MOB Alarms 2018

Anyone have any experience with any of the new generation MOB alarms. Wife and I have decided that if one of us slipped overboard underway the helmsman could easily not notice for awhile. Looking for something simple like Crewwatcher https://crewwatcher.com/pages/features But it needs to work.

My wife researched these extensively, and we ended up with a couple of ACR RescueMe MOB1's. They are attached to our PFD's. When they get wet, they send a signal to any AIS receiver within a four mile range, and make a DSC radio call to our VHF. Haven't had to use it yet, but we like what it's SUPPOSED to do!
http://oceansignal.com/products/mob1/

BrianSmith said:

My wife researched these extensively, and we ended up with a couple of ACR RescueMe MOB1's. They are attached to our PFD's. When they get wet, they send a signal to any AIS receiver within a four mile range, and make a DSC radio call to our VHF. Haven't had to use it yet, but we like what it's SUPPOSED to do!
MOB1 - Ocean Signal

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Looks interesting. Was reading through the user manual. It says, service center battery replacement even after modest use. Curious if you researched the cost and availability of battery replacement.

Ted

I have never used one in anger, but I have many: Raymarine MOB system, McMurdo PLB, inReach, and OceanSignals MOB1.

Practically speaking from the written experiences of many MOB situations, the three issues are: Realizing that there is an MOB, finding them again, and getting them back on board.

The Raymarine and Crew Watcher are similar in that you will get an alarm within seconds of an MOB event. It will take awhile, perhaps several minutes to take action and turn the boat around. The MOB may now be 1/4 away. In a seaway, you have a very good chance of not seeing them. The Raymarine sets a waypoint at the event, giving you something to navigate back to but discounting drift. The Crew Watcher provides a vector, but only over very short distances.

The PLB or inReach can alert authorities in SAR, but this is a very time consuming process. The Coast Guard will call the emergency numbers to verify that it is not one of the 99% that are false alarms, locate SAR resources to mobilize them, etc. It could be several hours before any are on scene, and if they have no way to contact the boat, the boat is searching blind. Also the boat might be many miles away by then, if the off watch is taking a nap.

This leaves AIS beacons like the MOB1. Within minutes, it will make a DSC call to your boat. If that is not acknowledged quickly, it will make an all ships emergency DSC call. Your current position will automatically appear on the chartplotter. This gives the best chance of finding the MOB by your boat, or another boat.

Of those systems I like the MOB1, and it's the one I take with me on deck for the night watch (offshore on the sailboat). It can be installed on your inflatable vest so that it starts up automatically when the vest goes off. It can be tested, and the tests use a small amount of battery capacity. The battery is expensive to replace. I don't mind having to replace it after modest use (what is modest use? 1 or a few MOB events? well worth it....). There is really no reason to test it frequently enough to be concerned about the battery.

I refuse to buy anything like this without cost and availability of battery replacement. It should last a long time and ideally shouldn't be used, but lets be straight forward, lithium batteries do get bad batches. If it's not user changeable, then I need to know where to send it, how long, and how much.

This is like buying an $800 smart phone that the battery can't be easily changed in. It's good till it's not.

Ted

O.S. says you have to send it back, but the kits are available on the internet for $70 or so. It ain't rocket science.

O C Diver said:

I refuse to buy anything like this without cost and availability of battery replacement. It should last a long time and ideally shouldn't be used, but lets be straight forward, lithium batteries do get bad batches. If it's not user changeable, then I need to know where to send it, how long, and how much.

This is like buying an $800 smart phone that the battery can't be easily changed in. It's good till it's not.

Ted

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I agree Ted, I had a McMurdo PLB and, although never used, after 5 years they wanted nearly the price of a new one just to change the battery. Battery replacement was mandatory for continued activation. I threw it out!!

O C Diver said:

Looks interesting. Was reading through the user manual. It says, service center battery replacement even after modest use. Curious if you researched the cost and availability of battery replacement.

Ted

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Ted,

I assume "modest use" means it went off after someone fell in the water. If that happens, and we get the someone back onboard, then I'll worry about replacing the battery.

I should have said that our PFD's all have a water-activated strobe light, too. So with a DSC call and an AIS alert when the person goes in the drink, an AIS target to drive the boat to, and a flashing strobe light to look for in low light conditions, I like our chances better than any other combo of things the Safety Department researched.