Marriage saver headsets

[hgd137]

We use them and are quite satisfied, however there are some anchorages where they can't be used because of electrical interference. For those anchorages its back to hand signals, but it doesn't happen very often. They are worth the money.

[Magnawake]

We had some head sets and they stopped working. I bought some small cobra radios and tied them on a lanyard around our necks. Worked OK for a while then they stopped working. Then we came up with some hand signals. No batteries needed. The only problem we have is when we back into a slip and I cant see my wife. Thats when I need to rely on voice. However, the people helping tie us seem to always want to start a conversation and distract us. Thats when I start hollering "I CANT HEAR YOU......" (like Sarg. carter on Gomer Pyle). If you have a 90ft yacht with a enclosed pilot house you might need headsets. I see many boats with a load speaker mounted on the mast on bridge. I havent seen the first person use it.

[Canibul]

Starting to sound like when they work they're great, but most of them don't work.

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by Idle

Hi,
I was given a pair of hands free headsets as a gift. The intention is to communicate without shouting to each other. The product name is " marriage saver headsets" from Cruising Solutions Co.
It is on AM band so there is either a radio broadcast or a humming noise which makes hearing impossible.
It looks like gone away $ s for good intention.
Has anyone have any experience with these?

They are the best thing since sliced bread!

If your crew is always the same, hand signals work great... If you regularly sail with new people aboard, especially unexperienced folks they are worth their weight in gold!

Hand signals only work if the bow crew is staring at you... Most times they are not.

Headsets are especially helpful when picking up a mooring.

[Canibul]

Sliced bread is way overrated as a technological breakthrough in the western world.

[Mknebes]

We have them and love them. Never had any problems whatsoever with them and we use them in all different conditions. We have hand signals as well but use the headsets preferably. Maybe you have an older version? I paid like $60 or $70 for them a year ago and they have paid for themselves over and over.

Monica

[ReMetau]

We have them and love em too. I am thinking about upgrading to a nicer motorcycle set since they do pick up a lot of static and other interference.

[Mknebes]

We must be lucky, not had any interference or static or any problems. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Monica

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by s/v 'Faith'

If your crew is always the same, hand signals work great... If you regularly sail with new people aboard, especially unexperienced folks they are worth their weight in gold!

Hand signals only work if the bow crew is staring at you... Most times they are not.

I'd agree that if your crew is constantly changing, then radios might be easier. But basic hand signals are really not hard to implement. You don't need to learn sign language; a 1/2-dozen signals pretty much covers it all.

But I wanted to say again that what we've found to be most effective is having the person on the bow as the one in charge, NOT the person at the helm. The helm's person can easily watch for signals from the person who is forward, so that solves that problem. The person on the bow is the one who sees the situation (anchor spot, shallow water, mooring, etc.). In most cases the helm only needs to communicate depth, speed and sometimes "when we've arrived" kind of info. It is the person at the bow that is making all the detailed decisions.

[Idle]

Thanks for all the comments. Being married for 37 years with the same wife, I don't think we really needed a marriage saver. The set was as I noted a gift.
My question was simply whether someone was successful to get any benefit at all.
We will continue with self coded hand signals.
To be honest I would be a bit shy to show up with them on a 37 ft boat!

[ReMetau]

What we like most about them is that we can stay in constant communication with each other, and we talk. "Looking good babe, keep it up, almost there, etc..." I enjoy my wife's voice and the headsets while anchoring just make everything nicer. If you enjoy hand signals than so be it. To each their own.

[Cuttyhunk]

We have another brand. We like them. We are both a little deaf, and neither one of us likes being shouted at. But neither one of us can hear over the engine/wind noise unless it's a shout. I have been known to use rather bad language when I am being shouted at. Otherwise, of course, I am very ladylike at all times...

Anyhow, with the headsets on, I can whisper, honey, put it in neutral....ok, we are stopped, anchor is going down. Ok, give me a little reverse. Honey, I'm cleating off. Ok, we are looking good, signing off and heading back.

All said in as seductive a tone as I can manage, because there is something sexy about whispering into the microphone. And nobody gets ticked off! :-):-)

[cabo_sailor]

We also have a set, but not a very expensive set, I think the pair was around $60. The original version was for people with RV's so that someone could act as a guide when backing into tight spots. That was our first pair and they didn't work so well on the boat due to wind noise. I taped tissue paper over the microphones and that helped. The latest version we have has foam over the microphones and work quite well. We have never encountered interference but we don't usually use them unless we are in a new marina/anchorage or when someone has to go up the mast.

For some reason the Admiral doesn't appreciate me raising my voice even if it is necessary to overcome wind and engine noise.

Rich

[Amapola]

We tried these in the Lake Okeechobee Locks and there was so much static that you couldn't understand the communication. We have a 48' trawler and my wife is out of sight on the stern while locking through. We opted to use VHF. My wife uses a portable on the stern and I talk to her from the cockpit on a vacant channel.

When anchoring, we use hand signals. She pilots the boat while I handle the anchor.

[JPA Cate]

We're in the same camp as Mike O'Reilly in terms of hand signals for anchoring. Our headsets are about 25 yrs. old walkie-talkies from Toys R Us, and cost $18.95. They use 9v. batteries, and we use them for hands-free communication from the deck or below decks when one is at the masthead, wants the power to the tricolor or anchor light turned on and off; we use them whenever Jim goes up the mast, so that we can communicate without shouting.

When someone shouts, it is as if the shout itself makes audio distortion, for me, so that the actual sound destroys the clues as to what the words were. So, the walkie-talkies work well for us. We call them our inter-galactic communicatiors.

Since we have hand signals for anchoring, we never have to use the i-gc in the rain, which would probably ruin them.

For us, they've proved a useful tool, even though they look pretty silly.

Ann