Question on RDP-149 and Compatible systems

[88SeaRay340EC_SNJ]

Hi All - New to the boating electronics world and this forum (my first post) - so please bear with me if this is a rookie question.

I have older (25yrs plus) Furuno systems on my boat, and I want to replace them. Now, I do not fish much, more for pleasure cruising. I did not want to get into brand new super expensive systems, but wanted to at least get something that was "newer" to update to.

I have been looking at the Furuno RFP-149 and what I want to know is if I went with this, is the Furuno Fl-50 compatible with this system? I have the speed/depth/temp transducer so I figure it would be nice to have the Fl-50 to show that. Since the RDP-149 handles both Radar and Nav, then I have the systems I need. IF I am wrong in this thinking, let me know. I am open to suggestions as well.

 

[Kraken]

The VX2 (RDP-149) is circa 2005. It worked with certain older analog radar units which would only be available on the used marketplace (eBay) The FI50 is a NMEA2000 device and would need a converter (IF-NMEA2K2) to convert it to NMEA0183 to communicate with the VX2. You may want to check with CMAP to see if they still have chart cards available for the VX2 for your area.

 

[88SeaRay340EC_SNJ]

The VX2 (RDP-149) is circa 2005. It worked with certain older analog radar units which would only be available on the used marketplace (eBay) The FI50 is a NMEA2000 device and would need a converter (IF-NMEA2K2) to convert it to NMEA0183 to communicate with the VX2. You may want to check with CMAP to see if they still have chart cards available for the VX2 for your area.

Good point on the maps portion - and I thought the RDP-149 was more “newer” than that.

I would like to go to a NMEA2000 based system since that would be newer. My new question would now be, when did Furuno go to the NMEA2000 system?

 

[Kraken]

The first system for NMEA2000 was the NavNet 3D. Since then there have been 4 generations of the TZT series. We currently sell the TZT3 and the newest version the TZTXL.