Most of us enjoy a tipple but being in charge of a motor boat with alcohol in your bloodstream is never a good idea...
Even a relatively small amount can impair your judgement and affect your reaction time. The trouble is that it’s not immediately obvious when you’ve reached that stage.
Even the law isn’t clear cut when it comes to non-professional mariners. The safest option is to not drink at all but failing that, a breathalyser is your best bet.
The Alcosense Excel Breathalyser uses a smaller version of the sensor used in several UK and European police breathalysers.
A simple system of traffic light background colours shows whether you are under the limit, close to the limit or over it, along with a precise blood alcohol reading.
The default setting is the English drink drive limit of 80mg per 100ml but this can be changed to the Scottish limit of 50mg/100ml)or lower.
You can use it as often as you like, the only proviso is that you need to send it back to be re-calibrated every 12 months.
I’ve tested the Alcosense Excel Breathalyser on multiple occasions in the safety of my own home, usually with guests in tow. Mostly it confirmed what people expected, the only exception was me.
For some reason, even though I had drunk the same quantity as guests who were over the limit and considerably more than I would consider safe to drive, I consistently registered under the limit.
Verdict
Having spoken to Alcosense this appears to be a biological anomaly rather than any failure of the sensor so handy as the product is, I will still be relying on my own judgement.
MBY rating: 4/5
