NASA Marine

Seajet said:
" Snivelling evokes poor service " ?! Apart from sabotaging the English Language I can disagree as a distictly ex-NASA customer.

Their windspeed unit has become legendary in the realms of instant breakdowns and unrealabity.
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I'm sure I do massacre the English language but can't see what's wrong with "Snivelling evokes poor service". Enlighten me? Subject - verb - object. Gerund - transitive verb - adjective - noun. You can't get much simpler than that!
 
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The boat had a Clipper Depth on it when I bought it which I think dated back to the 90s... still going strong until I removed it and connected the tranducer to an NMEA box instead. Ended up giving the display unit away to be re-used.

Had a BM1 a year and a half.... fantastic bit of kit.

Got a Combi Supernova Tri/Anchor LED light. Much brighter than the knackered old Aquasignal it replaced - even at a reasonable level of heel. Draws nothing. Working fine so far (again about a year).

I've had an ocassional dealing with Nasa... they don't seem very interested in customer feedback... but I've not had any problems. Chances are I'll buy more of their stuff in the future, and I'd definitely buy the SuperNova again.
 
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Amulet said:
I'm sure I do massacre the English language but can't see what's wrong with "Snivelling evokes poor service". Enlighten me? Subject - verb - object. Gerund - transitive verb - adjective - noun. You can't get much simpler than that!
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Maybe he was just PROvoking you.:)
 
I am getting a lot of negative vibes about the MHU of the NASA Clipper Wind.

Some of it probably based on experiences of long obsolete production and elephantine memories of a single bad experience.

However

Comparing prices of complete systems currently offered

Nasa Clipper wind 192 spare MHU 108 spare cups 11.20
Advansea 428.92
Raymarine 720 but discounted to 599
Old tacktic entry level unitSPMHU 449.99 but probably old stock as now taken over by RM and no longer offered by RM
Raymarine Tacktic Full SP 729.00

So on the basis of price the Nasa unit is too cheap?

Or is it just let down by a poor MHU design.

Maybe its an opportunity for a joint YAPP between Angus and Andy

Now that would be pointless.:) but interesting to observe...

On the other hand you can afford to buy it and three spare MHUs and still have 83 squid to spend in the Dog and Duck in comparison to Raymarines cheapest and heavily discounted offering.
 
TSB240 said:
I am getting a lot of negative vibes about the MHU of the NASA Clipper Wind.

Some of it probably based on experiences of long obsolete production and elephantine memories of a single bad experience.

However

Comparing prices of complete systems currently offered

Nasa Clipper wind 192 spare MHU 108 spare cups 11.20
Advansea 428.92
Raymarine 720 but discounted to 599
Old tacktic entry level unitSPMHU 449.99 but probably old stock as now taken over by RM and no longer offered by RM
Raymarine Tacktic Full SP 729.00

So on the basis of price the Nasa unit is too cheap?

Or is it just let down by a poor MHU design.

Maybe its an opportunity for a joint YAPP between Angus and Andy

Now that would be pointless.:) but interesting to observe...

On the other hand you can afford to buy it and three spare MHUs and still have 83 squid to spend in the Dog and Duck in comparison to Raymarines cheapest and heavily discounted offering.
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It's all very well looking at the price of the masthead unit, but there's a huge inconvenience involved in changing or repairing it. For many people (like me) who will only venture up the mast in an absolute emergency, changing the masthead unit involves paying someone to get up there (often using a crane).

The Nasa masthead transducer was poorly designed and engineered. OK, it's cheap, but it's not fit for purpose in many people's opinion.
 
pvb said:
It's all very well looking at the price of the masthead unit, but there's a huge inconvenience involved in changing or repairing it. For many people (like me) who will only venture up the mast in an absolute emergency, changing the masthead unit involves paying someone to get up there (often using a crane).

The Nasa masthead transducer was poorly designed and engineered. OK, it's cheap, but it's not fit for purpose in many people's opinion.
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PVB,

spot on !

From daftly trying 2 Clippper wind jobs, I'd like to meet the ' designer ' down some dark alley ! :rolleyes:
 
Dont have that problem as I can lift and lower my own 30 foot mast nearly as quickly as a tarts knickers.

If the Mean Time Between Fails is 1 year or less I could live with it.

Mast down new MHU.

Send one back for free replacement.

Now if failure is a wear in failure then different issue.

Seems to me all the MHU needs is a bit of value engineering and they would have an excellent product and still be cheaper than ripoffmarine.

My engineering brain is engaging.

Anybody got a failed MHU I can have?
 
I wouldnt blame the designer

As a production engineer with a knowledge of value engineering I reckon the blame is more likely to rest with an accountant that was not prepared to cough up for more expensive polymers, bearings or tooling and got greedy and went for a bigger margin.

The product can only be as good as its sensor so investment in cost should be there.

Line them all up and shoot em first please Andy
 
It's not a like for like comparison on price as the more expensive ones have additional features as well as not self destructing, for example...

A true analog display
Networked to share data
True as well as apparent wind
Close hauled indication
More accurate depiction of angle
A decent user manual

I don't remember the Nasa model having any of these, but things may have changed.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
It's not a like for like comparison on price as the more expensive ones have additional features as well as not self destructing, for example...

A true analog display
Networked to share data
True as well as apparent wind
Close hauled indication
More accurate depiction of angle
A decent user manual

I don't remember the Nasa model having any of these, but things may have changed.
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All my other guages are digital.....
Close hauled gauge is additional 80 squid.... umm no round at dog and duck then.
Gives a more accurate and analogue display.
and a MWV Nmea sentence.

What RTFM no way i am turning into a woman....:)
 
This is not a contest. I'm willing to believe you can do better by spending more money. I have 8 NASA instruments for which I couldn't have afforded classy equivalents. I understand them. The wind instrument's masthead unit needs overhauling every three years. It has never cost more than 20 quid to do it. My wooden mast comes down for attention every year anyway. All the other instruments do what they're supposed to. They are not networked. I bet there are navtex instruments that would get a signal when mine wouldn't. Mine has never failed to get a signal when I needed it. Cheap and cheerful if you like, but never caused me much grief.

Calls tp NASA always handled effectively. I even got someone to explain Peukert's equation to me when asking about the BM1.

I do know someone who went from NASA to Raymarine and then back to NASA on the basis of reliability and cost of repairs.

I'd love to have all the clever kit that money can buy, but am glad someone makes stuff I can afford.

Guess I'm just luckier than others.
 
TSB240 said:
I wouldnt blame the designer

As a production engineer with a knowledge of value engineering I reckon the blame is more likely to rest with an accountant that was not prepared to cough up for more expensive polymers, bearings or tooling and got greedy and went for a bigger margin.

The product can only be as good as its sensor so investment in cost should be there.

Line them all up and shoot em first please Andy
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Who's supplying the .50 calibre or bazooka ?

In fact I do agree with not networking instruments, I have a fear they might all collude behind my back, share errors and gang up on me.
 
Amulet said:
I'd love to have all the clever kit that money can buy, but am glad someone makes stuff I can afford.

Guess I'm just luckier than others.
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Me too! :)

1 set of cups for the meteoman in 5 years, always thought of nasa as a little bit of a lottery but the standalone ais, ais engine & navtex engine have been 100% so far :cool:
 
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