new to furuno person, help

[njwater]

Hello all,
I just purchased a 2008 GW that has a full Furuno set with the NAVnet vx2 Navionics gold, radar, sonar, chart plotter. The problem is I am a Garmin or Raytheon user and familiar with NEMA2k and I'm a little lost. My first thought was to take out all and put a new Garmin system in, but everything works and seems like it works well, so maybe I just leave it in place. Can I get some guidance on the following?
I have 2 RDP 149 displays with 2 additional smaller displays with depth, temp, lat/long, and a Simrad AP.

1. Is there a black box somewhere that ties them all together, or do they function via the 149 units?
2. I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system?
3. I may replace the AP with Garmin or Raymarine, can I make newer NEMA2k products work with this system?
4. The NAVionics card is outdated and is 128MB Can I upgrade to the newest version?

Thank you all for any input.

 

[Titanic II]

Is there a black box somewhere that ties them all together, or do they function via the 149 units? ANSWER: each unit is an independent processor referred to as a Multifunction Display (MFD). They communicate with the other units via Ethernet.

I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system? ANSWER: Yes, the FA70 will work. It is connected via NMEA0183 interfacing to DATA PORT 2 of one of the RDP149's.

I may replace the AP with Garmin or Raymarine, can I make newer NEMA2k products work with this system? ANSWER: You can use a NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 converter. Connect the 0183 side to an unused data port on one of the RDP149's.

The NAVionics card is outdated and is 128MB Can I upgrade to the newest version? ANSWER: Navionics has discontinued the chart cards that work with the NavNet VX2. However, the software in the RDP-149 can be converted to read C-Map chart cards. Please check with C-Map to verify they still have charts available that will work with the VX2. https://www.c-map.com/

 

[njwater]

Is there a black box somewhere that ties them all together, or do they function via the 149 units? ANSWER: each unit is an independent processor referred to as a Multifunction Display (MFD). They communicate with the other units via Ethernet.

I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system? ANSWER: Yes, the FA70 will work. It is connected via NMEA0183 interfacing to DATA PORT 2 of one of the RDP149's.

I may replace the AP with Garmin or Raymarine, can I make newer NEMA2k products work with this system? ANSWER: You can use a NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 converter. Connect the 0183 side to an unused data port on one of the RDP149's.

The NAVionics card is outdated and is 128MB Can I upgrade to the newest version? ANSWER: Navionics has discontinued the chart cards that work with the NavNet VX2. However, the software in the RDP-149 can be converted to read C-Map chart cards. Please check with C-Map to verify they still have charts available that will work with the VX2. https://www.c-map.com/

Thank you very much, you helped save me from a lot of guessing and poking around the internet.

 

[njwater]

Is there a black box somewhere that ties them all together, or do they function via the 149 units? ANSWER: each unit is an independent processor referred to as a Multifunction Display (MFD). They communicate with the other units via Ethernet.

I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system? ANSWER: Yes, the FA70 will work. It is connected via NMEA0183 interfacing to DATA PORT 2 of one of the RDP149's.

I may replace the AP with Garmin or Raymarine, can I make newer NEMA2k products work with this system? ANSWER: You can use a NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 converter. Connect the 0183 side to an unused data port on one of the RDP149's.

The NAVionics card is outdated and is 128MB Can I upgrade to the newest version? ANSWER: Navionics has discontinued the chart cards that work with the NavNet VX2. However, the software in the RDP-149 can be converted to read C-Map chart cards. Please check with C-Map to verify they still have charts available that will work with the VX2. https://www.c-map.com/

Wondering if you could provide a little more guidance. I have the AIS FA70 and understand to connect it to data port 2, however the nema 2000 plug and the one on the RDP149 are different. Is there a cable or adaptor for this conversion ?

 

[SilverKing]

I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system? ANSWER: Yes, the FA70 will work. It is connected via NMEA0183 interfacing to DATA PORT 2 of one of the RDP149's.

 

[njwater]

I want to add, class b AIS, will the FA70 Furuno work with this system? ANSWER: Yes, the FA70 will work. It is connected via NMEA0183 interfacing to DATA PORT 2 of one of the RDP149's.

Right but, The output from the AIS is NMEA2000 and the input at data port 2 is a furuno 5 pin plug. Is there an adaptor for that? How do I create that bridge ?

 

[Johnny Electron]

You wouldn't use the NMEA 2000 output for a NMEA 0183 input of the Vx2. They are not the same standard. You would use the proper 0183 data output wires of the FA70. (white and brown on the power/data cable). Data port 2 of an RDP149 is a 6-pin not a 5 pin. A 6 pin NMEA cable would be used and the FA70 0183 output would go to the Data 2 input wires (Yellow and Green). No other wires of the 6 pin can be used as data 2 now becomes an AIS input port ONLY. It should be set for matching 38,400 baud rate.

 

[Bayhouse]

I had a GW 330 that also had the VX2 when I bought the boat, and I too came from Garmin at the time. Your gear is top notch - especially the radar - but ancient. It's speaks to the build quality of Furuno that so much of this gear is still in use, probably more than 20 years after introduction. I had it all working with a new AIS transponder, autopilot, and a modern VHF - but it wasn't easy and I had many of the same questions you have. This site answered all of my questions.

However, you'll have a steep learning curve with the UI on the VX2 coming from Garmin and the networking is painfully different than N2K. You'll also become disappointed with the speed of the gear (refresh rate). Your equipment still has reasonable value on the resale market that you could use to buy newer, more modern equipment. I suggest you consider the new Furuno gear over Garmin, I made the switch on my current boat and couldn't be happier.

 

[Wdeertz]

I’ll second that opinion on Furuno equipment. My prior boat was raymarine and when I bought my current boat 6+ years ago it was 100% Furuno. At first I was lost but after getting over the learning curve I found the Furuno user interface pretty intuitive. I’ve since upgraded my Navnet 3d to TZTBBX and TZ2BB but still have an original radar 1945 that is 14 years old and works perfectly.