Archor Drag Alarms - Survey

[W3GAC]

I use Drag Queen app on iPhone and leave chart app up & running on iPhone zoomed way in to see swing track marks. Remember when setting Drag Queen to set at bow when dropping anchor and add/ factor in the bow to wherever you put your Drag Queen app device distance in your swing alarm calculations.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Maybe my experience must have been special then. I loaded it on my phone, set the alarm to 50' in my livingroom, then when outside and walked down the street and it never alarmed.

So I deleted the program as I would never trust it after that.

It only works over water!

[Cormorant]

Is it possible it didn't get a GPS fix inside the house?

[LTDsailing]

I have been using 'Anchor Alert' on my Android phone for a few months now and have been very happy with it. I really like the feature which allows it to call or text another phone if it goes off. My worst fear is that the anchor might start to drag while I am off the boat. Very good app.

[svkatielee]

I used the Garmin 128 for 10 years, worked great with an external buzzer. One of the early car seat-belt buzzers.
But it died and I could only replace it with a Garmin 152H. Its alarm beeps 3 beeps and quits. So I had to add a latching relay. In 15 years of cruising, the anchor drag alarms have saved us numerous times in Mexico, all across the South Pacific an now Southeast Asia. A 30 knot squal in th emiddle of the night will at least cause most anchors to reset. The black& white display Garmins use less than 0.2 amps so it stays on 24 hours a day, even where there is no cell phone service!

[Group9]

"Anchor alarm" a free app for my Android that works like a charm. Before I had always used a handheld E-trex in the bunk for that. But, this app is so easy to use, I don't even use the handheld any more for that.

I just take it forward with me, and cut it on when I drop the anchor. At worst you know it will only be ten or fifteen feet off from where it finally sets. Then I set it to about fifty feet to a hundred feet past how much line/chain I have out. But, you can see the distance from that point so you can tell if the anchor has set or not by whether or not the distance keeps increasing. Cool app and makes keeping the smartphone worth it for that alone.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by svkatielee

I used the Garmin 128 for 10 years, worked great with an external buzzer. One of the early car seat-belt buzzers.
But it died and I could only replace it with a Garmin 152H. Its alarm beeps 3 beeps and quits. So I had to add a latching relay. ...............

Yea, I need to add that relay to mine. Garmin makes good stuff but I'm not sure the people who design it ever put it in a boat and use it. Fortunately, my wife is a light sleeper and wakes me if the alarm sounds.

I've never actually drug anchor but sometimes I don't allow enough distance for the scope.