Anchor alarm Garmin GPS72H rubbish

[PhilipH]

Just got one of these new and tried out the anchor alarm in the garden. Set the distance to 3 metres and had to walk 10 metres to get it to sound. When it did sound it was just a short burst of beeps and no repeat. Hardly likely to wake me up at night.

Is this normal? What am I doing wrong?

 

[Noahsdad]

I have used an anchor alarm but never for such a short distance.
One thing to think of is did the receiver have a clear view of the sky?
Another is to note level of accuracy indicated on the unit.
In practical use if i was going to be in trouble in less than 10 metres i wouldn't anchor there!

 

[RupertW]

I have used an anchor alarm but never for such a short distance.
One thing to think of is did the receiver have a clear view of the sky?
Another is to note level of accuracy indicated on the unit.
In practical use if i was going to be in trouble in less than 10 metres i wouldn't anchor there!

Within 10m I'd expect to hear my fenders judging up against the next boat. I prefer depth alarm to proximity alarms but all alarms are just the icing on the cake of anchor.

 

[Bru]

It is my only beef with the GPS72H, quite agree that the drag alarm is utterly useless!

 

[Hoolie]

My Garmin GPS 152 is similar, but I don't think can be set for as little as 3 metres. The GPS 152 has an external alarm connection, and I have a latching relay and separate sounder which I will set up in the aft cabin when the more serious tasks have been cleared.

 

[sailorman]

Within 10m I'd expect to hear my fenders judging up against the next boat. I prefer depth alarm to proximity alarms but all alarms are just the icing on the cake of anchor.

anchored + fenders deployed

 

[RupertW]

anchored + fenders deployed

I thought so too until I moved to the Med and experienced Italian charter week.

Now it's fenders out then anchor down. In the emptiest corner of the the biggest bay you can still rely on a boat coming to a stop just ahead of you then dropping all their chain on the sea floor while motoring at right angles across the line of your chain as they don't fancy pointing the same way all the other boats are.

 

[Noahsdad]

I thought so too until I moved to the Med and experienced Italian charter week.

Only a week? Virtuall the whole of August in the Ionion!

 

[thalassa]

It is my only beef with the GPS72H, quite agree that the drag alarm is utterly useless!

+1
However, it is not the only issue I have with this model. The display contrast is poor, and also, it eats batteries. Still deplore selling the Garmin 12 with the boat. Most of the time, I use an Etrex legend HCX, the battery life is in excess of 30 hrs. And I'm not wild on 12 V power cables.

 

[nigelmercier]

GPS on its own is not accurate enough to detect 3m.

 

[noelex]

The minimum setting on most anchor alarms is 0.01nm which is about 20m.

GPS units that allow you to set an anchor alarm from a waypoint rather than the current location are much better. The waypoint can be adjusted so that the alarm will go off with only a small movement backwards.

With EGNOS enabled alarms down to about 5m backwards movement or are OK without false alarms.

 

[PhilipH]

I know the distance was a bit small, and yes I had a clear view without buildings and trees - give some of us credit for a bit of nous. This was for a test and the main point is that it doesn't matter whether the alarm goes off after moving only 30cm, the alarm itself is useless - small level of limited noise and no repeats, albeit a warning stays on the screen. very handy if you are asleep - NOT.

Doh.