VirCru Reviews 101

I keep my boat on a mooring in Portugal. Product looks good and was easy to install, but I had an immediate problem with clearly wrong error signals from the geo fence alarm. I have been trying to get some response, email and four telephone calls over the last two weeks. NOONE has rung me back yet. Very civil telephone receptionists, they had a record of all my calls, but appalling after sales technical help.
Now 5 weeks three more calls and still no contact from the technical team.

I use it for three month now and I am more than happy as it do its job perfectly. Two times I had a major battery discharge and I have been warn by my "virtual crew". I also use a sensor in my fridge, and it give me an accurate temperature. Coming into winter now, I will know how mw bilges behave thanks to the water sensor I put in. I am professional sailor, in the navy and often at sea, and I always leave my sailing vessel with trust. T. from Belgium

This is a great idea and the hardware seems good quality. Monitoring location and battery were attractive, but bilge pump and intrusion detection were the features I particularly wanted. I have not been able to get either of these working. The claim to install in 1 hour is reasonable, but in my case I needed to route a cable from the electrical compartment into the cabin for the bilge sensor, which was several hours work.

So, I am left with remote location monitoring (which I already had) and remote battery (and temperature) monitoring. This is not great value for money.

I have phoned 5 times over a period of 10 days for tech support with my installation and only once had a call back, which did not resolve the problem ("I'll pass this on to our development team", "I'll pass your message on to the MD", etc).

There has also been no reply to my several email requests for support over the same period. The weak link of the system is that the hardware depends on their server/support - if that is not working, the hardware is just paperweights.

I'm really disappointed with the support and I hate writing negative reviews, but if I'd known how I'd be treated, I would likely not have bought the system.

I wasn’t too sure about going down this particular path on boat. She is a Tremlett 42 Offshore and, whilst relatively well equipped, hardly counts as a high tech vessel. However, she is on a swinging mooring and the options offered by VirCru were interesting.
On further investigation, I decided that the starting point cost was very reasonable, so took the plunge and ordered a hub and two further sensors.
The items were delivered promptly, but when I went to fit them, I discovered that the colour-coded power supply lead was about two metres too short to reach the battery from the Hub’s optimum location. My boat isn’t that big, so I was a little surprised by this and asked if a longer lead or extension could be supplied. There then ensued a period of frustration while I waited a number of weeks to receive the cable.
When it eventually arrived, I fitted the system to my boat. It was surprisingly simple to do and the app allowed me to add components very simply - it just worked…. I have geofencing, boat angle, two temperature sensors, battery voltage sensors, bilge pump sensing and water level sensing plus an intrusion alarm, all for £250. Impressive, especially as it works!
The VirCru system has been fitted for a couple of months now and has worked flawlessly so far. The only frustration was waiting for the extension cable. If it continues to perform like this, it will receive the full five stars.

I have been using VirCru for a little while now, the confidence it give you to be able to leave your boat for extended periods of time safe in the knowledge that you can remotely monitor it for any unusual activity.

The shore power monitoring for me is one of the greatest advantages. I now don’t have to drive a 40 mile round trip to check I have enough electricity.
I also like the fact that I can see if my bilge pump has been running and if so for how long, it gives me peace of mind and confidence that my boat is all ok.
Compared to other systems on the market this is by far the best value and the quality of equipment and sensors supplied are superb and in my opinion better than other options in the market and all this at an amazingly competitive price.
I would recommend this system to anybody.
The install was so easy and set up a breeze for a D.I.Y install.

I have purchased 2 systems but only installed one to date. Installation is very simple, literally took a couple of hours and most of that time was deciding where to put all the kit.
I keep my boat in Croatia so being able to keep tabs on battery voltages, boat location, bilges and very usefully whether someone has entered the boat is very useful and gives me piece of mind. My only problem is with the geofence when the boat is on my mooring. Despite setting a large radius, the app tells me fairly frequently the boat is outside the geofence …. Only for it to tell me shortly afterwards it’s back inside the geofence. I know it’s not the boat moving as I’m often looking at it. I suspect it’s the signal dropping in and out. I now know not to worry for a few minutes …. Other locations don’t have the same problem and if the boat was ever stolen …. I’m sure I’d be able to find it.

The app is easy to use … except as mentioned by other users it would be good to be able to delete all the alerts in one go.

Is the system worth investing in? I’d say yes … I’m looking forward to in stalling my second system on another boat

I think this is a great system. at first I thought I would leave it to my boat electrician to fit, as these tasks fill me with dread.
one rainy day I decided to have a go and true to VirCRUs word in under 1 hour it was all up and running.
so far at any part of the country I have visited,(without my boat) I can go on the app and see the condition of my battery, bilge and see if my tender is still present. piece of mind.

It really is a neat and relatively inexpensive system. I must confess I had my boatyard install the system and they found it really easy and were so impressed they have started recommending it to customers! So once installed, i knew when the yard were working on her - i got an intruder alert! I knew when they launched her as the boat angle was 12°! I know when I have forgotten to attach shore support - and what the cabin and engine temperatures are! Thank goodness no bilge water warnings!! It really is simple to use. There are one or two quirks on the app (don't they all have them!) the main one for me is you can't delete all warnings at once. BUT the trips feature is a fantastic log of what you do and where you go. And you can add photos and comments to it. One of the beauties is that you can add sensors you want and need. Highly recommended.

It really is straightforward to set up. Connect the hub to the power supply and connecting each component part is as easy as scanning a QR code. Great range of sensors to give you all the information you could need. I also like the auto logging of passage as I always forget to track that on the plotter.

Generally very happy with the kit and with support from Neil. Still have an occasional issue of the app logging itself out, a bit worrying if i missed an alert and the geofence doesnt seem very accurate, but happy to continue to work with the support team to get it all working. very simple to set up and monitor

Great product, especially for price. I have had false alarms from the geofence quite often but the location in app is always accurate. Would recommend.

Having installed a system using a very similar technology in my house three years ago (which by the way has proven to be very dependable), I was delighted to discover the VirCru Boat Monitoring System at a reasonable price.

I duly placed the order which was fulfilled and flagged as being 'on on its way' in less than 24 hours and duly arrived on my desk a day later.

Today I installed the Hub with seven devices without any major problems - The QR Codes were scanned using my smartphone and within a minute or less each device registered itself and started immediately sending data.

Now at home, the hub and its associated devices are working perfectly.

I did call the Helpline twice with a few technical questions and whilst the Engineers were not available at that time to answer my questions, I did receive a call back within the same day.

Recognising this is only the start of my relationship with VirCru products; as an Electrical and Electronics Engineer, I am highly confident that this is a proven technology.

Should I encounter any problems going forward, my experience with the VirCru's helpline thus far, has provided me with a good level of confidence going forward.

How refreshing to receive what so far seems an excellent product and service.

This has not been an auspicious start as I purchased there "Hub package" with the intention of installing this on my yacht in Finland as an extra security measure. It was installed on a 24v system and never worked. Over the past three weeks I repeatedly emailed and rung many times but I have had two emails early on stating that they were looking into the problem. Anyway I brought the whole lot back to the UK a week ago.

However in the past few days I have had their sales and support person call and after some simple testing they sent a replacement hub which now works in the UK connected to a 12v battery.

I suspect that without any problems my view would be a "5" experience but because of the delay and frustration of not getting help sooner I think a "3" is fair.

(For a couple of days the help line number was dead and no one answered. As I now have the direct number of the sales and support guy I haven't tried this number again).

So I have yet to test the system on 24v (within the advertised spec) but assuming this is ok, I hope the system will work back in Finland, and all will be well.

Maybe this is just the growing pains of a new product but I think there are lessons to be learnt here. They really need to keep in contact with their customers!

It's great when a new piece of kit comes out to help, assist and safeguard your boat.
Boat is more than a passion and quality items just make life better.

I'd been looking for a remote monitoring system for my boat for the last couple of years. I'd reviewed all those on the market, but Vircru is the first one I felt gave the right combination of affordability and features.
I've had a couple of start-up glitches - the Hub was originally supplied with a UK-only SIM, while my boat is kept in France! That was quickly resolved remotely by Vircru.
I was also getting some spurious "out-of-geofence" alerts. While the instructions do say the Hub can be mounted below deck in a GRP boat, it is (not suprisingly) sensitive to positioning if you do install it inside.
I'm still working with Vircru to resolve a glitch regarding minimum setting of the Geofence radius. I'd make it a 5-star review once these last problems are sorted. I can say that the support I've received from Vircru has been absolutely brilliant.
Overall it's a great system, and I anticipate it will continue getting better as new features, sensors and switches are added.
I'm really pleased with my choice.

I am moving from Hythe Marina to Pembrokeshire so my boat will no longer be tied to my house so wanted some form of monitoring system. I looked at all the systems that I could find given I wanted to monitor two entrances, both sets of batteries and water ingress without spending the earth. The only system that met these criteria was VirCru but was a bit worried about being fairly new. However, I bought the basic kit plus some extras. The move organisation stopped immediate installation but when I started it was remarkably easy. Problems were the usual one of finding how to get the cables through holes etc. The affiliation of items to the app was simple. Only problem was the switch magnets and water level sensor were so tiny I had difficulty getting them to stick, had to use CT1 on a magnet. I also don't know what alerts I get when events happen and must experiment.

Top notch Marine quality kit that is genuinely easy to install. Each piece has a bar code which scans with the mobile app to register. Simply hard wire the hub with the core sensors and then scan all the other sensors, which are then connected wirelessly. All in all it took less than 2 hours to install the whole system and have it live. The peace of mind being able to view your vessel data from anywhere is very reassuring. Update.... I have been so pleased with the data flowing from the boat to also let me know my batteries are charged and bilge is dry, it's a total game changer and great value for money

A lot of manufacturers could learn a thing or two from Vircru. Not only was the ordering and delivery very easy to navigate, it arrived on time, we'll packaged with very clear instructions. I didn't get a chance to install it on my boat straight away but it was very simple and worked immediately. I check it every day and have even used the location screen to help people find us on our berth. I bought the Launch Package with every intention of adding extra sensors. Highly recommended, buy one!

Super impressed with the VirCru system right from the get-go. Easy to use website and really quick delivery - came the next day! Very easy to set up on the boat - took about an hour in total. Followed the instructions (which come in a booklet with the products) and it's all working beautifully. Really easy to check what's happening on my boat using the simple app, which is so convenient and offers peace of mind as we're 1.5 hours away from where it is moored. Excellent customer service too as I have a small query relating to one of the sensors which I am currently in dialogue with the VirCru team about. Great to find an easy to use and install boat monitoring system available at a reasonable price! Would not hesitate to recommend to any boater who wants to be able to see what's happening on their boat.

I had been looking for a practical well-engineered solution to enable me to monitor my boat when I am not on board - and have found it with VirCru.

The kit appears well-engineered and designed for the harsh realities of the marine environment.

Once the main hub is mounted and connected, adding the wireless sensors (with a reported 10-year battery life) is a doddle - scan the QR from the app and it is done without any complex configuration needed.

The app is clear, customisable and provides not just alerts (user definable) but also data in both numeric and graphical formats.

In short, an ideal product for those who want to be able to keep an eye on their boat when they are not there, and clearly designed by those who understand boats and the needs of boat owners.