Interesting … 'do not anti-foul the transponder face'.
However … this product seems pretty clearly targeted at (and priced accordingly) the 'serious' racers. Serious racers
lift their boats and clean, even sand, their hulls before every
race … so in the
racing season … there wouldn't be much opportunity for the transponder to foul up.
Anyway … it comes with a nice flappy-valve gizmo to make withdrawing the transponder at sea easy. So just pull it out … replace with the blanking
plug … then clean it … after every time you use the
boat. There replace it next time you want to use it.
If you are using the boat continuously, e.g. cruising, just make it a daily ritual to pull, clean, replace.
So I don't see the 'do not anti-foul the transponder face' edict as much of an issue, really.
The reports of widely variable readings is more of a concern.
Those same 'serious' racers would not take kindly to paying that much for something that is unreliable. The sooner Airmar sort out this issue … the better.