Matsutec HP-33A 4.3 inch LCD Class B AIS Transponder Combo High Marine GPS Navigator

A great system which worked as soon as hooked up to it's own GPS antenna and 12v input. I also used a dedicated VHF whip ariel on the pushpit and picking up all traffic from up to 8 miles range. Handbook is weak (like most Chinese stuff).

I was in two minds whether to buy this unit but a similar item including a display from one of the big suppliers (e.g. Icom) is approaching double the price. Build quality is good with clear screen, responsive rubberised buttons and good IP rating in terms of dust / water resistance. The cheap metal U mount and power / GPS connectors evidence build quality compared to a Garmin or Lowrance but there is no reason to believe they are not fit for purpose. Set up is relatively simple although the one thing I wasn't particularly enamoured with is when entering MMSI number most other manufacturers ask for the number to be re entered to ensure it is correct, no such safety feature on this unit and entering the wrong MMSI number would cause a major issue given once accepted it is greyed out and can't be changed... take good care! It is important when setting up and first transmitting position to give plenty of time for your boat appear on "Marine Traffic" AIS for example, mine ran for a couple of hours before my [pleasure] boat appeared on internet AIS applications. Once it did appear I could upload a picture to Marine Traffic to correspond to MMSI number and boat name. The GPS receiver that comes with the unit is good and I used a separate and specific AIS VHF aerial rather than a splitter on my VHF radio aerial. Slight reservations are what would happen if things go wrong with any Matsutec / Onwa item? An email query with the supplier receives a response from China and whilst response time is quick and they try to be helpful it takes a few emails to get an answer because it seems to get lost in translation. My unit was missing the hard copy operator manual which I want to keep aboard and there is supposedly one coming from China but hasn't arrived in the time frame promised (it is available on the internet but is seems to be for an earlier software version?) and an enquiry about how to interface with my Garmin and Lowrance chart plotters got nowhere other than they told me it could be done. Not major issues but if a bigger problem arose quite how quickly and easily it would be resolved is open to debate, similarly whilst the unit has a one year warranty and is CE marked quite how warranty issues would be dealt with and whether via the UK or China is unknown but hopefully there won't be a need to put it to the test! Conversely there does appear to be quite a lot of units in the UK now and Matsutec have been around for a while. I intend to use the HP-33A as a stand alone unit for the time being and with Class B AIS transponder, GPS, good selection of display screen and significant waypoint / route options the HP-33A brings significant additional safety to my offshore fishing trips which at the current price is hard to beat. It would be interesting to see what the chart plotters from this supplier are like because first impressions are Matsutec (and Onwa) marine instruments could pose a significant threat to the big named producers of such items when balancing quality against cost? So far so good pleased with my purchase.

It stands alone but can transmit data to other instruments and vhf. The instructions are a bit long and complex but works fine from the box for the basics. Ideal under the protection of the bimini. Not tried it in exposed position. Very reassuring to see traffic.

I obtained a model. It would not communicate via RS232 with my radio, and stopped calculating GPS position (but satellite transmissions were received). I sent it back, got a refund all very quickly, got a second model with exactly the same issues. Amazon were good with delivery, returns and refund. The GPS would have been very good value for money if it had worked.

Good product been fitted for 3 weeks and works fine could do with instuctions for connecting to chart plotters but otherwise no problems. Would definitely recommend

Excellent unit, compact but easily readable... Would recommend. Very good value for money.

On my trip to circumnavigate Britain the unit got water in it and stopped working.... Upset to say the least. the cable attachments on the rear of the unit got very corroded too. up until the point that the unit became a brick I was very happy.

Excellent piece of gear