NASA BT-3 Bluetooth Navtex Receiver

Take off-shore weather

We are traveling in the Adriatic with a 5.7m motorboat (Galia 570 Sun) and because I'm a tech freak I bought the NavTex for weather reports. For the Adriatic you can also get these reports via nIs and SeaHelp. After just 1 year the device stopped working. Now I've learned from the reviews here that sea water may have penetrated the antenna and destroyed the device. I'll check it at home and take everything apart. If water has actually penetrated the antenna, that would be a serious defect on the part of the manufacturer. I'll keep you updated. From today's perspective I would only buy a device like this if I expected that there would be no cell reception for a long time on my trip to access weather data via apps.

I purchased this item in January 2021, I mounted it on my boat at the beginning of summer 2021. I downloaded the application on Android which was free, while I was amazed to discover that it had to be paid for on iPhone (something I hadn't learned during the purchase phase).

The device worked normally until December 2023, after which it suddenly stopped working. After a few months of various tests and resets, I contacted both SVB and NASA by email to ask them for advice on this problem. They both responded to me immediately; SVB telling me that the warranty had expired and that there was effectively no chance of receiving anything.
NASA, on the other hand, responded kindly and made themselves available, trying to give me some practical suggestions for checking the device, maneuvers which I performed but unfortunately to no avail.
I realize to my surprise that the problem depends on a defect in the external antenna supplied with the device, as it is not completely waterproof. The sea water and/or rain water has entered the antenna compartment, effectively ruining the entire electronic device contained therein and, by capillarity, through the coaxial cable, the water flowing inside the cable has reached the inside of the device decoder placed dry in a compartment above the chart table.
NASA very kindly makes itself available by inviting me to send them the entire device to check it and possibly remedy it. So I do it, I send everything to NASA in England who repairs the decoder and sends me a new antenna to replace the faulty one because it is no longer convenient to repair.
Now everything works normally, but I would like to point out that this operation cost me money
-€35.00 shipping of material to England;
- €63.00 for contribution for new antenna and repairs outside of warranty;
-€20.00 foreign bank transfer fees;
-€20.00 paid to the courier for delivery of repaired material.
Total €138.00!!!!
Let's consider that if I had ordered the new antenna I would have paid approximately €100.00. Given the product defect discovered outside the warranty, but given the internal rust of the antenna and the condition of the coaxial cable, it was more than evident that water had penetrated inside the antenna for a long time and certainly already during the warranty period .
What can I say, I would have preferred greater protection for the consumer who in this case was not very well protected!!!! Let's hope no further trouble happens.
I invite SVB to pay greater attention to its customers, especially after sales, attention that I have not encountered.