TT,
I don't doubt what you write one bit but the first thing that popped into my mind after reading your post was, "that's one hell of an argument for sticking with one brand of electronics!"
It probably is with respect to N2K interoperability. But of course there are lots of other considerations when looking at single brand electronics. I think each is a compromise somewhere, whether it's radar, fish finder, chart plotter, auto pilot, support, etc, etc.
Also, electronics techs get to know what works and what doesn't, so can guide you down a path that works, or is likely to work.
And last, as a matter of principal, single brand is exactly what the manufacturers want, and I don't think as consumers we should allow incompatibility to work in their favor. I think we need to hold each and every one accountable for interoperability, and insist they fix problems or return the equipment. I think it's unconscionable that vendors make so little effort to interoperate, and unconscionable that NMEA let's them run rampant while granting and advocating official certification for stuff that simply doesn't work together.
It's getting better, but I still approach every new N2K device the same way I approach any change to a windows system. You have about a 50% chance it will "just work", a 30-40% chance it will waste a lot of your time but eventually you will get it working, and a 10-20% chance is will render your system inoperable. So pick your timing carefully, and be ready to do battle.
Small systems with N2K generally work well, and will often just plug together and work. But the bigger they get, the lower the probability. And as the number of devices increased, the number of things that need to interoperate goes up exponentially. In this case it's probably just PGNs that need to be turned on in the WX device, but that's just a guess.
Personally I have found myself using less and less N2K as the years move on. Two boats ago, it was 100% N2K. My last boat started out 100% N2K, and ended up with primary nav devices on 0183, and N2K for secondary (backup) nav instruments plus monitoring. So about 30% 0183 and 70% N2K. On this next boat I'm using a bit more 0183, and have moved a bunch of monitoring and all control from N2K to Modbus.
I can only speculate what the dynamics and motivation are, but there is no indication that the N2K community has any interest in changing the status quo. After all, they have had 20 years to do it. So I just accept it as is, use it where it's the best choice, or where there is no other choice, and use other more standardized and interoperable protocols where possible. And if products don't work, I'll go a max of two rounds with tech support, updates, or other debugging. If it still doesn't work, I just send it back for a refund. 0183, for example, is fussier to set up, but is highly deterministic, i.e. you can predict how it will behave, and it will do that consistently and reliably.
OK, rant over...
