I use it on those nights that I do not like the weather. I find I can take it to bed with me and I can hear it. It has anchor watch. I will set to a small distance so if the wind changes it will alarms. If I wake up because the boat sounds different. I hit the backlight and see what happening and go back to sleep. It also double as a alarm clock, you can set it, turn it off and it wake up and alarms. I find I can get 2 nights on battery (2 AA).