Experience with Standard Horizon

Maine Sail · Feb 1, 2012

wgkenney said:
I've always had ICOM products so have no experience with Standard Horizon or this particular product. Any feedback on them would be great.

They are a great company who stands behind what they sell. I have had exemplary customer support and service from them..

Joe11688 · Feb 1, 2012

wgkenney said:
Hi all,

I am looking to add AIS capablities to my 2006 Beneteau 473. I have an older Raymarine system (RL 70 C RC plotter) so I don't think I can integrate AIS directly to the chart plotter. I was looking at adding an ICOM AIS system to my current ICOM set up and then sending the signal to may IPAD. But that system requires an additional VHF antenna (or splitter) and a GPS reciever (supplied with the system)

I ran across the Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF/AIS product with the Remote RAM3 for the cockpit. For less than the cost of the ICOM AIS it would give me both AIS/VHF in one unit and no need for extra antennas.

I've always had ICOM products so have no experience with Standard Horizon or this particular product. Any feedback on them would be great.

I have Standard Voyager Horizon VHF radio that I bought new in 1987 and I love this radio. I think I bought it at Bliss Marine which has gone from E&B to West Marine and Boat US. It was built specifically for sailboats and was state of the art back them.
The raidio has 40 channels expandable to 55, Scanning with priority scanning, intercom, PA, and both USA and international weather channels.

The volume potentiometer has recently developed an issue to where I need to mess with it to get the audio, and I'm thinking seriously of having it fixed. It's been a reliably great radio through the years and I really don't want to part with it.

Sumner · Feb 1, 2012

We just bought the 2100 for the reasons you have stated. We won't install it until we get back down to the boat, but I think we are really going to like it. We didn't get the 2150 since the NEMA in/out and the AIS output to SeaClear is all compatible. This isn't the case for some other chart plotters and is the reason for the 2150 and they added a couple other features we don't need.

We got the 2100 AIS from the GPS Store...

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Standard-Horizon-Matrix-AIS-GX2100-Black-P2274.aspx

.... for $249.00 delivered ( I see they are a little more now). That was a lot less than other places I looked and we had it in 2 days. We bought another Standard Horizon for the Mac last year with DCS and really like that radio also. We needed a radio for the Endeavour with DSC and to get it and the AIS for under $250 and be able to use the one antenna is a real deal.

I think the 2150 is $335 from them....

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Standard-Horizon-Matrix-AIS-GX2150-VHF-P2629.aspx

.... Check to see if you need it over the 2100 with your chartplotter.

Sum

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BrianW · Feb 1, 2012

A testimonial on SH Customer support. I was unemployed and winter sailing (Florida) was one of my few pleasures in life. I enjoyed having my SH GPS Chartplotter, but it stopped working. The unit was well out of warranty, and I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Seeing my long face, my lovely 1st Mate, became determined to have the unit repaired for my Christmas present. This was mid-December, and I first contact SH Customer Support by phone. From their comments to my described symptoms, they said it didn't look encouraging. I mentioned that I was unemployed and money was tight.... and that my wife wanted me to try to returned by Christmas as a present. I only mentioned this to let them know there would be a fairly low limit to what I could afford for the repair, and a tight time-line. First, they gave be a PRE-PAID Fed Ex Next Day authorization number to ship the unit to them. Five days later on December 23, I received a brand new-looking replacement unit labeled "remanufactured" AND a brand new external antenna. The invoice listed: "unit replacement".... $0.00, Antenna, $0.00. The computerized invoice had a hand-written note on it that said: "Merry Christmas, Brian!" I'm quite a Standard Horizon fan!

Sumner · Feb 1, 2012

I'm not familiar with your old plotter, but as I understand it here is the problem that some have.

The 2100 or 2150 needs to know where it is so gets the GPS Location from the plotter or else another source. That NEMA input/output between the plotter and radio is usually at 4800 baud. The AIS from the radio to the plotter is at 38,400 baud. If your plotter isn't wired to deal with all of the above, some older ones aren't, then the 2150 takes care of it since it lets you program the input-output baud rates 4800 or 38400 NMEA baud rate selection, for plotters with 1 NMEA port....

http://www.standardhorizon.com/inde...075389DC4199A79B6C1&DivisionID=3&isArchived=0

This gets confusing, but in our case we didn't want the radio to get the position from the computer/plotter running SeaClear just in case it went down. We have 3 Garmin 76 handheld GPS's and will hook one to the radio and have the others as backup. You can get these for $50-$60 off of e-bay and the ones we got looked like they were never used.

So the radio will know where it is from the NEMA in from the handheld Garmin. It will output the AIS to SeaClear on the computer so we can see that on the display below on the computer or on the second display at the helm.

You can see AIS targets right on the radio, but that screen isn't that large. Also the 2100 will operate with the Ram mike. We will add that a little later. I'd talk to Standard Horizon and tell them which plotter you have and if you want to use it which radio, 2100 or 2150 you need, unless of course you wanted the other couple features the 2150 has.

Good luck,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

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JoeWhite · Feb 1, 2012

I purchased a SH2150 as well. I found out that it will not interface with the Garmin CS76 GPS. The problem is with the Garmin - not the radio. I was able to resolve this problem by adding external equipment. If you would like help with that contact me haro_b@att.net

Sumner · Feb 1, 2012

JoeWhite said:
I purchased a SH2150 as well. I found out that it will not interface with the Garmin CS76 GPS. The problem is with the Garmin - not the radio. I was able to resolve this problem by adding external equipment. If you would like help with that contact me haro_b@att.net

Hi Joe, we bought the 2100. I sent you a PM as I do want to use the 76 with the radio if possible. We are using Map 76S's (non-color) not the 76 color if that makes a difference and haven't had a problem connecting to the computer, but haven't tried it on the 2100 yet,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

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Forrest15112 · Feb 1, 2012

I've had the same handheld Standard VHF for 17 years now. I test it regularly, real tests with radio test equipment, not just radio checks over the air. It has never required any adjustment, the frequency, power out, tx deviation, & receiver sensitivity has been spot on. That isn't all that remarkable, considering the little actual use it gets, but other things like the volume control potentiometer, squelch potentiometer, channel selection encoder, & even the rubberized buttons, have all held up well without any issues. Typically these things wear out from normal use. The battery (NiCad) has been replaced.
Standard Horizon also manufactures amateur radios under the Yaesu brand. Yaesu makes some fine ham radios. I'm the proud owner of three and recently sold one that wasn't being used much. Yaesu radios are a great bargain for what you get and are as reliable as any of the other big names like Kenwood & Icom. I've only dealt with Yaesu once ordering parts for a radio that I dropped and broke the tuning encoder. They were very helpful and didn't gouge my pocket book.

galynd · Feb 1, 2012

I just put the 2150 in and it's great. Also have a SH intrepid which is still flawless, so I didn't hesitate to buy another SH. Unable to tie it (2150) into my Lowrance 5300 globalmap but it has pretty decent readout as a stand alone.

Prime Time · Feb 1, 2012

Great Company and Product

2 yrs ago I bought he Std Hrz VHF with AIS receiver and installed to my Raymarine network. It is a fine product. It works and is nice to have in the fog and at night. At sea, I was picking up the big commercial ships 20 miles out, before I could see them or they me on Radar.

They are a great company. On a plotter of theirs, I broke the case where the mount is attached. They sent me a new one for free. They even paid the shipping!

galynd · Feb 1, 2012

check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14aQyUZrL54