This is a blog featuring my personal stories of food, gardening, yachting, photography, travel and life.

Monday, June 26, 2017

New Comm Headsets Change Our Lives

Cruising out in the Gulf Islands of Bristish Columbia, we noticed friends of ours using headsets to communicate with each other while anchoring and docking. We inquired, they let us try them on and we were immendiately sold on them.

As soon as we arrived home and coincidentally right around Father's Day, I ordered a pair of these headsets.

They arrived just in time for our next cruise, a short jaunt south to Chuckanut Bay. We tried them right off while exiting our slip, a task that can be a bit tricky due to the location. We'd never done it better or with less stress.

We used them again while anchoring, hauling up the anchor at the end of the day and finally, while entering our slip upon our return to port.

What are these amazing devices that have changed our lives? They are stereo headphones with a microphone built in and a bluetooth connection. The Sena Model SHP10s fit snuggly around your neck and over each ear. We were able to speak in quiet tones that helped cut down on the tenseness our voices usually have in these sometimes stressful situations. No stress, no raised voices, no hollering or yelling. The lack of all this made these manuevers work so much better. So much so that we didn't mind the $300 price tag for the pair (Amazon).

The signal was clear as a bell, no delay as is the case with the cheap walkie talkies with headsets on the VOX setting we've used in the past. The Senas have no delay, no static. Simply amazing. The downside, if you depend on your walkie talkies to communicate at all, is that the Senas only have about a 1,000 yard range. But that is more than enough for our onboard needs.

They charge quickly on a USB plug and are very easy to activate. They get my highest rating for boat gear.