Yes you are right. However the new unit covers alot more. If failsafe setting is reached the unit will cut the engine. If you lose power for what ever resson it will cut the engine and you can you the switch on a spare channel to cut the engine. Trust me having a unit like this in a race petrol boat /race boat can only bring you a bit of added safety. I have used a Action prototype one for the last 2 years and it has proved its worth several times. One day i hope the BMPRS & others will not let petrol boats on the water without one of these units or something like it fitted, 52" of pertol boat out of control is not funny.
What about runaway Nitro boats ?
Don't just concentrate on Petrol, what about runaway Electric boats as well !
A runaway 80mph fast electric missile isn't funny either
Anyway I'm sure it's been said before but if a failsafe (whether it be a separate unit or one in the TX/Rx) is set up correctly it should shut down the throttle to tickover or completely stop the engine and also throw the rudder to either port or starboard. We need to look at the reasons for a boat going into failsafe mode or indeed runaway mode in the first place:
Poor set up
Poor maintenance: inc. low battery/forgot to charge them/corroded connections (made worse if running in sea water), incompatible crystals in the Tx/Rx (40/27mhz), forgetting to extend the Tx aerial, blimey the list goes on......human error
Forgetting to switch the Rx on....human error
As a matter of course when racing at BMPRS meetings OOD's normally check boats for failsafe operation and indeed will not let a boat race if any glitching,failsafe not operating or other failure is noticed
I'm sure we will in the course of time evaluate new products as they come onto the market to see if they can improve our already high standard of safety
Regards
Scoop