Opinions on Garmin wireless wind?

[Puget Dan]

Want to see how you all like your wireless wind instruments? We just upgraded out chart plotter and radar to the Garmin 1243 xsv and vesper 8000 Ais. love the system. Want to add wireless wind instrument 42' feet above the system. What have you all found with the wireless wind systems, Garmin says they are good to 50'.
Thanks for any feed back.

[Mike OReilly]

My boat has a pretty old original TackTick wind instrument. It works quite well most of the time. My mast is about 50' off the water.

[Bill O]

Ditto Mike's experience with an old TackTick wind sensor, except ours is 60' up.

[Rumrace]

When you put the garman up and rip out the wires loop and weigh them please. The new instruments are all connecting wireless.
We may see Wisa systems invade next.

[sv_pelagia]

Ditto on our Tacktick wireless wind... it's 60' up and works well 95% of the time (there is something in a nearby marina that knocks it out for perhaps 50 feet... odd, but totally reproducible). Not an issue out on the water.

[Rumrace]

I’d give Wisa a solid pass on a 110 foot mast cause it has a private broadcast range of 1500 feet. I image Garman is using wifi or Bluetooth 4. All three are only as good as the ability to receive input. Wisa longest fastest and only system which can’t be interfered with outside the system.
Wifi repeaters would be an easy add to a spreader. Blue tooth 4 is a big step in range

[LoudMusic]

As a systems administrator I would not use wireless for anything that is not require to move. Wires are always more reliable and require less maintenance. The weight of the wire up the mast is almost nonexistent compared to the weight of literally anything else in or on the mast.

[Rumrace]

Good points. Wisa is the only wireless I’m aware of which can out perform cad 7.
No question wires rule. The other options are close proximity and not private. Fibre might be the best option

[Mike OReilly]

I don't know what my old Tacktick uses as a wireless protocol. I don't think it's wifi. Certainly not bluetooth. Does anyone know?

As I said, I've found this now pretty old system (dates back to early 2000s) to be pretty darn reliable. Wireless is everywhere now, and most of the time it works great. I wouldn't hesitate to install a new wireless system on my boat if/when my current windy dies.

[taylormobile]

Thought about going wireless 3 years ago and called Garman tech support as their tech document claimed 50' range on Mast height, not distance to receiver. (trig). They noted my comment, could not answer the question and said they would elevate concern to their engineering. Do they claim 50' range or 50' mast height? I replace all instruments with B&G, hard wired and all is good.

Steve

[kish]

Originally Posted by Puget Dan

Want to see how you all like your wireless wind instruments? We just upgraded out chart plotter and radar to the Garmin 1243 xsv and vesper 8000 Ais. love the system. Want to add wireless wind instrument 42' feet above the system. What have you all found with the wireless wind systems, Garmin says they are good to 50'.
Thanks for any feed back.

I had a TakTik wireless wind instrument. on a 45 foot mast.
It was unreliable after a year due to the postage stamp sized solar cell that powered the system at mast head,

It did not work at all at night as the the solar cell ceased to keep the mast head battery functional, and UV degradation of the masthead solar cell caused the entire unit to cease indicating.
The vane and cups continued to operate.
Any unit at masthead should have a wired power supply.

[Sailor George]

Iwas unable to get a wire down my mast so I opted for the Garmin gwind 2 wireless. My mast is 48 ft so I know I’m at the very edge of the range limit. I have it paired to my Garmin gpsmap 7607. The signal is not wifi, it’s a Garmin priority signal. The system has a mind of its o win on when it wants to connect. Some days it will work all day and other times it comes on and off. There is no way to get a booster for the signal. I can’t move the gps closer to the transponder so for now I have to live with it. If you can go with a wired system that’s what I would do.

[moseriw]

As a systems administrator I would not use wireless for anything that is not require to move. Wires are always more reliable and require less maintenance.


Hmm, did you ever had corrosion at your wireless connection? Or a broken terminal due to shaky movements of the boat?

[OS2Dude]

My first boat had the older Garmin wind instrument (wired). Never had an issue with it. Our current boat has the newer Garmin (Nexus) wind instrument (wireless). It works OK but will sometimes loose the signal and the only way I found to reestablish it is to shut down the whole NMEA network and bring it back. (There is a NEXUS-NMEA converter near the receiver.) The instrument has a small solar cell that is supposed to keep the instruments battery charged, but eventually someone will have to climb the mast and change it out. If I could have, I'd have used a wired instrument.

[rbrentp]

Had the Garmin Nexxus from right after Garmin bought them. 37' mast, another 6' to Garmin unit, worked great, much more sensitive in low winds than the cup style. Now 6 years old.