in
Greece for two months unattended that was a bonus (big).
Again, can't say yet whether this was a mistake but to get what I wanted it would have taken a new
VHF with
remote mic, a new
AIS, and some type of
monitor box. Pricing put all that at about the same as the Cortex.
Installation was very easy. I installed the corded handset at the nav station and the cordless outside by the helm. Right away we started to get quite a few alarms for
MOB. The
alarm would say we were 0 feet away from the
MOB. Reset and it would go away but several times we were away from the
boat when the
alarm went off and the marina staff had to go onboard to reset the alarm. The AIS alarm profiles are not nearly as simple and clear as my old 850. I don't think I'll actually end up using the hand sets for AIS at all so that could have been a black box unit. My
Raymarine picked up the Cortex on my
Seatalk system automatically and populated the targets onto the chart. That was pretty cool. We only tried to use the
anchor alarm twice before I had to leave the boat but was not impressed. The old 850 was way better on a visual basis. Maybe as I get used to it my opinion of this function will change.
I can easily pick up targets 75 miles away. Lots of targets. The
antenna is on top of my
mast and it really picks up ship signals. Some over 100 miles away. The
radio is nice. I couldn't get
DSC to
work ship to ship at all. No one ever answered my call so either I'm doing it wrong or they are not interested in this feature.
DSC is very confusing on the
screen. Ships are sending out test messages all the time and that sets off an alarm. PITA.
The monitor app appears to be working pretty well. My daughter is sailing around
Greece now with the boat and I'm able to follow her and get all the instrument readings here in the States. Very
cheap on an annual
contract also. In two months I'll have time to set up the exterior alarms for high
water,
shore power, and maybe even a motion detector / door switch.
So, I had a problem with the cordless unit right away. It wouldn't charge on the base
cradle. I called tech support and this is a known problem that temporarily can be fixed by pulling out the little charge tabs with needle nose pliers. It's a pretty crappy solution and I'll wait until I get a replacement
cradle. But this has made me rethink the handset locations and now I'm going to switch them so the corded is at the helm and cordless is at the nav station. We had to go through the Straights of
Gibraltar in the middle of the night with a dead handset at the helm. That honestly really pissed me off the most.
I really want the system to
work because I simply need it. It would also be nice to validate my
purchase and efforts to install.