Vesper Cortex Install

[Haifisch]

Happy Tuesday everyone.
I am planning to do an upgrade to a Vesper Cortex AIS + VHF this winter. The system comes with a combo antenna for VHF & AIS, plus another for GPS. For those that have already done this, couple of questions:
1) Can I use the existing Glomex VHF and Garmin GPS antennas that came with the boat and is working fine with the Garmin VHF and AIS 300 unit? I would prefer not to run new wires.
2) Does the Vesper Unit easily swap out with an existing Garmin AIS 300/800? Meaning, just remove the Garmin AIS box and mount the Vesper in it's place?
3) Any issues with the AIS targets displaying on the existing Garmin MFD once the Vesper is plugged into the backbone.

Thanks in advance to those who have gone before me!

 

[Gin]

I was an “early adopter” on the Cortex. I installed mine slightly over two years ago, as soon as (after all the hype) it actually became available. In my view, it’s a fabulous unit. I think you’ll be glad you’ve taken the plunge. Based on my experience, here are my thoughts on your questions. My disclaimer is that it has been more than two years since I installed mine, and my memory likely has faded. A run through the installation manual ahead of time should give you answers as well.

1)(a)The GPS antenna: You must use the GPS antenna that comes with the Cortex. I didn’t have an external Garmin GPS installed by the factory. They used the built in GPS on my AIS300/800. But even if you have an external Garmin GPS the Cortex has to be used with its own. In my case, I installed the Cortex GPS in the above-helm compartment on the passenger side and routed the wire through the comparment, from port to starboard, and then down to the fuse block behind the helm, which avoided trying to come in from outside. It gets great reception from inside the boat. (Special note: once installed, you will have the option of telling the chartplotter and other NMEA 2000 components what GPS to use. The Cortex GPS works fine for everything — better by far than the built in GPS in the Garmin AIS 300/800.)

1)(b). The VHF antenna: You can use your existing VHF antenna. The Cortex doesn’t come from Vesper packaged up with their own antenna. That must be something your seller put together. The Vesper antenna is usually sold separately. It’s a good antenna from what I know and the frequency may be better aimed at suiting both AIS and VHF. But I have stuck with a regular VHF antenna without issue. I’d advise starting with the Glomax and swapping it out only if you aren’t satisfied with the reception. (I can vouch for the fact that swapping the antenna is a PITA — I replaced my Glomax when I first got our R31 with a Shakespeare that lets me swap my antenna between 4’ and 8’ lengths. It was a chore, for sure).

2). The Vesper Cortex should swap out reasonably easily for the existing Garmin. It may depend on where the factory mounted yours as to whether the exact mounting location will work. I had to fiddle with that. The NMEA cabling should all port over from the Garmin to the Cortex without issue. You will have to wire it to power, and it will need to be fused. That is true of the handset as well. It needs it’s own fused power source. There is both a corded handset and a “wireless” one. I have the corded. Both communicate wirelessly with the hub, which I didn’t understand initially. The difference is that the wireless handset runs on a battery and needs a cradle to get recharged. The corded handset has power to it at all times. Both, however, communicate with the hub via the built in Cortex WiFi. So one added step in installing the Cortex handset is figuring out where to tap into fused power, as well as where to attach the cord (or cradle) and route to power (the corded handset does not attach to the hub, so it’s not like a regular VHF mic that attaches to the VHF unit directly).

3). No issues whatsoever with the AIS targets showing up reliably on the Garmin MFD. For me, though, the plotter view on the Cortex is at least as handy and often handier. I get a lot more information about targets, and get it easier, than on the chartplotter. Both are useful in their ways, however. So it is great that the Cortex talks with full fluency to the Garmin MDF.

The coolest thing about the Cortex is that it is under constant improvement. You likely know that most functionality is implemented through software. Updates are frequent. And updates don’t just work out bugs (although they do that). They bring in new features. The Cortex hub installed in my boat is the same hardware unit I installed 2 years ago, but it is more functional and has been improved in some great ways since. I bet I perform a software update once every month or maybe two (although I should note they added me as a beta tester, so I may get more frequent updates than I would otherwise). Updates are easy, and every so often they delight me with something I had no idea they were going to do (for example, they added a feature where the VHF can be locked onto the current channelt, which with the smartphone-like handset of the Cortex, prevents inadvertently touching the screen in a way that causes you to jump channels unintentionally — which was happening to me often on group cruises where we communicate constantly on a special channel).

There you go. You can tell I’m a Vesper Cortex fan. I say “Go for it!”

Good luck.

Gini

 

[FlyMeAway]

We did this a while ago. I'd recommend reading the Cortex install documentation in full, as it answers a few of these questions: https://downloads.vespermarine.com/docs ... 22_WEB.pdf

Some thoughts:

1) Can I use the existing Glomex VHF and Garmin GPS antennas that came with the boat and is working fine with the Garmin VHF and AIS 300 unit? I would prefer not to run new wires

VHF, yes. In fact, I don't think Vesper comes with a VHF antenna (thought you can buy a new one). Up to you whether you want to upgrade to one that works better for AIS. Lots about this online (check Milltech Marine and blogs).

However, on GPS you *must* have the Vesper on its own antenna and you must use the one that comes with the Cortex.

2) Does the Vesper Unit easily swap out with an existing Garmin AIS 300/800? Meaning, just remove the Garmin AIS box and mount the Vesper in it's place?

This depends a bit on your install. We decided not to use the Vesper for VHF, just AIS and monitoring. So we still use the Garmin VHF. In that install, you simply turn off the Garmin AIS in software and leave the VHF running.

3) Any issues with the AIS targets displaying on the existing Garmin MFD once the Vesper is plugged into the backbone.

Absolutely none whatsoever. It works amazingly well. And you can always check AIS transmit by looking up your boat on one of the several public AIS location websites.

 

[Gin]

I’ll add to FlyMeAway’s advice that I now use both the Cortex and the Garmin VHF. I removed entirely the Garmin AIS unit, but I left the Garmin VHF in place. The Cortex has a nice feature where you can run both units on the same antenna (I may have had to add a patch cable — I don’t recall). My Garmin VHF and Cortex are both on when I’m underway, although usually on different channels or channel combinations.

Gini

 

[FlyMeAway]

I’ll add to FlyMeAway’s advice that I now use both the Cortex and the Garmin VHF. I removed entirely the Garmin AIS unit, but I left the Garmin VHF in place. The Cortex has a nice feature where you can run both units on the same antenna (I may have had to add a patch cable — I don’t recall). My Garmin VHF and Cortex are both on when I’m underway, although usually on different channels or channel combinations.

Gini raises an interesting point that probably differs between boats. Our R-31 has one Garmin box for VHF/AIS receive. So for our install we just left the box. If your boat has a separate AIS box (do some have this?) then might make sense to remove the AIS.

On the other hand, I think if you have the separate AIS box you already have send/receive? So then the question becomes, what do you gain with the Cortex? Is it cooler/better VHF? The monitoring? The constant upgrading of the Vesper Cortex? Worth noting that Vesper is now owned by Garmin, and it's a little unclear how much longer

I really like the Cortex, but if I already had Garmin AIS800 (send/receive) I might not have gone that route and instead gotten Garmin's boat monitoring solution for that functionality. YMMV.

 

[dbsea]

I’ll add to FlyMeAway’s advice that I now use both the Cortex and the Garmin VHF. I removed entirely the Garmin AIS unit, but I left the Garmin VHF in place. The Cortex has a nice feature where you can run both units on the same antenna (I may have had to add a patch cable — I don’t recall). My Garmin VHF and Cortex are both on when I’m underway, although usually on different channels or channel combinations.

Gini raises an interesting point that probably differs between boats. Our R-31 has one Garmin box for VHF/AIS receive. So for our install we just left the box. If your boat has a separate AIS box (do some have this?) then might make sense to remove the AIS.

On the other hand, I think if you have the separate AIS box you already have send/receive? So then the question becomes, what do you gain with the Cortex? Is it cooler/better VHF? The monitoring? The constant upgrading of the Vesper Cortex? Worth noting that Vesper is now owned by Garmin, and it's a little unclear how much longer

I really like the Cortex, but if I already had Garmin AIS800 (send/receive) I might not have gone that route and instead gotten Garmin's boat monitoring solution for that functionality. YMMV.

My 2016 C30-CB has the Garmin AIS 600 which does both send/receive, and it's all integrated with my Garmin VHF. I'm not a huge fan of the Garmin VHF and my antenna, I feel like it's underpowered or something, more often than not I hear mostly static over the VHF. If I do anything, i'll consider upgrading my antenna and the radio itself. The AIS600 works great. I can connect to a laptop with a USB cable and do software updates / config changes.

 

[Haifisch]

Thanks so much (especially Gini for the detailed explanation!) I'll be starting the install in December and report on this string for how it worked out. One driving factor was I was going to need to send my VHF to Garmin to get a new MMSI number programmed into it. Great to know I can put the GPS mushroom inside the boat rather than stringing externally.

 

[SJI Sailor]

@daveb Two ideas for better VHF, just in case you haven't tried them: (1) adjust squelch on the receiver (press in volume button on our Garmin), and (2) try to find or reduce interference on wiring, e.g. with snap on ferrites https://www.onallbands.com/ferrite-chokes-what-are-they-anyway/