About 3-4 weeks ago I purchased a used Northstar 951X GPS from someone in New Bern. Found the ad on craigslist and was impressed by the information within the listing. Set-up a time the following Monday to drive to New Bern to look at the unit and its condition and functionality.
I requested the seller to meet me in a neutral location. In response to my request he says he can't do that. The seller then asks me to leave my car on the side of the street and just walk over to his house because it was within walking distance from the street you come up on to get to his neighborhood. I may be wrong but that sounded very "odd". I then requested for a second time to just meet me at the Lowes in New Bern since it was literally right around the corner from his house. His response again was, "Why don't you want to leave your car on the side of the street and just walk over?" Any normal human being knows that is an odd request to ask someone who is interested in an item you have for sale.
Seeing how I worked in New Bern for a while I was familiar with the area and found his house. Once I knocked on the door he was "shocked" that I was able to find his house. He powered the unit up for me so I could be sure it worked. The unit was in just as good of shape as the listing stated.
However. since the purchase of this unit I have had a local Marine Electronics repair place (I do not want to mention the company due to privacy) try to update the software. The business had the unit now for 2 weeks and found that the seal, or rubber gasket that goes around the housing of the unit had been removed as well as some small pieces of electronic material and broken off screws inside the housing. If anyone around the New Bern/Oriental/Morehead City area knows anything about a unit possibly being stolen off a boat please reply to this post.
I will also tell you to beware of a gentleman working soley for himself that lives in New Bern doing "Marine Repair". It is very clear that he knew this unit was no good when he sold it and now he claims he can't speak to me about the unit.
John,
Does the unit work?
I can tell you I have one that my mates dropped and it has the same "issues" as the one you described. (After it was dropped)
You can call Northstar and check the serial # aginest their database and they can most likely tell you if it is reported stolen.
Dave
I reinstalled my Northstar 951x this year. It worked perfectly last year. I turn it on the first time and it can't get a fix. It picked up a few satelites but they would seem to go in and out. Left it on for about 20 minutes. Turned it on the next day had trouble getting any satelites. Then i read the book and it said it could take 15 minutes to get a fix so i left it on for about a half hour, and it finally picked me up with no problems after that. Figured all was well, went to turn it on today and no fix. left it on for a good 45 minutes.
Heres what i have come up with.
1. I had to replace the connector from the antenna, could i have reinstalled the connector wrong? Would it work sometimes?
2. I took some off the end of the antenna cable. It says in the book it shouldn't be less then 50 feet. It wasn't 50 feet last year and it was fine.
3. Some other thing i can;t think of.
What software version does it have on it?
They have to be updated to solve a problem with the newest Sat. This started about 2 years ago but only showes it head IF the #31 sat is in view....so it can work fine....then blink....lose fix.
If you are near CB I can update it for you.
Dave