Vesper Cortex: An Unpaid Review

[znep]

Originally Posted by shimari

Interesting - I was going to wire in a Shelly 1 plus. I went the Signalk route instead.

I just looked at the Cortex web page at Garmin and it indicates that security updates are only available until 2024-01-17. Hopefully, it's just a failure to update the web page. But, I'm wondering if they're going to kill the product now that they took Vesper out of the game.

The other interesting aspect to that is that after acquisition Garmin released a product based on the Cortex called the Cortex Neuro designed for unmanned surface vessels (USVs). I assume that is a very hot market right now, but have no insights into Garmin's inroads into that market.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/902861

For operators of uncrewed surface vessels or drones, Cortex Neuro is a robust marine-grade communications gateway offering full VHF and AIS signal sharing and control to a remote command system.

[CyKlop]

My opinion of the M1 is do t get one. I’ve had one for over 3 years and here is the list of problems

1. Main unit failed after 3 months necessitating a replacement, which took several months to complete (partially my fault on the length of time as I was on an extended cruise at the time)

2. Wired in handset failed, necessitating replace,ent after 6 months

3. Wireless handset battery life lasting approx 6 to 8 hours and now won’t charge at all, requiring a replacement. Support useless…

[stanhoney]

I'm happy with my Garmin/Vesper Cortex. The new software update addressed my concerns.

[Yaghan]

I got my Vesper Cortex in 2022 and strongly advice against it
- repeated malfunction of both wired and wireless handset with several replacement - warranty but slow and bad support from Garmin. Also unexplained interference with other instruments when connected to NMEA.
I have now decommissioned the system and replaced it with RayMarine Ray 90

[shimari]

I'm on the fence with our Cortex now. I've not had many of the problems of others, but there have been problems as you would expect with any new product.

I bought it prior to Vesper being acquired by Garmin. Installed after the acquisition, and initially I had problems with the data in the cloud disappearing. That was solved after months as soon as Garmin escalated it to the remaining Vesper team. The latest problem is that there is a fault that causes the system to hang randomly requiring a power cycle. I'm hoping the latest update solves that.

I just wonder what Cortex would be like now if Vesper had remained independent. It's unfortunate as SDR in the marine world has so much potential.

[Networker]

Originally Posted by shimari

I'm on the fence with our Cortex now. I've not had many of the problems of others, but there have been problems as you would expect with any new product.

I bought it prior to Vesper being acquired by Garmin. Installed after the acquisition, and initially I had problems with the data in the cloud disappearing. That was solved after months as soon as Garmin escalated it to the remaining Vesper team. The latest problem is that there is a fault that causes the system to hang randomly requiring a power cycle. I'm hoping the latest update solves that.

I just wonder what Cortex would be like now if Vesper had remained independent. It's unfortunate as SDR in the marine world has so much potential.

I've had the Vesper Cortex since 2020 and had a love/hate relationship with it. The latest 2.1 software absolutely fixed all the issues I had with it, so it's functional now.

The wireless handset quit charging but I was able to fix it by pulling out the copper connectors on the cradle to ensure they were indeed connecting to the handset. Haven't had an issue since.

The wired handset cable is flimsy and not trustworthy, I've had to tape it to keep it alive.

I'm getting a new boat and trying to decide if I get another Vesper, or see if the new Em-Trak Nexus solution will be any good. It has some interesting features I'd like like VHF radio app on mobile phone, handheld AIS for MOB, etc.

Panbo just wrote about it, so I'm torn, I don't need a decision until Nov or so.

https://panbo.com/em-traks-premium-n...icom-m510-evo/

[znep]

Recently my Vesper Cortex M1 hub stopped functioning on the NMEA 2000 interface. After a lot of debugging, I opened it up for the first time and found water and corrosion inside. The specs claim it is "Waterproof (IPx7)". It was mounted in a generally dry space with other electronics, but clearly got water in it somehow.

I suspect the wifi/cloud/gps antenna connections at the top right of the unit (brass colored). One of them came loose shortly after I got the unit as I was trying to tighten the wifi antenna, you can see in the picture of it that there is a bit of an o-ring type seal but that doesn't help if they are loose and I don't know if they even can be tightened sufficiently against the plastic case. I tightened it again as much as I could, which was tricky without opening the unit. In hindsight, seeing now how easy it is to open, I definitely would have opened it and tightened it properly and possibly sealed it better.

I brought the loose antenna connection up to Vesper at the time in 2021 but they weren't interested in doing anything so I didn't push it. I didn't intend for it to be in an area with water exposure ... but once again, the pitfalls of making things waterproof are that if water does get in it can't get out.

You may also be able to make out a very tight twist in the middle of the cable for one of the brass colored connectors (GPS), that was like that from the factory, so seems maybe they had trouble installing them properly.

Now I have the unpleasant task ahead of me of trying to get Garmin to cover this manufacturing defect past warranty, or buy another, or just give up on the Cortex.

[CarlF]

I've had the Cortex for over 3 years now and it has been great. Definitely the best AIS on the market.

Early on I had problem with the handset charging but I bought a new charging base for $35 and it's been fine ever since. It's really important to put some dielectric grease on the brass charging pins to keep them from corroding.

The software initially had some weaknesses but since the 2.1 update by Garmin I don't have anything I'd really change. My M1 base is in the cabin at the nav station so has never gotten wet. It has so many wire connections that I don't think it should be mounted in an exposed position.

I don't use it as my primary VHF. Not because it doesn't work but I just don't like the smartphone type mike. I'm old school and prefer the regular corded mike on my Raymarine VHF. But the Cortex is a great second VHF. I leave it tuned to CH13 or CH9.

But again, the reason to buy the Cortex is for the AIS which has far superior functionality to anything else and the handset AIS display is really easy to use and intuitive. I think Vesper made a mistake putting so many features in - especially all the DSC stuff as no one really uses DSC.

Garmin would be smart to release a V2 Cortex with fewer features and a lower price.

[shimari]

My previous issues with Cortex were resolved with the 2.1 update as well. It was crashing every few days randomly when left on for monitoring.

@Znep good luck with Garmin. Simple things with them are a multi-week ordeal.

[s/v Jedi]

RIP Garmin Cortex.

EM-Trak Nexus will wipe it from the market soon. What is left will be wipes awy by the Icom M510

[shimari]

Maybe - if so, it's only because Garmin gutted the Vesper dev team.

The Em-trak has two features over the Cortex: phone as a remote VHF, and MOB. Given the SDR foundation of the Cortex, I don't see why Garmin can't add that quickly if and only if they didn't destroy the dev team and out source it....which they probably did.