We deciding to install a Vesper Cortex. Murphy's law dictates it will now go on sale which of course happened. Hopefully some other Ericson owners can take advantage:
From what I understand, Garmin bought Vesper and they are consolidating their product offerings. Vesper used to offer a North American unit and a world wide unit, but Garmin is now clearing out the North American units. The only difference is the cellular modem. Since I don't plan on leaving North America with my boat, the North American Unit works well and it saved me $400 when I purchased it. it's now $700 less than the world version. The Cortex is an AIS transponder, AIS Receiver, VHF radio, VHF splitter, remote alarming unit, anchor watch, instrument WIFI server, and NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 converter. Not a bad deal if you're looking to upgrade any one of these systems. I haven't fully installed mine yet, but so far it seems to be a great unit.
Vesper Cortex V1 - Vhf Radio W/Sotdma Smartais & Remote Vessel Monitoring - Only Works In North America
Vesper Cortex V1 Advanced MultiStation VHF AIS Monitor
www.hodgesmarine.com
From what I understand, Garmin bought Vesper and they are consolidating their product offerings. Vesper used to offer a North American unit and a world wide unit, but Garmin is now clearing out the North American units. The only difference is the cellular modem. Since I don't plan on leaving North America with my boat, the North American Unit works well and it saved me $400 when I purchased it. it's now $700 less than the world version. The Cortex is an AIS transponder, AIS Receiver, VHF radio, VHF splitter, remote alarming unit, anchor watch, instrument WIFI server, and NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 converter. Not a bad deal if you're looking to upgrade any one of these systems. I haven't fully installed mine yet, but so far it seems to be a great unit.