I like Garmin stuff. A lot. I've owned at least a dozen of their various GPSs. And I think the GMI 10 is an excellent N2K display: looks great, extremely flexible, can display just about anything on your N2K bus. However, after installing five GMI 10s today I have to get one thing off my chest: Plastic N2K connectors are crap.
I'm using the (ridiculously expensive, German-made) Maretron-branded N2K cables. The knurling on these makes installation difficult enough when you're just connecting a drop cable to a T. But Garmin's cheapo plastic connectors make things much worse. I cross threaded the connectors on two of those five GMI 10s. Luckily I didn't damage the threads so much that I couldn't fix the situation when I realized what had happened. But the bottom line is that for expensive N2K devices, metal threads should be standard. I'll pay the $2 increase in the BOM. Also, all the cables, power taps, and terminators which Garmin thoughtfully includes in every GMI 10 box are all plastic threaded and therefore useless. Maybe they'll come in handy on the test bench.
Aside: Maretron actually offers a special cable exclusively for plastic-threaded N2K devices! It has metal male threads on one end to connect to a Maretron T or junction box and plastic female threads on the other to connect to the device...
I couldn't bring myself to buy these.
"I'll pay the $2 increase in the BOM"
But would you pay the $30 increase in street price on each of your 5 displays? or would you prefer to spend that $150 on something more fun and spend 30 seconds extra installing them more carefully which you only have to do once?
Raymarine connectors are my favorite. They are plastic also, but you need only twist them less than a single turn to get a positive lock, also they are very thin and easy to snake thru conduit.
As much as I like them I primarily use Maretron. The mid size (larger than micro) cables that Maretron sells are very compelling. This thicker cable has a far lower voltage drop than the micro size cables provide by most everyone else.
Anon, I don't think a $2 increase in the BOM equates to $30 at retail. 100% markups each at wholesale and retail -- $8 total -- is more realistic. I would pay $8, especially since the GMI 10 is much cheaper than the Maretron, Raymarine or (probably) Furuno equivalents.
And the 30 second installation time isn't the point; I don't think metal and plastic threads should ever be mated if it can be avoided. The plastic will wear over time.
Geez, Adam, I like metal N2K connectors, too, but have yet to cross thread a metal to plastic connection though I've probably made over 500 such connections (wild guess). And I don't think I have a particularly delicate touch. Just don't twist much until you've got the connectors lined up correctly and twisting is easy.
Also, I don't buy the idea that a metal/plastic connection will wear out over time. There's a lot of contact surface area there, and I can't picture a problem unless maybe it's subjected to really severe vibration. On the other hand, I compared Garmin and Maretron cable/connector prices fairly recently, and while the cost differences seem quite variable, they're often surprisingly close.
You say "geez" Ben, but maybe you're just more conscientious than I. I noticed today while watching the output of Actisense Reader that my N2K GPS (Garmin 17x) wasn't showing up on the network. I went up to the flybridge and crawled under the helm to check it out. Cable wasn't seated -- cross threaded!