Any real world experience with Maretron MPower digital switching?

[davidcoon]

My wife and I are doing a refit on our catamaran and considering converting to digital switching. Does anyone have an MPower CLMD12/16 system up and running on their boat? Do you like it? Has it been reliable? We've gotten a lot of arm chair advice but no one with real world experience. I'm a retired engineer, so tech and programming isn't an issue. We're more interested in insights into reliability and design tips for getting the install right the first time. Thank you! David

[mcarthur]

Same questions here!

[Jim Jones]

Also interested in this.

Which system to deploy? Maretron, Czone, other? What are the pluses/minus of each respective system?

Hope someone with real world user experience chimes in here.

[Jim Jones]

Came across this article - you may or may not have seen it, but if not its very interesting and is about digital switching.

https://sailfeed42.rssing.com/chan-1...l#c14518212a66

So straight away I have learnt something from that article. Maretron uses standard N2K messaging and Czone uses proprietary messaging on the N2K system.

"Maretron has adopted those messages and operates on standard PGNs while CZone continues to use their proprietary messaging to control their switches. Within a single vendor’s system the use of standard or proprietary PGNs won’t change your experience with the products, but if you have multiple vendors’ equipment on the boat and hope to have it work together your options will be significantly better with NMEA 2000 standards compliant communications used."

So far in my admittedly limited research its 1/0 to Maretron.