Product Report: Standard Horizon Fuel Flow Meter

[dajohnson53]

The product report on the NavMan fuel flow meter inspired me to write this.<br /><br />Just FYI - the Standard Horizon fuel flow meter is very similar, if not identical, to the Navman. The transducer/sender looks to be identical. The gauge itself is almost identical: large digital readout, two buttons labeled "flow" and "total". Just another option if you're price shopping. I glanced at the NavMan on-line owner's manual and it appears the features and operation are identical to the Standard Horizon. The manual itself is identical. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they are the same unit packaged slightly differently for the two companies.<br /><br />I've been using my SH ff meter for a few hours now. I'll report that I did have some warranty issues at first. The first gauge and sender I received last summer had a defective sender - the cable/sender joint was cracked and shorted out. With a simple phone call they immediately sent me a new sender without question or cost, and didn't require that I send in the broken unit. The new sender was and is perfect.<br /><br />In the mean time the gauge's seal turned out to be defective in that it leaked water into the face. Unfortunately for me, this occured just as the business was changing locations and I got caught up in the move and didn't receive the replacement for over a month. But they sent me a brand new complete unit - including gauge and sender, so now I have a back up sender.<br /><br />I've been using the system for several hours of boating and love it. I haven't had a chance to calibrate it. Calibration requires starting with a known amount of gas in the tanks. I'm still burning up what's left from topping off last fall and don't know exactly how much was in each tank. On the other hand, it really does appear to be within 5% and is definitely very useful as-is. I'm optimistic it will be even more accurate with calibration.<br /><br />Features are: liters or US gallons; "Total" button features are: total fuel used, "trip" fuel used, a gas gauge (set to a certain amount and it counts to zero), an alarm; "Flow" button features are simply flow in gallons or liters per hour.<br /><br />I have found immediate benefit in getting an understanding on the sweet spots for fuel usage and to monitor how much gas is being used during a session and how much is left in the tank. In the long run, I will end up using it as a fuel gauge to enable me to more accurately judge when to switch from one tank to the other without running out in an inopportune time or place.\<br /><br />I bought this gauge from Bethel Marine and there was a rebate at the time so my net cost was around US$125. As I recall, this was the only factor that caused me to purchase the SH unit rather than NavMan.<br /><br />A lesson learned - wire it into the ignition or the gauge (digital read out) will continue after shut down. It is very little current, but will indeed draw down your battery in a few to several days, depending on the battery capacity.