Replacing Furuno VX2 Electronics

[Gulffisher]

I'm sure there may be an old related post, but I want to ask anyway. Have any readers recently upgraded their old Furuno NavNet Vx2 electronics and if so, what replacement products did you choose and what are your experiences? My Furuno electronics are so well made they just keep working, and until the multi-receiver sat heading sensors became widely-available, none of the modern features seemed important enough to warrant replacing working electronics. I am thinking Furuno again but I may be brand-biased from prior years experience.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I had the NavNet on the Venture 34 and the screens suffered from the delimitation issue so I replaced them with a Garmin setup.

Honestly I believe that today is not a big difference in brands regarding quality and useful functions, some brands may have a slight advantage in only certain parts of a boat electronics setup.
I used the original 1998 Swedish made Simrad Kongsberg EQ32 and CP32 and they worked very well.
Later I had a Humminbird 998C SI for side-scan and Hummingbird was the only company back in 2008 having that for rec use and it worked great.
From 2010 I use/d only Garmin products and I am happy with them and no problems at all.
I had no problems with all devices so I can't speak about customer support, Garmin was helpful to answer some technical questions about my 5000ft depth sounder setup.

Garmin advanced with huge steps to a complete all-around cosmos of very well working boat electronics with a generally slimed easy to use UI and as they bought Navionics they have one of the best charts on the market, but can't read some other brands charts, but that is same for other brands too.
The have also very interesting new stuff like digital switches and other more or less useful tools for a complete boat control and management system.
For some this is a benefit, other don't mind about that.

The UI of Navico Simrad, Lawrence,, Raytheon B&G and Furuno are all different and all work well but have their quirks too, some more, some less.
Finally it's a personal question for each user what he likes more and he get more easy used to it to unlash each devices power.

Coming from the old NavNet you have the choice what you like more but that would involve that you spend more time to test them to see what is the most understandable and ergonomic for you.

For a new boat I would stick with Garmin as I know them, have nothing to complain and they do their job very good so that I have no reason to switch to another brand and learn how to use the devices well and at it's max.

There are thousands of believes about boat electronics, but they are highly personal what makes it difficult to get a clear image what is better or not for you and your kind of use/boating.

There is nothing wrong to stick with more modern Furuno devices, but neither with other brands, however the broadest integration level of other than radar, charting and depth sounder functions has Garmin, if this matters for you.
The Garmin GPSMAP series has also the highest screen resolution and with the new Garmin GPSMAP 9000 series the brought a currently unrivaled 4K MFD on the market, but it start at a steep price of 10K, but same as any other recent 19"+ MFD.

Chris

 

[Gulffisher]

Thank you.

My screens are still very good after 18 years. I suppose there may be considerable value with GW's closable electronics hatch...

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

Thank you.

My screens are still very good after 18 years. I suppose there may be considerable value with GW's closable electronics hatch...

A pleasure and I hope y post is helpful.

Yes, the closing electronics hatch is a very cool and useful feature and mine probably delaminated because they where exposed to sunlight at least when using, if not in use there was a kind of sliding door in front of the electronics panel.
The closing hatch is one of the things I like most on the Bimini/Canyon and 330 Express I saw.
Chris

 

[SkunkBoat]

18 yo screens means 18 yo maps and 18 yo sonar and probably 18 yo transducer and radar.

my friend, you are looking at a Nokia flip phone in an iPhone 15 world.

There is no comparison. you have 400 x 600? res...maybe 600x800?... and buttons!

I'm guessing even the Furuno menus have changed so much you won't recognize it.

Go to West Marine and play with all brands of MFDs. You touch them with your finger and shi happens!

Its time....

 

[Gulffisher]

That is what worries me. My 18 year old "flip phone" works every time!

I was specifically hoping to hear from owners who went away from Furuno to another brand.

On friends' boats, I have used Simrad and Garmin (new stuff). I have used Simrad and Lowrance on my smaller boat and consider these two equal-ish. I think of Hummingbird as bass gear.

I have used touchscreen and buttons and they both have their place.

The Simrads appears to have some quality issues and they frequently freeze from network/memory glitches. The Garmin radar and autopilot just don't measure up for me. I find buttons/knobs and roller/track balls to be easier in rough seas compared to small (can only fit 12" max on the 330) touch screens (yes, 20" plus touch screens are great, but I don't have the real estate for these). I can still call Furuno service techs both on the east and west coast and I can still get support/parts. I have TZ-Professional on a toughbook primarily for waypoint/event management and for up-to-date maps. TZ Pro's data management/filtering capabilities make Simrad and Garmin look like an iPhone 6. So I think you understand I love Furuno and have been waiting for Furuno CHIRP/stabilized sonar to catch up, and they now have.

I hoped to hear if anyone has switched from Furuno and like the different brand more.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

My previous boat was a 21' Arima and it had an older Furuno 1870F unit on it for the MFD, though I'm not sure what transducer it had on the boat, and it didn't have radar on it. I wasn't a fan of the Furuno at all and pretty much disliked everything about it, though I didn't have the money at the time to replace the electronics and I sold the boat anyway, so I just left them as they were. I believe those units came out around 2012 or so, at least that's the year that shows up on the owners manual when looking online. Either way, I bought my 21' Arima in 2017 and even if the electronics were only 5 years old at the time, they still to me left a lot to the imagination. As mentioned above, I'm not a fan of buttons, rotary knobs or really anything else other than being a touchscreen. I know that not everyone likes only having a touchscreen in the event that you get water on the screen and it makes it more difficult to use. I've never really had that issue before, and most manufacturers make a touchscreen/button operated combination MFD to where you can use both or either. At the time I also thought that the unit/maps just felt old and cheap. I've admittedly always preferred Garmin brand of electronics as my uncle's boat before mine had a 12" Garmin touchscreen device on it as well as Garmin radar. I really liked his setup but that was back in 2013, so a lot has obviously changed over the years since that time. My current boat is a GW 228 Seafarer that came with around the same vintage, 2010, Garmin 7" touchscreen device that actually froze up while I was doing an update on it and upgrading the maps.

So, I decided to go with a Garmin 943xsv and really like just about everything about it. I like the touchscreen feature, it's a 9" screen that has great resolution, it's fast and it'll do everything and more that I need it to do. It's got the traditional, ClearVu and SideVu sonar, and I really just like everything about it. I know it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison when comparing now 10+ year old Furuno brand electronics to basically brand new Garmin electronics, but that's my opinion on the matter and the only relatable experience that I have with Furuno electronics. I don't have radar on my current boat, though I've considered it over the last couple of years since I purchased the boat in October of 2021. If I were to add radar to it, I'd likely get the Garmin Fantom 18x or something similar as I like the tracking feature on it for vessels, birds and so forth. That being said, in the 30+ years that I've been boating and fishing, I think there have probably been 2 times where I was ever in conditions that warranted the use of radar. One of those times I didn't have radar and the other time I did, of which it definitely was nice to have radar on the one occasion, but the other was just something to where I drove slowly back to our beach cabin, while paying attention to the GPS screen, depth of the water and all around us for other boats.

 

[Gulffisher]

My previous boat was a 21' Arima and it had an older Furuno 1870F unit on it for the MFD, though I'm not sure what transducer it had on the boat, and it didn't have radar on it. I wasn't a fan of the Furuno at all and pretty much disliked everything about it, though I didn't have the money at the time to replace the electronics and I sold the boat anyway, so I just left them as they were. I believe those units came out around 2012 or so, at least that's the year that shows up on the owners manual when looking online. Either way, I bought my 21' Arima in 2017 and even if the electronics were only 5 years old at the time, they still to me left a lot to the imagination. As mentioned above, I'm not a fan of buttons, rotary knobs or really anything else other than being a touchscreen. I know that not everyone likes only having a touchscreen in the event that you get water on the screen and it makes it more difficult to use. I've never really had that issue before, and most manufacturers make a touchscreen/button operated combination MFD to where you can use both or either. At the time I also thought that the unit/maps just felt old and cheap. I've admittedly always preferred Garmin brand of electronics as my uncle's boat before mine had a 12" Garmin touchscreen device on it as well as Garmin radar. I really liked his setup but that was back in 2013, so a lot has obviously changed over the years since that time. My current boat is a GW 228 Seafarer that came with around the same vintage, 2010, Garmin 7" touchscreen device that actually froze up while I was doing an update on it and upgrading the maps.

So, I decided to go with a Garmin 943xsv and really like just about everything about it. I like the touchscreen feature, it's a 9" screen that has great resolution, it's fast and it'll do everything and more that I need it to do. It's got the traditional, ClearVu and SideVu sonar, and I really just like everything about it. I know it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison when comparing now 10+ year old Furuno brand electronics to basically brand new Garmin electronics, but that's my opinion on the matter and the only relatable experience that I have with Furuno electronics. I don't have radar on my current boat, though I've considered it over the last couple of years since I purchased the boat in October of 2021. If I were to add radar to it, I'd likely get the Garmin Fantom 18x or something similar as I like the tracking feature on it for vessels, birds and so forth. That being said, in the 30+ years that I've been boating and fishing, I think there have probably been 2 times where I was ever in conditions that warranted the use of radar. One of those times I didn't have radar and the other time I did, of which it definitely was nice to have radar on the one occasion, but the other was just something to where I drove slowly back to our beach cabin, while paying attention to the GPS screen, depth of the water and all around us for other boats.

Thank you!

 

[Liv-E]

Going through the same process on my Express 305, does anyone know which current manufacturer screen will slot into the old navnet vx2 cutout? Not looking to redo the electronics hatch, would prefer a screen that fits current hole or needs a slightly bigger cutout. Thanks.

 

[Gulffisher]

Assuming the 305 electronics hatch is very similar to the 330, I think you should easily be able to overlay with 1/4"" or so starboard or equal if the cutout is too big for your selected screen.