northstar 6100i

rubicon007 · 10-23-2009, 04:20 PM

Does anyone have an opinion on this machine? I know it will be a discontinued model and the co. has been aquired, However, I would think the new co. would continue to support the product. I have heard positive things about this unit in the past. Any insight? I was planning on using the unit with a furuno mfd8. Thanks!

CMBobby · 10-27-2009, 07:46 AM

Hello Rubicon,

The 6100I has been a great series from it's initial release. It was a machine that was networked and could do virtually everything that the Raymarine E-series could do with the Northstar interface. The units now have been out for some time, and while the E-series has received some updates to make it capable of using better charts such as the Platinum Plus, the 6100I series has not been updated as heavily and cannot do the "Plus" version of those charts.

At this point in the game I think Navico realizes that in order to compete with folks like Raymarine and Furuno they have to come out with a new machine and call it quits on the 6100I units. They will continue support for the product, so if you do decide to get one you will be fine as long as the unit is new and therefore under warranty.

I will note a couple things, though. There are going to be new Northstar Edition Simrad units coming out very soon, and they are looking quite slick. We don't quite have them in stock, due to them being so new, but once we have them they will be major competition for Raymarine and Furuno in terms of networked multifunction units. We also do not have any more of the 6100I units (except one 12 inch model from our old showroom-- it is a Display model-- let us know if you are interested).

Another quick note-- you say you want to use it with the Furuno MFD8, which I am assuming you are meaning independently. If not, please understand that even though they both use Ethernet to network their machines that the two will not communicate that way-- the only way they will talk is via NMEA 0183. Let me know if you have questions about that.

And let me know if you have any further questions about anything I've commented on-- I hope I have been of some assistance! Thanks, and have a great day,

rubicon007 · 10-27-2009, 12:20 PM

Hey Bobby, thx for the detailed response. Looks like I wont be buying one, unless it was at a great price!

tunaorlater · 11-04-2009, 12:20 PM

I just want to point out here that the 6000 and 6100 are the easiest and best units I have ever used. Thats just my opionion though. I never had much use for the Furuno charts, FF and radars are great.

rookie06 · 11-24-2009, 11:10 AM

I have the 6000i and love it. Very user friendly and easy to operate. Does everything I need!

CMBobby · 12-02-2009, 07:08 AM

Just so everyone is aware, the guys at Navico have released a new machine donned the NSE, which is short for Northstar Edition. It is technically a Simrad machine and they have released it in an 8 and 12 inch screen. Since the 6100I is no longer produced I would suggest looking into this new unit if your interested in a networkable machine that can do chart plotting, sounding, radar and weather. Let me know if you have any questions about the machine.

RamblinOn · 12-11-2009, 01:46 PM

Bobby do the new Northstar units still have the same conversion program that was in
the smaller 951/952 units? When I say conversion I mean converting TDs to Lat/Lon.
I have a ton of bottom numbers from the old loran C days and the best units I have found to convert them to Lat/Lon are the old 951/952 units.

CMBobby · 12-18-2009, 08:13 AM

The latest from Simrad, the NSE, will not be able to do the conversion for you. Unfortunately it does not have the TD to Lat/Long conversion engine the older Northstars once had. You can transfer your waypoint data that has already been converted, but it doesn't have anywhere in the system where you can manually enter Loran TDs.

Who knows, maybe this is something the guys at Navico can eventually include in an upgrade, but even if they did it would only be a conversion and wouldn't be very accurate. I'm sorry to say I think that the Loran days are numbered, and it may not be long before you see both C-Loran and eLoran completely disappear (in the United States, anyhow).

RamblinOn · 12-18-2009, 08:35 AM

So even the older units will not be able to convert the TDs? I thought they ran off a phantom loran and the conversion takes place internally. The 951/952 were very accurate when TDs were inputed.

CMBobby · 12-21-2009, 08:12 AM

Okay, after speaking with Northstar I got this all cleared up. The NSE units will actually do the conversion just the same as the NS 951/952 and the 6000/6100 series. It will accept in TDs, but as noted above any conversion done internally, it is only a computer algorithm (an estimation) converting the TD number into usable way-point numbers. Because the TD lines are differently oriented than the lat/long lines you can only get an approximate conversion with any system without a true Loran fix.

Since the conversion is not very reliable, one thing you could do for instance is, if you still have a working Loran machine, you could go to those spots and mark a way-point on your separate GPS machine at each of your Loran's spots. That is the only sure-fire way to do a conversion. The computer's conversions, however, are just never that reliable as you may be right on the money sometimes, but you may also be 500 yards out or more other times.

Si-tex has had a machine that can do the conversion accurately because they have Loran built into some of their systems, but with the eminent demise of Loran on the horizon I don't know how long machines like that will exist that will do true conversions. The approximate conversions will be the only thing available after the Loran beacons are gone, so my advice is make sure you get way-point data from now on!

Let me know if you have any more questions.

starrfish · 12-21-2009, 05:41 PM

hey , thanks for that info... appreciate it