furuno Nav Net Option

[Legend]

I was having some work dne on my Furuno Navnet r last week and the tech asked me if I had ever considered an $900 upgrade that would overlay the radar targets onto the GPS plotter. He said it was necessary if you were ever going to consider auto pilot. Does any one have this option and do you consider it worth $900? Also do you know if it is possible to overlay the targets from a Furuno onto another brand GPS.

Thanks
Mark

 

[richie rich]

overlay is a nice feature, but depending on the age of the equipment I'm not sure if 900 is worth it.....I don't have autopilot so I cant say if its really needed for that but it allows you to see a full screen vs a split screen which is nice.

Ask a Furuno CS tech online if thier product works with the other brands GPS..if they have the same NMEA wiring it theoretically should

 

[Hookup1]

Navnet

I doubt that you will find a radar or chartplotter from different manufactures that will work together. They all have their lockin's.

You need a better explanation of the $900 response from the Furuno rep to understand what they are doing.

In order to properly position the radar image on the chartplotter you need to know the magnetic heading of the boat. A magnetic heading sensor is a component of an autopilot system and can relay this info this to a radar or chartplotter via NMEA183. You can install a standalone magnetic heading sensor via NMEA 183.

The radar unit uses this info with the MARPA feature that allows you to track targets. The chartplotter rotates the radar image to the proper position to overlay it on the display.

My new Garmin unit can synthesizes the magnetic heading from the GPS heading. This works OK at speed but if your going slow in the fog it doesn't work very well and can be dangerous to use.

As far as usefulness, I still prefer a standard radar screen in fog or tight areas. The radar overlay is good offshore where you don't have many bounces but it sometimes gets lost in the chart.

My favorite use for overlays is snatching the fishing spots of other boats. You move the cursor to the radar bounce on the overlay, hit the mark button and that secret spot is yours. And you can do it from a mile away!

 

[Gman25]

I installed the ARPA option last year on my vx2. Mostly use it offshore and at the canyons.

2005 300 Marlin w/F250's

 

[gulfcart]

I was having some work dne on my Furuno Navnet r last week and the tech asked me if I had ever considered an $900 upgrade that would overlay the radar targets onto the GPS plotter. He said it was necessary if you were ever going to consider auto pilot. Does any one have this option and do you consider it worth $900? Also do you know if it is possible to overlay the targets from a Furuno onto another brand GPS.

Thanks
Mark

It was part of the package when I had the Nav Net installed with the original equipment when I bought the boat.. Don't know whether its worth $900, But I use it alot..I also have 2 - 10" screens so I can split it.

 

[gradyfish22]

I think the overlay is worth the upgrade. I plan to sell my navnet vx1 this winter and upgrade to the vx2, add the heading sensor as well as the sirus weather, will be well worth it for the money, being able to overlay your rdar onto your gps is nice, espeically if your not a pro at understanding your radar, it does make it simpiler and easier to identify certain objetcts, and lets you determine what objects that are not land marks or noted on the gps that you need to watch on the radar a bit closer and avoid while running. Also, being able to overlay the radar also means you can upgrade and get the sirus weather package, it does have a monthly fee, but is well worth it to me. i fish offshore so it would be nice to monitor an unpredicted storm coming our way, as well as getting sea surface temps and other shart overlays which are useful for finding fish. It also allows you to stay clear of rain and t storms which plague my area early in the season as well as late. To me, these upgrades give you a good piece of mind without totally changing your system out and spending thousands more.

 

[Hoghunter]

I was having some work dne on my Furuno Navnet r last week and the tech asked me if I had ever considered an $900 upgrade that would overlay the radar targets onto the GPS plotter. He said it was necessary if you were ever going to consider auto pilot. Does any one have this option and do you consider it worth $900? Also do you know if it is possible to overlay the targets from a Furuno onto another brand GPS.

Thanks
Mark

The option the rep is referring to is installing the Furuno heading sensor. You need a heading sensor in order to do overlay. If you already have an autopilot in your boat then you would already have a heading sensor that could feed NEMA data to the Navnet and thus give you "overlay."

I use the sensor from my Garmin autopilot to provided the NEMA data for overlay.

If you plan to buy an autopilot then I would advise that you use the sensor that comes with the pilot since it will have the necessary connections for your pilot control head and most also have NEMA output.

 

[Gman25]

He said it was necessary if you were ever going to consider auto pilot.

Thanks
Mark

Im not sure what that means, because if the $900 he is referring to is the heading sensor, then its not necessary because you can use the compass from the AP.If the $900 is for ARPA its not necessary to get ARPA just because you have an AP. :roll:

 

[gradyfish22]

Sounds like you need just the heading sensor, if you purchase an autopilot, most come with it, if you plan to buy a different brand autopilot, I would recommend to get the furuno heading sensor and then connect the autopilot through the nema cable, it will transmit the information needed, and buy an autopilot without the heading sensor, there are a few packages where you can do this, this will be more accurate and give you less issues with wiring and lost data, it will also be more beneficial to your overlay for just navigation when your not using an autopilot.