CAN BLUETOOTH HELP SAVE YOUR LIFE?
I put the PanPan CrewWatcher through its paces in the protected conditions of our Power & Motoryacht Test Shed in Essex, Connecticut. Why not brave the bounding main to test a system designed to help boaters stay alert to man overboard situations, and locate and recover lost crew, you may ask? I had the idea to see if this safety device meets a baseline of usability in ideal conditions, before being subjected to the rigors of on-water testing. Could we get it to connect to a tablet in a warm, dry office?
CrewWatcher is a system that combines an app, which runs on mobile smart devices, and an electronic beacon (app is free; $90 for one beacon, $170 for two). Tablets and smartphones that use the Apple iOS 6.1 or Android 5.1 and up are recommended. In the interest of simplicity, I loaded the app on an iPad 2, a 16-gigabyte model running iOS 9.3.5. The app uses the iPad’s built-in GPS sensor (the system won’t work with assisted GPS as found in wifi-only iPads) and Bluetooth connectivity (compatibility with Bluetooth 4.0 is recommended). Also, the manufacturer of the system recommends it for non-steel boats under 45 feet.
This story is from the February 2018 edition of Power and Motoryachts.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of Power and Motoryachts.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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