FELL Marine Mob+ Wireless Man-Overboard Cutoff Switch

4 year update: Zero problems. Buy this thing, you won't regret it! As a lifelong boater I've seen many people unexpectedly ejected from their boats, including myself. It usually turns out okay but when it doesn't people die. If you've ever forgotten to wear the wrist strap you need this device. I am very impressed with the functionality and think devices like this should come standard in every new boat of any size. One of the little features I like is that after first turning on the ignition I have to press the button on the fob to start the boat. This reminds me to ensure the fob is attached to my body before getting underway. I keep my fob in a little draw-string pouch attached to a carabiner clip and just clip it to my person. I think the wristband is overkill. The only real issue I have is the "boot up" time. It takes a few seconds to power on after you've turned on the boat's ignition before you can press the button on the fob and get underway. I feel this could be a safety issue if I have to get underway in a hurry - like when some drunken pleasureboater is about to hit me. I therefore tend to leave the ignition on while drifting and use the kill switch to stop the motor instead of turning it off with the key. If you have an outboard the install can be difficult. I had to disassemble the control lever box for my motor, as it contains the ignition, kill switch, and other associated wiring. Tapping this wiring inside the limited space of the control box and running it to my dash was not an easy task. I ended up having to use scotchlok-style wire taps which is far from an ideal solution in a marine environment. I put grease on everything to hopefully prevent corrosion. I think the device would be very easy to install if your kill switch and ignition are installed in a dashboard.

Easy install... as easy as working on boat wiring could be. Tryed a couple used...like new one first. #1 Used-like new condition, the housing was completely broken in half. #2 Used-like new condition, Fob was missing. Finally I order a new one. Install was easy and simple, took a couple hours but I was taking my time. No problems with packaging or missing parts. Operate as advertised.... dunked tge Fob into a trash can full of water and the engine shut down before tge Fob reached the bottom. Instructions state there is also a wireless connection up to 50 feet. I walk a good 200 feet from the boat and the engine was still running. I pressed the center button on the Fob and the motor shut down immediately, telling me I was still in wireless range.

Wanted to leave a review after three years of ownership and now removal of the device from my boat. After about 50 hours use, and boat stored in garage most of it's life, the head unit has failed. Prior to this, just after purchasing, the key fob failed, due to poor design. I was sent a new one from the company, and told to"put clear nail polish" around the key fob as the fobs had ineffective O rings and were failing. This solution seemed half a##ed and ended up being representative of what was to be the rest of my experiences with the product. Searching on boating forums to trouble shoot, these things failing is not a rarity. It looks like the o ring on the front that surrounds the button isn't very sunlight/UV resistant, and fails. See picture. On a boat, this means water gets on circuit board. That's BAD. Now it's bricked. After 5 or 6 emails with the company over a weeks time, I was offered a coupon for 15 percent off another one. They did not answer the phone, and emailed back and forth with form letters and occasional personal responses. I would not ordinarily care or further waste my time over a poorly designed product , and just move on. But the problem is this... When you install this product, it requires permanent alteration to your boat: a 2 inch hole has to be drilled into the center console. Worse, you have to take apart the throttle and ignition housing, and rewire everything, disconnecting the normal kill switch and splicing this device in. This took me around 4 hours work, and about a weekend trouble shooting and talking to the company on the phone. For reference, I am used to wiring and have installed complete aircraft avionics packages. It was simply a tedious time consuming process. To reverse this installation, I now again will have to take apart my throttle and ignition to rewire it, and re glass my center console and gel coat it. Or leave the old MOB switch in as a decorative plug and reminder of my experiment with Fell Marine. In summary, when you opt out of using this device, you're left with a damaged boat and a lot more work to do. In my experience of the last few years, this 200 dollar device ends up costing you so much more in wasted time, frustration, emails, phone calls, and regrets, and most importantly, a boat that will not start/run. And the not knowing when it will suddenly choose to not start/run, that's the wildcard, the exciting part for you and your family.

This MOB+ is a product whose time has come. Although kill switches have been installed on new boats for the past 25 years their usage is very low due to the need to tether yourself to the helm with a lanyard. Most people try this out for a while and finally give up on it because it's such a pain. I installed mine in under an hour. Got out my VOM and started testing the functionality when I pressed the xFOB. It reliably cut the ignition circuit whenever the xFOB was out of range or in some water. Thumbs up for functionality. The one small issue I had is that I have an I/O. The ignition circuit has both the electric choke heater as well as the ignition coil in it. The choke heater draws 3.5A. The ignition coil draws 1.2A / 1,000 RPM. This means that you have to allow for the ignition circuit to draw 10A. Since the ignition circuit length is double the length of the distance from the engine to the helm/console you have to take that into account when determining the wire gauge that will support 10A of current draw. In my boat that distance is 10 feet which means the circuit is 20 feet in length. Looking at a marine ampacity chart shows I need 10-12 gauge wire gauge to support 10A of current draw over that length. Where the issue comes in is that the xHUB splices itself into the ignition circuit and therefore would need to have that same gauge wiring in order to not present a fire hazard. What I found was the xHUB wires were only 18-20 gauge for the ignition circuit. This is far too small to support 10A of current draw over the total ignition wiring length. How I solved this problem was by purchasing an Ignition Power Relay that is "ignition protected" and wiring that into the ignition circuit. It requires very low current to pull the relay in and can support up to 30A of current draw on the outputs. I think Fell Marine should put a notice/warning to this effect in their instructions for those of us with I/O's and standard points ignitions and electric chokes who are installing this MOB+ system.

This is an essential add-on to any offshore center console boat. I installed it on my 29’ CC after having an Autotether on my old 22’ and there’s no comparison. Wasn’t exactly easy to install, but once it was, it’s worked flawlessly. It’s great having the piece of mind when running in rough seas, offshore, etc. Just set it and forget it. It’s worked without a hitch for 5 years. The control unit looks factory installed on the dash. I never even have to think about, unless the battery in the FOB dies. That said, some annoying details that could be addressed: The bracelet is a joke. It’s so flimsy that the strap breaks every season and I have to replace it. The FOB itself is pretty flimsy too. The gasket is thin and tends to stretch out. The battery cover notch wears down and it becomes almost impossible to open with a coin or screwdriver. With such such a high quality product it’s puzzling that the manufacturer hasn’t addressed these issues. But it’s the best in the industry. Must have accessory for most boats.