London Boatshow: SeaMe / Echomax Active-X

After reading the MAIB Report on the Ouzo tragedy and the uselessness of most radar reflectors, we'd pretty much decided that we wanted to buy a SeaMe active radar reflector for our new boat. We were shopping around for a good price at the boat show. The best we found at the show was £440 (Mailspeed Marine). 

When we spoke to the guys at TCS Chandlery we were told that they would not be stocking the SeaMe because EchoMax had a new product called the Active-X. It's not even on the Echomax website yet. Their position was that Echomax were so prevalent in the space that "we'll be seeing the slow demise of SeaMe over the next year or so". I'd like to hope this isn't the case because SeaMe clearly are innovators. I suspect that the MAIB report makes such a strong recommendation for SeaMe that they'll survive at least in the medium term. 

It's not yet clear if the Echomax product has an audible alarm like the SeaMe does. I see this as being a key feature as it would be an invaluable aid to short or single handed sailing.

We also saw another Active radar reflector product (sadly I didn't catch the name) that was designed to be hoisted up the mast . The chandler said "there's no mounting bracket yet, but it's very new".  

Looks like this space will start to get a little more competitive - which is often good for the consumer. We're going to hold off making a decision until next season.