WatchMate Vision2® AIS Transponder Owner's Guide

The WatchMate Vision² Installation Guide has important information about wiring and antenna placement. It also has information to help the user get started with WatchMate Vision®, and find more detailed information about operating WatchMate Vision² within the various sections below.

Simply touch the screen for a moment. The Vesper Marine® logo will appear and after about a minute the WatchMate Vision² will be up and running. To shut it off, select Power Off from the Settings Menu.

Hint: WatchMate Vision² has a GPS Backup Power feature. To speed the time-to-first fix, do not disconnect or switch off the power supply to the WatchMate Vision². If the power supply is turned off, it may take longer for the built-in GPS to acquire satellite data and a position fix. When switching the WatchMate Vision² off using the Menu option, it will continue to maintain the GPS almanac data as long as the power supply is maintained.

An extremely small amount of power is used to maintain the GPS data so it should not have any significant effect on the battery. However, to completely turn off  WatchMate Vision², such as when storing the vessel for an extended time, disconnect or switch off the power supply.

Your WatchMate Vision² has a capacitive touchscreen. Scroll through the menu, zoom in and out, see vessel details and navigation data, change alarm settings and more with the most gentle of touches.

Use the area that is off the screen on the right to slide out the menu system. Slide a finger along the off-screen area to scroll and flick the menu and then select any menu item by touching it on the screen.

The GPS smoothing feature is optimized for vessels that do not exceed 45 knots. For a fast vessel, disable the smoothing feature. Otherwise, GPS position will be lost when travelling in excess of 48 knots.

WatchMate Vision² will not transmit until vessel details have been configured. The dealer may have already configured this information and this procedure can be used to verify the information is correct.

The vessel must have an assigned MMSI number. If the vessel doesn't have an assigned MMSI, contact the relevant authority in the country of residence.

Once the MMSI number is configured, it cannot be changed. To change the MMSI, contact an authorized dealer or Vesper Marine.

Vessel details may be configured or viewed directly on the WatchMate Vision² or using either the Vesper Marine WatchMate® App for iPhone and iPad or Android phones and tablets. Users can also use the vmAIS Configuration and Status Utility (see downloads section). To use the utility, download and install it on a PC or Mac computer. Connect to WatchMate Vision² via USB or Wi-Fi.

On the Vision², from the Settings Menu choose AIS Settings and edit My Vessel Details. Enter the  MMSI and other details carefully since this information is transmitted to all vessels within range. Select the most appropriate vessel type and enter the location of the GPS antenna. Enter the location in either meters or feet. Measurements in feet are converted to whole meters for transmission. As a result, not all measurements in feet can be represented.

The WatchMate Vision² transponder comes already configured as an Access Point. This is the most common way to use the WatchMate Vision² and it allows the user to connect up to eight other devices via Wi-Fi. A separate Wi-Fi router is not needed.

The default network name (SSID) is VesperXB-[Serial Number]. Select this name from the Wi-Fi connection screen on your other devices. The default password is printed in the owner's manual.

Change the SSID or password by using the Wi-Fi Settings on the WatchMate Vision² or by using the vmAIS Configuration and Status Utility on a PC or Mac computer. It is recommended to change the password. To do this, use the Wi-Fi Settings dialog which is accessed from the Settings Menu. Alternatively, a user can do this by downloading the vmAIS Configuration and Status Utility (see downloads section) and installing it on a PC or Mac computer. Use the USB cable that is included with the WatchMate Vision² transponder to connect to the computer. Some versions of Microsoft Windows have the driver pre-installed, but if not or if installing on Mac OS, it can be downloaded.

Select the Wi-Fi Settings from the Settings Menu to change the SSID and enter the new password.

If there is an existing Wi-Fi router, configure the WatchMate Vision² to connect to it rather than create its own network. This allows users to maintain a single network connection on other devices without having to switch networks to get access to the WatchMate Vision² transponder. This also allows for larger networks than the eight devices supported by the WatchMate Vision² in its Access Point configuration.

To configure the WatchMate Vision² to join an existing network, use the Wi-Fi Settings dialog accessed from the Settings Menu. Alternatively, users can use the vmAIS Configuration and Status Utility on a PC or Mac computer. To do this, download the vmAIS Configuration and Status Utility (see downloads section) and install it on a PC or Mac computer. Use the USB cable that is included with the WatchMate Vision² transponder to connect to the computer. Some versions of Microsoft Windows have the driver pre-installed, but if not or if installing on Mac OS, it can be downloaded.

On the Vision², from the settings menu, select Wi-Fi Settings. Turn off Create a Wireless Network. It will take a few seconds for the WatchMate Vision² to reconfigure itself and display a list of networks within range.

Select the network to join by clicking on its name. Enter the network password, if required. The WatchMate Vision² transponder supports WPA and WPA2 personal (PSK) Wi-Fi security.

The default is to use DHCP which allows the Wi-Fi router to choose the address for the WatchMate Vision². This is convenient but the address can change if the WatchMate Vision² transponder is powered off. To assign the  WatchMate Vision² a static IP address, untick the "Use DHCP" option and enter the IP address to use. This must be an IP address in the correct range which the router has available for use as a static IP. See the manual for the Wi-Fi router for details regarding static IP usage and the correct address to enter.


The WatchMate Vision² will now connect to the network. When it is done, the selected network will appear in the list with a blue tick next to it. If using DHCP, click on the grey arrow next to the network name to see the IP address that has been assigned by the router. Use this address to connect to the WatchMate Vision² from other devices on the network.

Getting started with iNavX can sometimes be confusing. Install it from the App Store, download free charts or create an account to download additional charts, and configure it for use with the Vesper Marine transponder. To get started, here's a tutorial.

This video shows the steps to connect iNavX to a WatchMate Vision² AIS Transponder over Wi-Fi. Once connected, the Vesper Marine transponder will supply GPS position to iNavX and AIS targets will be overlaid on the iNavX charts.

In addition to the Vesper Marine WatchMate for iPhone and iPad and the Vesper Marine WatchMate for Android , there are a growing set of third-party mobile apps for a phone or tablet that support Vesper Marine transponders with Wi-Fi. 

Use any PC or MAC navigation software that accepts AIS and GPS data over either a serial port or a TCP connection. For a serial connection, use the USB port on the Vesper Marine transponder. For TCP, use the Wi-Fi.

Some examples of navigation software that supports the XB-8000 over both USB and Wi-Fi are Rose Point Coastal Explorer, openCPN and macENC.

There are two options for using navigation software that doesn't support TCP connections. The easiest is to use the USB port on the Vesper Marine transponder. When the USB drivers are installed (downloaded from above) and then plug in the transponder, the driver creates a "virtual com port" on the computer. It will assign it a name like COM9. Configure the software to use that port at 38,400 baud.

Another option is to use Wi-Fi to connect the computer to the Vesper Marine transponder. Then use software to create a "virtual com port" on the computer from the TCP connection.  HW Group VSP3 Software works well for this purpose.