Really useful video, very interesting to hear your honest assessment of the B&G kit, and their after sales support.

Hello from the US! I'm glad to have found your videos, particularly this one. We have the B&G Zeus 2 and have had a very similar experience as what you've outlined. The written manuals are woefully lacking, (in the Zeus 2 manual, it points to the specific menus without any guidance on how to navigate the system to find the menus!), and much of what we've learned has been by trial and error. Once you move along the somewhat significant learning curve(s), it is a superb system, especially for sailors, and even more so for racing sailors. (We're cruisers.) And I can echo your experiences with B&G/Simrad technical support - stellar! Thank you again!

Great video with fantastic observations from a system that you've obviously grown to love. We have Zeus 2 on our sailboat and after only minimal sailing I agree with your comment that the more advanced features are not intuitive to discover and use. The how-to comments in your video were excellent and certainly help me the next time out on the water next week. If you post future B&G videos, consider explaining your experiences with the sail steer such as tacking, steer to apparent wind, etc. Thanks and looking forward to your next video.

You have a gift for teaching! Keep up the great videos. I think your channel will continue to grow since it's rich in info and light on drama and click-bait.

Thanks for the review very thoughtful and thought provoking.

Thank you,Brynn... Very well done. I too am installing a Vulcan, Halo, Triton2 system on board. Your review gave some great heads up on what to expect and what I should be studying ahead of time. Amazing technology that, in some regards, was not even possible a few short years ago. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. BTW, I did get the solar mounts and they work perfect on my rail. Thank you for that!

Very well done!! Haven't seen a video showing how to use the equipment - really straight forward and easy. Thanks!

This is an extremely instructive review. Thanks!!!

Terrific job doing a pretty detailed review! 👍👍 I have the Zeus2 and have a few similar “lag”, “screen” , “complex/compound menu” observations (not complaints!!). I’ve been on a boat with the Zeus3S and all of the first two are solved. I live with the menus as “features.” 😎 (think windows or macOS-they are simple until you dive one step too deep-then 🤔🤔🤬🤬😭). I think the mirror issues are partly processor issues in the Vulcan (and Zeus2). I didn’t see it at all on the Zeus3S on his iPad though when I tried the same on my Zeus2/iPad combo, it wasn’t as smooth or precise. (Could also have been the WiFi/nmea2k latency caused by the add on WiFi). In any case, as mentioned in other comments, the 9” screen will be upgraded with a 12” model and I hope I can repurpose the Zeus2 as a slave unit (as well as using the flat screen in the salon as a large display through the HDMI). I just found your site and will track it. I hope B&G will come out with an even better Zeus4 at the Miami boat show. Then the old inventory on the Zeus3S generation will be discounted. I hope that will create an opportunity for you to upgrade to bring your B&G package (with AWESOME sailsteer, etc) up to the speed/accuracy you expect from the hardware. The interface…well, if they made it iPhone simple, they would probably lose bits of the functionality/customizability for which everyone has slightly different “desirements.”

Yet another GREAT video guys!! Really interesting as I’m soon to be in the market for a new system. Thanks a lot👍🏻

Like you guys, we love our B & G Vulcan system. That being said, today’s on-board electronics foster a reliance on them. Equally important is to learn the manual ways to safely sail.

Great update. I have a similar set up to you and learning to use it Thanks

I have the same system and i agree with all the points you made especially the hot screen! Great review 😊

Excellent overview. Thank you!

Thanks, this was one of the most honest reviews I have seen. Clearly, the support is critically essential, which as I understand it, B&G does an excellent job. I wished you had mentioned the unit firmware upgrade -- in particular, there are some "cons" that can be fixed that way. Cheers.

Thank you! Fantastic video very informative helped me make a decision for upgrading from my 20yr old KVH gear

Really good honest feedback on your B&G experience. I also have B&G and some aspects are completely unintuitive! That said, once learned and setup - it’s great kit

Great review, you helped me a lot with all your views.

Thanks for the information, just planning to update my iPad 2 and iSailor with new hardware and B&G is one option because is hard to find a weather protective cover for a new iPad or Android tablet like my old iPad2 has.

Great video guys, well done. Reference the difficulty learning the system, I think that depending upon your background, you’d find any clever nav system difficult. If you can generally find your way around the B & G without the hand book, it’s a pretty good system. Anything new takes time of course. Keep up the great work.

Very informative, great episode!

This was very helpful and insightful, thank you🥰!!

Good set up and well worth the price/spec compared to many others

Good interesting piece. First sailing on holiday charter 1987 equipment was lead line stop watch for speed and hand heald compass with paper charts, so anything that's better and more informative is a bonus.

B&G Zeus3 7” user since 2016. The reason you might not get a following track maybe the speed threshold set. (Less than eg 3knot.) set it to 2 or 1. In your tracks page. It replays why it starts after leaving Marina on motor. (Going 2-3 knots…) ad then sailing. @4-7 knots. (I hope)

First I want to compliment you on your excellent informative video as well as the many skills you have learned in such a short time. I don’t know if you took any navigation courses before purchasing your navigation package, but navigation at sea is a bit more complicated than typing in your destination in the car. You talked about 20 advanced features which deal with complicated variables . It seems today you have a very good understanding of your tools. Most people learn the theory first before they learn to play a musical instrument, learning an instrument is very difficult until you understand the theory. Your learning curve is brilliant and it certainly helps to learn from others, as you mentioned utilizing the Facebook group. Safe sailing and enjoy the many sights along the way.

My zeus 2 touchscreen stopped working after being splashed with saltwater in rough seas. The only option given to me by B&G support was a replacement unit for over $2000. Imagine that, a $4000 chart plotter wasted by saltwater in its 4th season without warranty. I hated the not-intuitive interface and regretted the purchase from the start.

After working with RayMarine, Germain and now B&G thru 20 years I would rate them in thet order with B&G the best.

Great video. The how to, is quiet, good and a stand-up benchmark to weigh against a Garman. One item is your auto helm. I am summing it's a part of your Wi-Fi network not driven by a separate wind ex unite.

Hi guys, I started watching all your videos and subscribed of course. Its the most honest channel on sailing it seems and exactly how I'm planning my roote to the sea. Currently just lake sailing at carsington. I would like to ask if you took any qualifications (skipper, crew member etc) and what's your advice for a beginner trying to get to sea sailing. Maybe video idea. 😁Hope the best for you guys!

i'm about to install a similar setting, your feedback was VERY informative thank you very much

Good information. Thank you

It is all personal choices, personally I use my boat to get away from technology so as much as possible I do not bring it on my boat. Cheers, and thanks for the review.

Well done Brynn not an easy thing to do 10/10 👍

Thanks for the video guys! Useful info and reassuring that you would purchase it all again as I have just purchased a similar system. Do you need the heading sensor? Does the Vulcan not have one built in?

Nice vid, should help lots of people. On my Zeus3 9, I simply don't show all my 110 routes (1000's miles total), only the one I'm following, and I think that way the screen doesn't lag the way you describe it.

Hi there, Thanks for all the great info and advice that you give on your channel. We find you very inspiring as we bought a Gibsea 77 at a similar time to you but you guys have travelled a lot further!! We are looking to install a solar panel so I can potentially work from the yacht. Just wondering if you have any advice on that front. We look forward to following your future adventures……. All the best. Chris & Jill.

Very informative vid. Be happy, be safe

👍🏼🤓🌏🏝️ Just watch out for Sandbanks that move like Goodwin's and Fishing Net's. Night vision security camera on the mast might be a help ...

We have the same setup and overall like you are happy with it. Although we have the same issue with the screen mirroring. Which at this price point is very disappointing and it does make me question the longevity of the equipment under harsh conditions. We did try speaking with B&G about it but it seemed it became a blame game between them and developers of the link app. With noone wanting to know, although oddly it works fine on the zues kit when we tested it, so I wonder if it's a bad batch of Vulcan hardware that's out there. Other than that great video guys and very helpful.

Great video very informative

The B&G certainly sounds like a great piece of kit. Have you checed the phone B&G app settings for a Map Shift setting? Which might be cause of off positioning of features like the marker bouy you pointed on the Mirror. Might be worth checking.

I have exactly the same system and love it, as you said it does have a small amount of issues, I have got a second Sd card which I use and I have found no issues with lagging. I too would buy again should the need arise.

Or being able to store routes is a pain and you often want to reuse them or reverse them.

Good heavens, so much tech on such a small boat. Mind you I've seen another vlog where another young couple are attempting to sail round the world on a Seal 28 and the only nav aid they seem to have is a mobile phone. I wish them the best of luck. When I spent 5 years with my wife on a small boat in the late 80s we were uncontactable, and the isolation was a beautiful thing. Different world now, better? I don't know.

Top video. We have a new Hanse 458 with two B & G Zeus plotters. I am reasonably intelligent but did not find the operation of the plotter very intuitive. B & G have lots of flashy videos on their website but no real tutorials for noobs ;-). This video helped demystify some of the functionality. I think we will now get a lot more from our kit. - Thankyou 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I'm installing complete new B&G set, very similar to yours. Mainly to be used with tablet on cockpit by screen mirror, the vulcan will be installed inside...so it seems I will have some challenges wit screen mirror...

We have the Triton unit on my 30ft boat and I must admit I too am looking at upgrading the old and pretty useless Garmin chartplotter with a new B&G Vulcan unit. The only thing I am trying to work out is whether a 7 or 9 inch plotter would be the way to go. Thanks for the review of the B&G plotter on your boat. I like how it seems to be such a competent system.

What would be a better choice for a weekend sailor ? Vulcan 9 or Zeus S 7

I am just going to use Navionics on two Samsung tablets which have good GPS and are robust (one is for redundancy). There are some fancy features that your system has that Navionics does not have, but compared to your system Navionics is quite cheap (you pay for the maps but the app is free). Have you looked at Navionics and how it compares? I also have to say what I like about using a tablet is that you can take it with you wherever you like and use it for other things, but especially take it inside the boat for looking at your chart and plotting routes at a table where there is no glare. Like you I also have a separate system for AIS, but no radar.

Nice video guys. Personally I couldn't justify spending all that cash , as i'm a tight arse lol 🤣 Think I have spent about a grand on Nav gear, which includes second hand 5 inch screen plotter on port side with AIS receive. 10 inch Raspberry pi chart plotter with AIS on starboard side and also AIS class b transponder and a second hand Simrad TP10 auto pilot. However, the 300 watt solar arch and 200 amp Life p04 battery is a necessary expense, but only £1600 all in 👍

Thanks for this, great review! I was wondering how ‚deep‘ you were able to integrate the tiller pilot into the system? Can you steer it manually from the Vulcan? Does it wind steer, taking data from the network etc?

Thanks for the reccomendation. I am planning to install B&G on a IP27

Those screen mirroring bugs have been there since at least 2014 when I first used a B&G system. Pretty disappointing they haven't fixed them by now.

Hi Brynn, Finally got my backordered B&G Halo 20+ radome so I can finish my system install. I noticed in this video that you have the Simrad Tiller pilot. Is it the model TP32? and if so, do you have it on the B&G NEMA 2000 backbone? I have a TP32 on my boat also and it has in the past been able to run a GPS set of waypoints via NEMA 183. Were you able to successfully integrate the TP32 into your B&G chartplotter/gps network? Excited for the two of you and your upcoming new sailing year!

Helpful video. Any pointers for resources / step by step guides to help someone new to the system get off to a good start ?

Great vid........honest. We love our B&G but Vulcan 7 is too small....do most navigation on ipad/Navionics

Thanks, excellent and interesting video. Regards from winterish Finland.

Thanks

Hi there quick question. I have a vulcan 7 the wireless wind meter and b&G transponder. I just bought the simrad tillepilot that I believe can link into the nmea2000 is there a specialist connector needed? Also you have a Triton 2. What's the benefit of having the Triton 2 as well as the Vulcan MFD? I'm thinking of getting one near the helm for depth and tacking. Thanks for any advice

hi there love your channel and your videos if all your electronics fail could you navigate with a paper chart and dead reconing and do you double check your position when out of the site of land with a sextant regards John.

Big changes over the last 20 years! How about power consumption with the radar running? Radar and AIS are the only upgrades i would like over a bog standard gps. Do you still use paper charts? Helpfull review.

I have a smaller boat and am considering the Volcan 9. What is the small "Sail Steer" screen above the Vulcan 9 as it seems the 9 has the same function when overlayed on the chart (?). Can you explain to a complete newbi please?

Great video! Just wondering if you guys connect the Simrad tiller pilot to the B&G system and use the autopilot to control it? I'm not sure if the system only can manage B&G's autopilot?

Hi Great videos👍🏻 did u ever experience the autoroute say the route is to complex even though it’s a simple route?

You mentioned you have the Wireless WS320 Wind System. I always wondered how many batteries it took and how long they last. You have the connector pod but what about the actual wind vane? What is syouur experience with the batteries? How many are there and how often do you change or charge them?

Can you mirror the functions of the Vulcan on a iPad and if so can you then take it below while sitting all relaxed and "play" with it in your lap to learn the functions? Or, are there some limitations when in "mirror mode" (if it has that function for an equivalent-sized iPad) ?

On touch screen functionality ,would you have preferred Zeus with manual toggles/buttons?

Thanks for this - well done ..Hey guys .. what is the difference between a Vulcan set up and the Zeus 3.. chartplotter. Thanks in advance.. as I am in the market for one of these..

Can you just have the chart plotter without the triton 2 display? Charts/Wind/Depth/Speed all viewed on Vulcan?

Some plotters have sd card ability for storage of routes etc. May help speed it up.

Hardly consider your giving a con to the product due to the learning curve unfair. The more sophisticated something is, the longer the learning curve.

I got turned on to you guys from the Andy H podcast. I just watched one of you first videos. And you mentioned gaming. Do you game on your boat? Because if I ever go sailing/living like you, I want my Xbox, for games but also KZfaq, Netflix, smart TV stuff. Any thoughts. Maybe you can make a video?

I don't know if it's too late, but B&G should sponsor you...thanks for the honest post

Have you had the opportunity to compare B&G to Savvy Navvy. Thanks for doing this 👍

Routes storage. Can you export your routes via WiFi? For many years I have used a GPS puck and Open CPN on my laptop for navigation. With this system it is easy to store routes on the laptop and recall them for later use. They require less than 100kb memory each, so it is possible to store many of them. I am a fan of modern technology BUT the cost for all these gadgets make me wonder about the practicality of it all. And does it all get fried in the advent of a lightening strike? Of course if you have deep pockets, go for it. I do not.

Hi guys just watched the video, we are from the UK, where abouts are you guys from in the uk if you don't mind me askin. By the way thank you for the information you just shard with us.

there's no memory card slot to save routes on?

Great video and very informative. Does B&G stand for Broken Gauges?

Which cards have you been using?

One interesting item I see other sailors don't have, is an underwater drone which one could get for the cost of an expensive air drone... it's something I'd get in conjunction with my air drone. One could get a clear view of the underwater views, like sea bed if you need to anchor in the bay for a few days.. quite indispensable. Beside one's aerial drone, I'd also mount cameras on deck and mast, like Erik aaderaa sailing does, so he can monitor everything above deck, whilst under. Great for heavy weather when it's best to stay below deck..

I was wondering any device in the market which is using B&G and then manage sails automatically with electrical winches , basically you do nothing Am I asking too much ? I maybe invent a device that will do it.

I read on Reddit that the screen mirror issue is often caused by your device ie phone and not by B&G per se. Just a thought. How is the battery holding up for the wireless wind instrument? Do you lose connectivity to it at any time?

Muy buenas!!!! Me gusto mucho vuestro canal…enhorabuena!!!! Estaría muy bien que tuviese los subtítulos en español… Un saludo desde Galicia!!

Generally, I feel that all modern navigation systems have user interfaces that are appalling. They seem to be made by programmers, for programmers and not for boaters at all. When I am in a boat I want to be in a boat, I do NOT want to be a system administrator who just happens to be on the water. The complexity of modern systems are getting in the way of what they are supposed to be there for: Simplifying your boating experience.

What do you do to "double check the route"

Great review. Well balanced (and I don't mean you say something nice after every criticism - that nonsense is how we got Trump and Boris). I sailed on a updated B&G boat in the Bahamas. Great. But touch screens? Yeah. They worked but the weather was nice. (I loathe Garmin - I might not be a sailor if I was forced to use their gear. I'm also a sea kayaker, when they went to touch screens on their handheld units they stopped working. My hands were wet, wrinkled and cold - or in gloves. I don't think they've ever field tested anything. (I completely turned off the password on my iPhone (Until I got a 12) I'd put it down so as not to use up the battery and it would lock. Then I'd need something.... and the fingerprint thing didn't work, I'd have to remove a glove to type in the code. One or, or the main reason people jailbroke their iPhones is that they automatically lock after a maximum of 5 minutes. I used an iPhone as a GPS for backcountry hiking, and even though I carried maps and a compass - the crappy multi-step nonsense made even having it a risk. I've got old Ray Marine kit on the boat I just bought. It's 180° out, So my boat is pointing north but the boat symbol shows it pointing south and it says my heading is 179°. I tried finding a solution. The density and useless verbiage of Ray Marine FAQs on this is completely frustrating. (I guess they have no clear solution.) They tell me to reset my compass, but the menu steps don't work. When I find them on my own it says there's no compass. (So how does it know the exact opposite information?) RayMarine also suggests my compass unit is broken. But it's accurate - just backwards. (And it tracked correctly down the California coast, but we had to squint at the corner of the AIS screen to see our heading, or subtract 180°. None of these things are very smart. But I'm a bit of a grump. I remember the 1990s when computers when from sometimes working to actually beginning to work well. The interface got better and better (and things with computer chips got faster and more stable) but about 2005 - 2008 these improvements stopped happening. It was as though the monopolies had formed ....and why should we change we get your money no matter what we do? (Ask any Adobe user if the software has actually improved in meaningful ways since 2008, or if any of the things that interfere with their workflow have ever been fixed.) So I'll get B&G, spend some coin, and I'm sure I'll experience everything you share here.

Sailed across the Biscay in 1968 in a 17 feet Silhouette plywood boat. Navigation equipment. Dead reckoning, radio direction finder, mechanical distance run. Sextant, didn't use, grid compass and a paper chart. Pair of ears and eyes. Haven't things changed.. how do you reckon you would have faired had this equipment failed. A guy I came across had been stuck for over a week because his GPS had failed..

Hello amazing people. I loved this video and made my mind really clean about navegations equipment. Thanks thanks thanks a loooot Big hugs from Mallorcaaaaa

I have so much respect for people who sailed before all this techno sailing. Any idiot can do it now - and they do, it’s like camping on water with no skill sets needed whatsoever.

Sorry. I just saw your subtitle remark. Was listening only…..:-)

I have NEVER had a good outcome with B&G.

I'm sorry, but autodocking is the dummest feature ever. Even if it draw an apparently good route, it makes sailors do even more mistakes, especially where there is current. And it keeps manufacturer busy programming futile features when they could actually work on chart quality (which is still questionable). But thanks for the review. How the user interface is organized and the fact that it lags is an important takeaway, for me.

I do hope you are backing up all this tech shit with paper charts 😉

Really???? Isn't learning to use any sophisticated device mandatory???!!! Also for us to appreciate the cons we need to understand your limitations and compression of technology!

do not buy B&G products. they have absolutely no customer service.

Incredibly overpriced displays. Definitely not worth the price.