Brilliant Service from Vesper Marine

[Sandy]

I have a Vesper Marine AIS Transponder that was doing some odd things. I dropped their helpdesk an email as it was well out of warranty, the unit was manufactured in 2011, and they came back with both a diagnosis and a replacement part at a very reasonable cost. Sat down yesterday with a cup off coffee and the correct screw drivers and an hour later i was back up and running.

 

[Carib]

You were lucky, my 2012ish WMX 750 also started playing up recently (it kept asking for the brightness to be adjusted, which obscured the screen, and was randomly powering off and on occasionally) - they said they had no service parts left unfortunately. Don't suppose your behaviour was similar..? Brilliant bits of kit though, luckily I was just in time to get a good deal on one of the very last 850s before it was discontinued!

 

[Sandy]

You were lucky, my 2012ish WMX 750 also started playing up recently (it kept asking for the brightness to be adjusted, which obscured the screen, and was randomly powering off and on occasionally) - they said they had no service parts left unfortunately. Don't suppose your behaviour was similar..? Brilliant bits of kit though, luckily I was just in time to get a good deal on one of the very last 850s before it was discontinued!

Almost the same symptoms.

Power on, a bunch of random screens then power off, all before the GPS could get a fix (I use the internal GPS below decks and it takes a couple of minutes to get a fix). It is a 850.

 

[doug748]

I had a minor query when fitting my 850, the personal reply came back from NZ within hours, I was very impressed.

 

[Rob_Webb]

Yup the Vesper guys are pretty good. Admittedly I live in Auckland but I logged a tech query one Saturday evening and I got a phone call from a technician Sunday morning - and he came to my boat on the Monday morning to help resolve.

They are one of the best in the marine services industry - although the bar is pretty low isn’t it...

 

[RichardS]

Another thumbs up for Vesper Marine. They have always been very helpful when I have needed it.

Once it was they other way round. About 5 years ago they released a firmware update. I installed it almost immediately and it solved one problem but created another. I emailed them and they immediately withdrew the update and said they would look at it again. Within a few days, a revised update was issued which was fine.

Richard

 

[Habebty]

Yes, they always answer emails and follow up. Good customer service, Bit like Garmin used to be like.

 

[Neeves]

Maybe its a NZ marine thing. Maxwell appear to run a 24/365 service, someone, somewhere is always available. The philosophy is - they service a leisure market and most people take their leisure at weekends and holidays (in the Southern Hemisphere - in the sun at Xmas etc) so they need to offer a service when people are most likely to have issues.

Jonathan

 

[JeffRobbins]

Thanks for the kind words about our support.

Carib... I just checked and we do still have some spares that would likely solve your problem. Please get back in touch with support and reference me.

Jeff Robbins
Vesper Marine

 

[KompetentKrew]

I was about to ask you, since you're here @JeffRobbins, if you have any idea when the Cortex will be shipping, but I see a number of UK suppliers are now showing it stock.

Instead, can I trouble you to clarify some confusion over the V1 and M1 variants, please?

• Hudson Marine imply the M1 is the base station only, that it operates only as AIS transponder - lacking a handset it cannot operate as a VHF.
• Vision Marine's listing for the M1 states that it includes the wired handset.

Am I right in thinking that I can just buy the base unit and wireless handsets - I can use it as a VHF without needing a wired handset?

Thanks for your time.

 

[JeffRobbins]

Yes, we're shipping to UK and Europe. And many more are in transit.

And yes, adding either a wireless or wired handset is all you need to make it a VHF. More detail....

M1 is an AIS B/SO with Wifi and cellular. It uses the same Cortex on-board and monitoring apps. It has the same smartAIS collision and anchor watch alarms, remote monitoring also including off-boat anchor watch (my favorite part as I'm currently sitting at anchor). It does everything the V1 does except without a handset it doesn't have VHF. You can add VHF without any changes other than getting a wired or wireless handset. Actually, the wired handset is essentially wireless because the wire just provides power and the wires acts as a tether. You don't wire it back to the M1 which makes install easier.

The V1 is a bundle containing the M1 and a wired handset (H1). Although we recommend always having a wired handset (you don't have to worry about finding it or recharging) we have many people who prefer wireless ones only. The wireless (H1P) comes with a charging cradle and another cradle that just mounts anywhere you want as a holder.

Jeff