The C-1003 fills all Coast Guard Compliant Visual Distress Signal (VDS) requirements (46 CFR 175.130) for recreational marine vessels 16 FT AND OVER signals when combined with the included Distress Flag and quality marine whistle to fulfill USCG audible signal requirements.

Anyone up on this? Am I just late to the party. I likely would be having to replace flares this year so..... looking into this. Anybody?

Yep. And it makes more sense as a flare is one and done. You probably have 3 or 4 and then that’s it, while this thing can stay activated for quite a while.
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I looked at those just didn’t pull the trigger yet
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One review says it is huge, the size of a toaster... But I can make room for that.

One review says it is huge, the size of a toaster... But I can make room for that.
In that case I’d just get the toaster. At least you’d have something to eat in an emergency.

In that case I’d just get the toaster. At least you’d have something to eat in an emergency.

I think everyone can agree that you should always have a toaster with you when you’re around water.
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The ones I have seen are the size of a large ice cream cone.
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ive got one in the ditch bag. acr. size of a good burrito

ive got one in the ditch bag. acr. size of a good burrito

Does that one cover you for USCG signaling device/flares requirement?

yes, as long as you have the flag

So in my mind, it makes sense to put one of these onboard and leave the out of date flares onboard as well..... Should cover the bases. Giving this serious consideration.


I have always wanted to fire off an "expired" flare in front of the CG if they busted my chops on expiration.......kinda like one of those FU moments I used to love pulling off in my youth....

Not a bad idea to have more safety equipment...but a burning flare would be a lot more noticeable as a distress signal. I think they burn brighter as well... more reliable than anything needing batteries.....consider one officers experience with an electronic flare.

A marine police officer in a busy city harbor recently asked himself the same question when contemplating the purchase of an electronic signal device for his own boat. His concern stemmed from years of locating distressed boaters at night, and the difficulties therein—especially with the lights of the city in the background.

His personal (albeit unscientific) test concluded that most boaters do not recognize the SOS signal. The officer positioned his boat in the center of the harbor at dusk on a clear evening and stayed there until dark. He held his electronic distress signal by hand while standing near the bow of his 26-foot center console. Not a single nearby boater responded to his faux emergency.

I have one, like stated above, it's big. I used the float for my boga bouy ... Not certain it would float it or just slow the decent. Not carrying flares is nice.
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Time to revisit this. Be launching very soon, like three days.

So is the $70.00 ACR unit the way to go? (and just keep the out of date pyro flares onboard as well)

ACR ELECTRONICS–ResQFlare LED Electronic Distress Flare is the one I was looking at...

Time to revisit this. Be launching very soon, like three days.

So is the $70.00 ACR unit the way to go? (and just keep the out of date pyro flares onboard as well)

ACR ELECTRONICS–ResQFlare LED Electronic Distress Flare is the one I was looking at...
Ross I asked my CG friends about these because I got one for the same reason and they said it covers the regulation as long as you also have a daytime distress orange flag. Mine came with an orange flag, I mounted an out of the way holder for a flag pole under my leaning post.
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