Today is Christmas eve and you are probably preparing the area under the tree for your kid´s presents. It will be a perfect day for them: Sparkling eyes, children´s smiles all over the place, happiness and peace. I sincerely wish that you, your family and your loved ones can celebrate a wonderful Christmas time! In this, I also hope that you, dear reader, will find something nice under the tree for yourself or your boat, even if you had to put it there yourself, like I did. Here´s what I indulged myself in for my new boat, something truly special …
What I was looking for
You may have read my article on the electronic equipment for the Omega 42: I went for Garmin products all along. Why I decided for that brand, you may read in this post as well. What was left at that time were two parts, one of which is the VHF-radio. I just wasn´t so sure. Of course, an oceangoing boat needs a VHF radio for ship-to-ship communication. Ship-to-shore (especially talking to marinas) in my eyes has lost a bit of its importance as this is more and more done with cell phone and even apps, for example for berth reservation. But anyways, a decent VHF is a must.
Another question was whether I´d go for active AIS. I have split feelings about this. Of course I am aware of the many advantages especially in terms of safety at sea that an AIS-transmitting vessel has over a boat that is just „dark“. On the other hand, I´ve experienced in so many occasions, that active AIS in no way is a guarantee for more safety. Up until now I kind of shy of investing in active AIS, it´s still a nice sum. I was rather thinking of going for an active radar reflector instead. Well, those and some more thoughts were going around in my mind. But now I´ve made my decision: It´s a bit like „all or nothing“ and so I finally went for the „all inclusive“-option.
Tethered or wireless handheld?
First of all, The Cortex-system is offered in two versions regarding the handheld: Thethered on a standard coiled wire or wireless. Money is not the point here, at least in Germany, H1 (thethered) and H1P (wireless) versions have the same price which is around 650 Euros exVAT. I decided to go for the H1, the wired handheld, for two main reasons.
First of all, this part is the one that is mainly in use in the cockpit of my boat. I am planning to have two 12 Volts connections, one down in the saloon at the small navigation area and one up in the cockpit in one of the two recessed, waterproof stowages of the cockpit. I simply hate it to have channel 16 on max volume downstairs when sailing. It is annoying for the ones down below (possibly trying to sleep when sailing through the night and even in moderate wind you can´t hear and thus won´t understand anything. You know it: Rushing to the entryway to listen … „Shhhhhsh!“ Not anymore!
Especially in my boat, distance from upstairs cockpit to downstairs nav-station is very far. So, having the handheld right there in the cockpit with its integrated speaker will improve (or even, solve) this conflict. Secondly, having the heldheld tethered means that it will be constantly connected to the 12 V power source. There´s no chance for the classic „no battery“-moment to happen. Last not least, the true meaning of the term „tethered“ is to be secured. Thus the device cannot get lost, thrown overboard or simply lazed away in a moment of stupidity. Of course, whilst unboxing, I cannot connect and run it, but just simply holding the handheld conveys a certain „heavy“ quality. The jog dial and buttons (fully waterproof by the way) resemble a high quality. Now, this one piece alone costs around 250 Euros more than the extry-level Garmin VHF, so what´s that fuzz all about?
(Much) more than a VHF …
Well, the Cortex is much, much more than just a VHF-radio! First of all, it comes with an integrated Class B AIS transceiver. This means, active AIS is built in. The current price of an AIS 800 transmitting device is around 900 to 1.000 Euros exVAT: I don´t have to buy this extra piece of equipment anymore, you should keep this budget in mind when assessing the bundle price for the Cortex-setup. AIS is not the only thing, Cortex is able to do. The handheld comes with a big-time touchscreen. And here it gets interesting …
The screen does not just display the VHF-related data, but has also a display for the AIS-signals. That´s so important to visually see and locate the targets around your boat: Especially in a sailing area so highly frequented by commercial traffic like the Baltic Sea! You may say that the Cortex-display manages a few tasks a classic chart plotter is traditionally for. And here it gets interesting because in my boat, there is simply no place for such a piece of equipment. Now, having these informations displayed on the handheld solves a huge problem for me! Next to collision avoidance AIS-signals the Cortex also shows basically all data flying around in the NMEA 2000 (or NMEA 0183) network, meaning I have a secondary display of depth, course, speed and other data. One slowly begins to grasp the revolutionary aspect of this device …
What´s in the box?
Further making my way into the depths of the Vesper-box, an external GPS antenna is part of the package. It comes with both the on-deck and under-deck mounting pods. Again, an external GPS antenna by Garmin clocks in at 120 to 150 Euros exVAT, you also got to take this into the „I buy all separately“-equation as well.
Along with the GPS and the mounts there are numerous wires and plugs delivered. That´s mainly the power cable, an audio cable, the data input/output-cable and the VHF patch cable. When going for the „all inclusive“-package, all you might need to buy separately (meaning, not included) are: The VHF antenna for the mast top of your boat, fuses and circuit breakers and your smartphone to install the Cortex app is wanted.
In this, the package is pretty powerful and complete. The box also comes with two nicely structured and comprehensive manuals for the initial setup and installation of all components. Of course there are numerous YouTube tutorials and product reviews, which, by the way, were the reason why I didn´t want to go for the Cortex in the first place. Having launched the product back in 2019, the first versions – of course – may have been delivered with the usual teething problems, both hardware and software-related. After four years of excessive use and customer feedback, these seem to be resolved. At least that is what the majority of Cortex-users and also my Garmin dealer (who I trust to 100 per cent) have told me.
Vesper Cortex hub: The brain
The handheld isn´t all, of course. The brain of the setup is the Cortex „hub“, a black box similar in size and weight to your ordinary home WiFi-router. It may be mounted via four screws behind the main switch board of your boat or – because it kind of looks stylish – openly visible. That´s a good thing because the hub has a status display for its five main functions plus power. Green, yellow or red lights indicate if something´s wrong – just as your home splitter does.
I will certainly not have it mounted openly visible though. On the underside of the hub there are three connections: One directly to the NMEA 2000-network, one similar if you utilize NMEA 0183 or GPIO-standard on your yacht) and a third connection will enable the external speaker for the Cortex. That´s the one I may get if after the first season of usage deemed necessary. So far I guess the integrated speaker in the handset will do just fine.
On the upper side of the hub you´ll find even more connecting points. There is a port to connect the internal WiFi-antenna, one for the GPS-antenna and one for the cellular antenna. More on that later. Then, of course, the 12 Volts power supply plug, another VHF port (if you have a really big yacht and need to connect more VHF-units) and last not least a port for the said VHF antenna itself.
That said, it becomes clear why I don´t want to have this installed openly visible: I´d have to route all the cables nicely. It just don´t matches the classy, clean and neat looks of my boat. On the contrary, I´d rather appreciate the clean looks of the nav-station down below now that I don´t have this standard VHF mounted – just a cord and the beautiful handheld Cortex H1. Perfectly clean.
Onboard WiFi and more
Having internet access on your yacht is a strict must for boats nowadays. You may have read lately that Imray stopped production of paper naval charts. One of the big German chart suppliers did the same. My kids have their own smartphones now and most of today´s school contents is delivered via schooling apps. Reserving berths and doing reasearch before landing somewhere is mostly done via internet nowadays: Classic pilot´s charts and books are more and more becoming a thing of the past.
You can judge this however you want: Internet aboard a boat, even more thanks to Starlink, is inevitable. As I said, an external internet providing device is still needed, be it Starlink or cellular-based services. The Cortex itself provides an internal WiFi – that is why an antenna is also part of the package – so that any smartpone can access Cortex´ data. Also, external tablets or other devices can be utilized by Cortex as well. And here it becomes interesting as the very last item of ALPHA´s electronics will be the chart plotter. Or let´s say: Will be the non-chart plotter as I currently look into systems like Sailproof and Orca. That said, the Cortex can also manage third-party sensors, like bilge alarm, for example, making it a true „hub“ for any digital data flying around in your boat.
Is this the iPhone-moment in boating?
Now, what´s the price?, you may ask. The whole package as seen here comes with a hefty price tag, at first glance. With a bundle price of some 2.000 Euros exVAT this seems a huge amount for „just“ a VHF. But if you buy all the components separately: VHF, active AIS, GPS antenna and all the other functions, it will certainly cost more. The Garmin Vesper Cortex V1 has them all integrated.
For my use-case aboard the Omega 42 this is perfect: I was not only looking for a VHF but had to solve the need for a display that shows AIS-targets and basic navigational data. The cockpit of my boat does not have a steering post nor any dedicated location to fit a chart plotter. And looking at so many classic yachts which had been retrofitted with those, it just looks awful. I am not going to cut large holes into the coamings or the cockpit-sides to fit a plotter! Having the „smartphone“-like multifunctional display of the Cortex quickly, simply and very elegantly solves all of these issues. What a great tool, what a cool gift!
Merry Christmas, sailors!
Also interesting to read those connected articles:
Acquiring the SRC short range certificate for marine VHF operations
Product unboxing: The Standard Horizon VHF
The wired boat