Thank you for your even-handed assessment of the Coxmate SRT vs. the Cox Box. We appreciate your clear efforts to portray both products accurately.

I wanted to give you two pieces of information that were not available from our website when you did the review (we’re working on getting our specs up to date and posted).

• The Cox Box uses a digital amplifier as well, for the same reason the Coxmate does – they are much more efficient than the analog amplifiers found in first generation rowing amplifier systems. Digital amplifiers are pretty similar, so the two products should be about the same on this front.
• On battery capacity – the Cox Box removable pack is a 930mAh/10.3 watt hour lithium polymer pack. The Coxmate SRT uses an 800 mAh NIMH pack which is probably 6.4 watt hours.  The problem with specifying actual run time on any rowing amplifier system is that it is totally dependent on how much the coxswain speaks and how loud they have the system volume.  We are conservative in our calculations, assuming the coxswain is talking half the time with the volume set fairly high.  In any circumstance, the available mAh (milliamp hours) are what limit the run time, so the Cox Box should deliver about 60% more runtime on a single charge/pack than the Coxmate if they are being used the same (10.3/6.4). In actual operation, given that we’re seeing coxswains mostly lean towards the upper end of the volume scale, we believe our runtime numbers are pretty good real-world numbers and would be hesitant to recommend our customers count on more than 4 hours on a charge.  We do recommend carrying a spare pack for those days when the Cox Box needs to be used for multiple back-to-back practices or races with no opportunity to recharge in between. This flexibility was one of our main goals in designing the removable pack. A charged pack will hold its charge for weeks.

Do you think the real-time clock and metronome are valuable features for the majority of rowing amplifier system users?  It seems to me that the clock is quite useful for getting teams to the line on time, and I would like us to consider adding this to the Cox Box now that we have the buttons available to make it possible to set the clock relatively easily.

Best regards,

Alix A. James

CEO