Built-in GPS with VHF radio

[jwag956]

Time to replace my FB VHF radio - looking at GX1800/1850. The 1850 has N2K hookup. Both have models that include a in-built GPS (though the 1850 with GPS doesn't actually seem available anywhere).

Question - given a working N2K network, with a GPS antenna on it - are there pros/cons to having an in-built GPS in the VHF?

Sidenote: alas TF search ignores short words like 'GPS' and 'VHF' - has anyone explored whether TF forum could not exclude all 3 letter words?

 

[jgwinks]

The built in is a good backup, redundancy is always good. I don't have a NMEA network, so I bought the built in.

 

[bottomscraper]

No down side that I can think of. I have had multiple GPS receivers on my Garmin / Vesper N2K without any issues. Hold out for N2K, so much better! If you have an AIS that transmits or plan to add one I would NOT get a radio with built in AIS receive unless it has a provision to disable. As far as I can tell (and emails from Standard Horizon) this is not an option with the Standard Horizon units. You really don't want multiple AIS units telling you about the same stuff.