It’s a press release for a product I am super-enthusiastic about: The Vesper Marine WatchMate 850 Class B AIS transponder.

Let’s face it: There isn’t much to distinguish a lot of the AIS equipment marketed at recreational boaters. It’s mostly just black-box electronics technology. Sure, the packaging and physical enclosure varies from brand to brand, and the price varies, but they’re all pretty much the same inside, and they all do exactly the same thing.

Auckland, New Zealand – Vesper Marine, a leading manufacturer of innovative marine safety products, announced today that it has received FCC Approval for its next-generation, all-in-one, dedicated, collision avoidance display, the AISWatchMate® 850 Class B Transponder.

Read on to see the full press release.

Auckland, New Zealand – Vesper Marine, a leading manufacturer of innovative marine safety products, announced today it has opened a new European market for the AIS WatchMate® line of products.

French marine distribution company Pochon will distribute Vesper Marine products throughout France via its network of over 450 dealers and outlets. Read on to see the full press release.

"... I had an opportunity to talk with Vesper Marine’s chief product mastermind Jeff Robbins during the recent NMEA conference in Seattle, and I can truly say that I “get it” now. Vesper Marine IS confident there’s a market for its AIS WatchMate line, and I agree with them. ...

In a nutshell, Vesper’s AIS WatchMate units (both listen-only receivers and Class B transponders) offer features and functions that will be extremely useful to many boaters. But as Jeff Robbins is quick to point out, Vesper faces a real challenge when it comes to communicating the value of those features. So I’m going to help out, if possible..."