Garmin OnBoard™ Wireless MOB & Engine Cut-off System – BOE Marine

Garmin OnBoard MOB System

Easy way to add wireless engine shut off capabilities to your boat, and safeguard your loved ones with a personal MOB Tag.

Garmin is known for great innovations, and masterful integration between their various marine offerings. They just announced their OnBoard System, which is both a wireless kill switch for your engines, and a man overboard system. All very simple to use in typical Garmin fashion.

What is the OnBoard System? It is a Black Box GOS10 Hub that mounts behind your helm, that includes one Wireless MOB Tag typically worn by the captain. When the FOB breaks wireless signal with the MOB Tag it instructs the system to either shut off the boat engine(s) or to alert others onboard - more on that later.

The typical use of a Garmin OnBoard System would be on an outboard boat with a kill switch, although it can be used on any size boat, especially for its Man-Overboard Features. The system gets wired into the kill switch of the boat. When triggered it will cut off the boat engine(s). Up to 8 MOB Tags can be used. In general, the first is for the captain. In fact, at least one has to be assigned to the captain. The other 7 can be used for passengers, pets, or other important cargo. MOB Tags can be activated and deactivated easily on a Garmin Compatible Display.

Each MOB Tag ships with three ways to secure it. First is with a watch band to wear on the wrist. Next is a carabiner to hook on a pfd or belt loop. Finally, a floating keychain is included. The MOB Tag must stay in range of the GOS10 Hub. As soon as they break wireless contact by getting to far away from each other, the system will trigger. MOB Tags are optionally available in Black. Batteries will last longer than a typical boating season.

There are two types of trigger actions that can be activated. These can be set independently on each MOB Tag via the interface on your Garmin GPSMAP. First is the engine cutoff action. This action would be assigned to the captain, when the captain falls overboard the system would shut off the engine(s). The second action is an audible alert. This action is triggered when a passenger MOB Tag goes overboard. This will trigger the alarm to sound. The alarm is an external buzzer that is included with the system. A third action will happen no matter which type of MOB Tag is triggered, this is a waypoint action where a waypoint is created on your Garmin GPSMAP that shows where the Tag was last active.

The Garmin OnBoard system gets networked to your Garmin GPSMAP or other compatible display via NMEA2000. It includes a NMEA2000 T connector and 6' Drop Cable. It also includes a combination power cable and engine cutoff cable.

Installation is straight forward. The GOS10 Hub should be mounted near to the helm to be in the best range of the captain. It should also be conveniently located in case the engine cutoff malfunctions and needs to be overridden. In cases where it can't be mounted closely to the helm, or if it needs to go inside of a steel compartment, an optional external antenna is included to increase range.

Connections - Power works on both 12V and 24V systems. It is important that the power come from the same source as the engines for the shut off functionality to work. Additional wiring is then required from the Power cable to the kill switch on the boat. Various wiring configurations are all covered in the manual, but the system has been configured to work on any popular engine with no additional cables needed. Aside from power, the system also needs to connect to your NMEA2000 network.

Think of all the things you might put a MOB Tag on, from your children, to pets, to your Yeti Cooler. Anything that might go flying off when you're not looking. Garmin has done a great job on this product with simple operation, great form factor, and seemless integration into your Garmin Helm. We are big fans, and know you will be too.