As if I don't have enough things competing for my attention. The last thing you need in the wheelhouse is a device hectoring you every 5 minutes or so during the watch. What's truly necessary and preferable is a second individual in the pilothouse as a watch partner. Even if there are no words exchanged, another human presence is generally preferable to an alarm that is constantly going off. The natural tendency for the watch would be to silence the alarm permanently. The "ground guard function" of many chartplotters is one of many so-called aids that were well meaning but poorly executed. The alarm zone necessarily had to be set a good distance ahead and either side of the intended track but could not be set for use in narrow channels with any efficacy. The alarm zone would constantly note the shallows on either side of the track and sound endlessly. In doing so it would drive the watch crazy and distract it from more important issues, like looking out the windows. So, it would be unselected/disabled. What makes you think, human nature being what it is, that this alarm wouldn't be disabled as well?
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