# Navman Electronic Instruments



## Freyaofclyde (Mar 1, 2003)

We have 3 Navman instruments, depth, wind and log. They were purchased 2/3 years ago. They are all fogging up. We put the lights on as instructed in the instruction manual, which cures the problem temporarily but it takes 2/3 hours for the fogging to dissapear. This is of no use if you have to leave an anchorage in a hurry in the middle of the night. Is anyone experiencing the same problem?

Also, the depth transducer impeller is broken and the magnets have disappeared.

We have tried contacting Navman, but as soon as they get a list of our problems we hear no more from them. We bought these instruments from BoatsUS in the USA and have been informed that they no longer deal with Navman. Also, Plastimo in France seem unwilling to help, referring us to an e-mail address in the USA which has not responded.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Note to self- Don't buy Navman instruments, ever.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

*Don't buy Navman*

SDog

Agree whole-heartedly.

I fitted the whole gammit of their stuff (wind, speed, depth, log, multi repeaters on the chart table, the whole shooting match) and within three months, none of it was working.

Also has anyone noticed on their other instruments that if you're wearing polarised sun glasses, the displays go black? If you turn the sunglasses 90 degrees to left or right the display is OK. Somehow the polarisation counteracts the LCD. It plays hell on the neck muscles with your head in the horizantal position for a couple of hours!!

Does this only happen with Navman or have other brands a similar problem?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

The problem you're seeing is one due to poor design. All LCD panels have polarizing filters over them, and that is in fact how an LCD panel works—the liquid crystal polarizes light, and by the degree of polarization, it changes the color of the pixel. 

Unfortunately, Navman seems to have set their polarizing filters to angle perpendicular to that of most polarized sunglasses...a big mistake, and makes the instruments unreadable, and the polarized light coming off the instruments is filtered out completely by the polarized lenses. 

If you want to see what I mean—take two pairs of polarized sun glasses and look through two lenses overlapped, at a relatively bright light source. Then rotate one of the lenses, and you will see the light get brighter and dimmer, and eventually be blocked completely, as the two lenses cross-polarize the light. 

Another thing some manufacturers do to prevent this is to use a circular polarizer as the last layer. This is essentially a standard polarizer with an additional optical layer to change the angle of polarization, so it is not all in one direction. This is the same kind of filter that is required on an AutoFocus SLR, as many of the AF chips don't work with normal polarizers, as they have a polarized filter built into them. 

I haven't had a problem with the Raymarine Gear on my boat from what I remember...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Also disappointed with Navman. Installed speed and depth in previous boat 3 years ago. Looked great in the store and very attractive on board. At start of 2nd season, depth failed, filled with water. My fault by washing boat with too much spray (cover was on however) Was less than one year from purchase, and can say that Navman distributer in Connecticut replaced it with little hassle (well, actually, now that I think of it big hassle for them. They actually shipped 2 new replacements I returned the extra)
Then Speedlog failed the next year. Same problem, different cause. Caught in a downpour for 4 miles of sailing. Obviously did not want to put covers on the instruments. This time, I sought service under extended warranty. Repair for max of approx $125. But they tried to charge me over $200. Almost as much as new instrument. Took much phone and email to get the display back for the lower cost. Trying to sell the boat, Hope that prospective buyers do not read this 
Will just sign 
Marty


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## SailorMitch (Nov 18, 2005)

Bummer about Navman products. They sure were hyped when they first came out. Glad I didn't go with them.

As for the polarizing issue -- my Standard Horizon instruments do pretty well with my polarizing sunglasses. The screes can still get dim at certain angles but I can still read them.


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## Freyaofclyde (Mar 1, 2003)

*Navman Instruments*

Thanks for your comments guys - no surprises here. Guess we'll need to buy Raymarine ....


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

There's always TackTick, and B&G, and a few other brands... I kind of like the idea behind the TackTick gear, and the fact that you don't have to run many cables for it is also a huge bonus if you're doing the installation yourself.


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## snitz (Apr 25, 2008)

hi ,I have navman problems also.Mine are about 2 years old and sections of the displays go out.It appears to be a moisture thing.The wind also goes out of sinc about 90 degrees for no apparent reason,I initially blamed my crew for leaning on the buttons.I built a pod to mount the set of 3 ,wind ,depth,speed in .It is very water tight and was dry when I opened it up.Navman appears to have gone to ground,I was wondering if anyone out ther had any success getting a fix for what is looking like an inferior product?


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## artbyjody (Jan 4, 2008)

Freyaofclyde said:


> Thanks for your comments guys - no surprises here. Guess we'll need to buy Raymarine ....


Personally, I think that is a wise decision. I have most of my stuff actually Raymarine - the last three years - nothing but reliable. However, if you go that route - if you can afford to do so - go the latest and greatest route as the new ST 70 instruments are multi capable, which means that you do not have to have dedicated displays for whatever you install. Price point is higher when you initially look at it but in the end you do not need to buy the instruments or ducers with a dedicated display and you can save big time on installation and real estate (in terms of mounting and wiring the displays) on your boat.


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## luckytexan (Apr 9, 2008)

I have a Navman chartplotter which was doing the moisture fogging up thing as well, I was getting pretty angry with them between the huge cost of the C-map cards for them, and it fogging up so bad I couldn't see it. 
However once I started putting the cover on my unit faithfully all the moisture issues went away. Or the seal rotted out so bad that it can't even hold the moisture in. either way it quit the fogging up thing. Perhaps you can try covering it up.
At any rate I will likely go with something else next time myself, I had hoped with C-map being bought out by Boeing that the price would drop and they would get a little more user friendly however nothing yet so will likely stay away from anything that has to rely on C-map as well.


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## snitz (Apr 25, 2008)

Since my last post I have managed to contact Navman via email I am waiting for a reply.Its interesting that both the Navman and Northstar sites make no mention whatsoever of the 3100 series instruments, however they are sold here .Watch this space.


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## Rockter (Sep 11, 2006)

This stuff does not look too bad....

allGadgets: Product: 'NASA Clipper Duet - Speed/Distance Log & Echo Sounder - £164.95'

... and the prices seem very reasonable indeed.

£140 plus tax is not expensive here in the UK, and if they performed reasonably, they might be OK. They are not a new outfit, so that's a positive point, in a way.

That looks like transducers and display included in the price.

I have no commercial interest in NASA.


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## TomandKarens34 (Dec 4, 2007)

I've always liked the layout of the Navman displays. I thought they were priced well too. I am distressed the quality is so poor. I had planned to buy some in Canada. Oh well, not now!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

There is a standard for polarized glasses and LED displays. Navman apparently is wrong by 90 degrees. I would let it go and buy new displays from a well established company with excellent customer service. Its probably not worth the aggravation fighting with them.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I hate to be the odd man out I have a nice, cheap Navman 5110 black and white GPS and it works well! Even with prescription polarized sunglasses! Always locks. No moisture! If I'm not zoomed in enough it will show me entering Whitehall (MI) channel a few yards south of the southern breakwater. Not uncommon with GPS I understand.


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## TomandKarens34 (Dec 4, 2007)

My Navman GPS is very accurate. I love the thing and couldn't ask for a better piece of equipment. I have the 5600 and paid about $550 with the chip. By the way, I have a citation too.


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

I have a 5500 and it is a very good piece of gear and the price was even better.

Bought a used card and all set. Portable and has been rock solid reliable. Easy on the batteries.

dave


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## MickJohnson (Aug 1, 2008)

*Moisture ingress to Navman 3100 depth & wind inst*

Hi, I installed Navman depth & wind instruments about 2 years ago & have been experiencing the same problems with moisture, the Depth Gauge comes good after a few Hours, but the wind speed has completely failed.


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## timangiel (Sep 8, 2006)

I have the 3100 series depth and speed log. I'm not sure how old they are as they were installed by the previous owner, but I have had the boat for 2 years and they fogged up and stopped working. I really liked them when they were working. I'm not sure if I should try to have them fixed or replace them. I don't want to spend money having them fixed if they are going to have the same problem again after a year or two. If I replace them with another make, I may have to repair holes in my boat where the old displays were mounted and replace transducers(sounds like work). Does anyone know if the transducers will work with anything else?


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

Navman is now part of the Swedish giant Navico (B&G, Simrad, JCR, etc.) but it seems that their quality issues have not fixed Navman but rather Navman's issues have spilled into and contaminated the quality of the others.

I bought a Simrad wind instrument in the US, sailed one voyage to New Zealand and the instrument wasn't working by the time I arrived. After a long and protracted to-ing and fro-ing (6 months) with the local agents they eventually said that they would not honour a warranty claim even though the instument was only 3 months old when it chucked it's toys.

After my very disappointing experiences with Navman (see earlier post) I am seriously over these products and with my superb experience with the Raymarine stuff on my boat, they'll be my electronics of choice from now on.

The main Navman factory is just a stone's throw from my home and I am of the opinion that they are now so totally engrossed in the GPS mapping for road use that they have sort of pushed marine kit into a dark corner of corporate disinterest.

I personally would never buy anything from the Navico stable again.

Andre


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Navman instruments from all accounts and personal experience are simply crap. 

Since the buyout, name has changed to Northstar, from what I can gather, and they have discontinued everything except the GPS units which do appear to be OK. 

I wouldn't touch their instruments with the proverbial barge pole.


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## paytman (Jun 11, 2002)

*Navman the good the bad the ugly*

I too bought navman to replace my DMI instruments on the recommendation of a friend who swore by the stuff, now he swares at the stuff.

installed mine in 2005, worked great for a while, then part of the digits started to dissappear, by end of 2006 all were out except for the repeater at the nav station below; which tells me that moisture is the problem, as the repeater was still getting the correct info.

called navman, and they sent, at no charge, 3 new displays (wind, speed, depth)- supposedly they had moisture issues (odd issue to have for the marine environment, but anyway....)

I thought I was all set for 2007, which I was for a while, until the speed display started to disappear, again.

by 2008, all are blank, though on a rare occassion they come around. Again, the repeater is getting all the info inside where it is dry.

I have left the lights on hoping to dry it out, keep the dodger up so they are out of weather, leave the covers off to 'breath', but now, the speed doesn't even 'beep' when the buttons are pushed.

Practical Sailor just had a letter to the editor with some contact info in the reply; I will start there and hope for the best. Maybe the first set I pulled out are dry by now, it has been 2 years!!! Though no water/moisture was ever found in/around the instruments.

And I really liked the way they looked, even installed the navbus to communicate w/ the repeater and my Garmin GPS at the helm, which they still try and talk to each other. Too bad,

Robert
LUNA


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## svtopaz (Mar 7, 2007)

*Navman*

I am also having trouble with instruments. Would some one put contact info on here or email me them? I do not get Practical Sailor so do not have access to contact info.

Thanks Barbara


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Svtopaz-

Navman instruments are located *here*.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

SD

If you want to be looking at road maps instead of charts that is perhaps a good site.

Problem is: Why should I have any more faith in the land based stuff than I do in the marine stuff?

Andre


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

This is all a bit confusing. In Oz Navman marine gear is now branded as Northstar. According to the Northstar site most Navman instruments have been discontinued yet they still appear on the Navman website.

I don't understand.

Nonetheless I won't be buying any more of the stuff, although as I said before I didn't have nay problem with my old GPS albeit a unit that was installed at the chart table not outside.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*Similar problem with NavMan*

Opening a few old wounds...

I guess if your Navman instruments have not yet failed, they will. They just don't seem to have been designed for any outdoor application.

I have/am having the same problems. LCD display fogged up, then LCD basically fries out. I had one of them serviced under warrantee but now that they are out, I can't see investing anything in these instruments.

My depth and wind both have bad LCD's and I have to rely on the repeater in the cabin for depth (not the best when coming into an anchorage single handed).

I guess I will bite the bullet and go with RayMarine--wish I had done it in the first place.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I am also having problems with my Navman sailing instruments. Outstanding experience with my first Navman, a 5500 Chartplotter, led me to buying the Navman 3100 series sailing instruments to replace the original Datamarine (1982). I invested in the Navbus networking as well. The chartplotter has been great! The Wind 3100 display went crazy first. I sent it back to the US service center. They replaced the discontinued Navman with a similar Northstar unit. It worked for a month or so, and now it is doing the same thing, (display flickers rapidly and wildly). Now the Speed 3100 and Depth 3100 displays are missing segments of their LCD digits. The repeater at the chart table and the Multi 3100 in the cockpit pod still display the depth, and speed info accurately. Neither repeater can decipher the garbled wind info. I read about leaving the lighting on to help dry out the displays. I'll recheck in a day or two to see if that worked. If not, I'll need to send them back again, or replace all the instruments with Raymarine. That is not a pleasant thought, since it would require hauling the boat to change transducers. 
Russ T.
s/v Esprit - Bristol 38.8


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Russ-

*You might not have to swap out the transducers, since many are made by the same OEM-Airmar. * I switched from the Raymarine ST60 instruments to the TackTick ones and re-used the existing speed and depth/temperature transducers without any problems. What you need to do is check the wiring and if the wiring is the same number and color, chnces are more than likely that one will work with either display head. The OEM manufacturer chooses the wiring color and generally will have it the same on their product, regardless of who they sell the transducer to.



russsail said:


> I am also having problems with my Navman sailing instruments. Outstanding experience with my first Navman, a 5500 Chartplotter, led me to buying the Navman 3100 series sailing instruments to replace the original Datamarine (1982). I invested in the Navbus networking as well. The chartplotter has been great! The Wind 3100 display went crazy first. I sent it back to the US service center. They replaced the discontinued Navman with a similar Northstar unit. It worked for a month or so, and now it is doing the same thing, (display flickers rapidly and wildly). Now the Speed 3100 and Depth 3100 displays are missing segments of their LCD digits. The repeater at the chart table and the Multi 3100 in the cockpit pod still display the depth, and speed info accurately. Neither repeater can decipher the garbled wind info. I read about leaving the lighting on to help dry out the displays. I'll recheck in a day or two to see if that worked. If not, *I'll need to send them back again, or replace all the instruments with Raymarine. That is not a pleasant thought, since it would require hauling the boat to change transducers. *
> Russ T.
> s/v Esprit - Bristol 38.8


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## dsarin (Jun 4, 2002)

In the past five years that we've had our Navman sailing instruments we only had one issue, the depth instrument lcd went out. We contacted Navman (now Northstar) via email and told them the unit was two months out of warranty. The replied the following day asking where they could ship a new one, free of charge. Based on that outstanding service and not having any other issues in five years and when it was time to upgrade our chart plotter and radar system we purchased a Northstar M84 with 2kw radome. It's been a year now and so far no problems.


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## SteveInMD (May 11, 2007)

It's happening to me too. My Wind 3100 reads totally erratically and I'm loosing parts of my speed display. I guess I have to start looking at replacements. Who makes reliable equipment? Can I replace components one at a time, like just the wind first?


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## tsmith (Apr 4, 2013)

I,ve just repaired a 3100 wind instrument by dismantling and padding out the LCD contacts strip. There is a flat multi contact braid which seems to be pressed against the LCD with a clear flat piece of plastic. I think the problem was the pressure reduced over time. I bought some very thin adhesive foam and stuck it to the back of the clear plastic and re fitted it. seems to be working fine now. while I was at it I also treat the pub with lacquer and re sealed the clear plastic window joints with superglue. Fingers crossed all working ok now. Watch the lugs as you dismantle it. I broke one and had to glue it back into place. I have to do the depth and speed yet. I'm going to see if I can apply the same trick.


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