WWW.PMYMAG.COM JUNE 2017 / POWER & MOTORYACHT 49“signal found” notification and could have focused the final search
and approach. Better yet, I know that the PanPan team is working on
spoken guidance for the whole recovery process, which will mean
not having to look at the screen at all.
But obviously what I’ve been testing so far is not exactly the prom-
ised CrewWatcher system, which is now available to preorder and
that is deservedly getting publicity, and that’s a little vexing. Nor-
mally when I beta-test a product, it’s mainly useful so I can write
better about it when it’s announced. I don’t usually discuss beta bugs
because they’ve been fixed. In this case, however, I must tell you that
CrewWatcher didn’t work properly with my Samsung Note 4 phone
running Android 6.0.1. Actually, it can pair with the beacons and
appear to watch them, but neither signal loss nor water detection
triggered the alarm, which is worse than not working at all (and just
one reason that user testing is important).
The PanPan team is surprised by my test trouble, can’t duplicate
it on a phone also running Android 6.0.1, and is sending replace-
ment prototype beacons that, they tell me, may work fine. But then
again, Android is notoriously “looser” than Apple’s iOS and it’s still
not uncommon to see Bluetooth devices accompanied by specific
lists of just which Android phones and tablets are proven to be com-
patible. Plus, there’s a caveat about using any smart thing in a safety
system that’s well beyond beta issues and probably can’t be overcome
by even the smartest developers.
Let’s call it the Bad Elf Phenomenon (sorry, Elf ). I enthusiastically
reviewed the Bad Elf Pro Bluetooth iPad GPS in 2012, and I know
that many users also came to think of it as an excellent and reliable al-
ternative to the extra cost of an iPad with an internal GPS. Its receiver
is much better, it’s much more informative, and it can also log detailed
track information, even stand alone. Plus, I’m happy to report that the
sample unit was still working fine when I fired it up for CrewWatcher
testing, and, in fact, the product has gotten better. The Bad Elf app
(bad-elf.com) offers a lot more features, and it also easily updated the
hardware’s firmware so the Pro can now simultaneously send its data
to some Android devices (though not, ahem, my Note 4).
Regular improvement is what we can cheerfully expect from a well-
designed and supported Bluetooth smart device, and I’m quite confi-
dent that PanPan is like Bad Elf in that regard. But there was a period
when this smart Bluetooth product suddenly could not communicate
with smart mobiles at all. If you were a skipper who depended on the
Elf for your navigation app, and you let your iPad update to iOS 8.3 in
April 2016, you lost GPS until 8.4 came out in late June 2016, despite
what I imagine were some pretty heated communications to Apple
from the Bad Elf crew and other manufacturers of Bluetooth GPS
products. Companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung can barely see
down to boaters or boating developers over their very large bellies.
This is not the only problem Bad Elf has suffered with new iOS
versions and the company has documented them well as part of its
prophylactic “Cleared to Update Program.” So, while I intend to
continue testing the CrewWatcher beacon and app system up to
and beyond its ship date with high expectations, we should all real-
ize that a wrench could be dropped into the works by any “smart”
device update and it might not get fixed quickly.
Oddly enough, there is another Bluetooth 4 MOB system from
Sea-Tags (sea-tags.com) that’s available for pre-order, though I can
only report what’s on the company’s website. I do not see any men-
tion of water detection, let alone meshing or Bluetooth power-level
control, but some may like the watchband form factor, and at first I
found the mapping in the app attractive. But when asked, PanPan’s
Jason Schot pointed out that mapping is usually irrelevant at the
scale of MOB situations, and I think he’s right.
The Sea-Tags app can be configured to text an emergency con-
tact, but I have a hard time picturing how that would be helpful. If
you are a single-hander, for instance, going overboard is a different
and even more serious problem than what I’ve been discussing,
and the more appropriate device to have with you is a Personal
Locator Beacon, an AIS MOB beacon, a handheld DSC VHF radio,
or all of the above (and a gumby suit).
And last, but not at all least, another new MOB device coming
on the market is the new ACR AISLink personal MOB beacon (acr
electronics.com) that looks particularly well made and designed,
and it also has the added RescueMe-style DSC VHF alarming I sus-
pect to be very valuable. It already looks as though programming it
with my boat’s MMSI number is easier than I feared—the process is
wireless with even an app—and I predict that the testing will shred
one claim made by CrewWatcher, “30x AIS” speed, about which
I’m already quite dubious. Plus, of course, MOB alarm speed has a
different value when your beacon has a GPS and can transmit your
position to your own vessel and others within a few miles.
The evolving world of MOB beacons is a confusing one, but there
are many promising and valid options. UJoin Senior Electronics Editor Ben Ellison on his adventures and see
updates to his marine-electronics hub at pmymag.com/panbo