I really liked the original Nash Siren alarms. I can’t say I ever had any major problems with them. However, if there was any area for improvement it was in the remote box which you couldn’t use beyond about 20m without risking some interference, especially if there were trees or bushes in the way. You had the odd missed bleep right at the beginning of a take which when fishing locked up could put you on the back foot. The use of battery power in the remote was also a bit hungry when you pushed it to its boundaries.
Some of you reading this might be thinking why I’d need to use a remote beyond 20m anyway: I should be set up right next to my rods. Of course I agree with the last statement, but last year I fished a couple of waters which were very wild and didn’t have purpose-built swims. I also fished on the mighty Orient in France where in the autumn the water level is dropping by several meters per day. It therefore wasn’t practical to set up right next to my rods. At the Orient, I was well over 20m away and by the end of the week I was more like 50m.
This is where the new Siren R3 bite alarm really makes a statement. It has a 400m range on the remote, which is stretching things a bit, but it does give you an idea of how good this particular model is. The signal is that strong, it will work even when set up with thick woodland between you and the rods. I have come across nothing which interferes with the signal on this remote, plus it has the added benefit of not eating up batteries at the same time. I fish more than the average angler and my remote needs changing only once or twice a year. It really is the business.
As for the sensor heads, the R3 operates on microchip intelligent sensing, which to the normal person equates to less bleeps from bobbin creep due to wind, drifting debris or variable water movement. Don’t ask me how they’ve done this but in practical terms it does work. Most of the time I fish with tight lines and 98% of the bleeps I get from the R3 have been fish. I’d say that the majority of the rest have been caused by daft things like birds landing on my rods with a few caused by the unknown, perhaps rig shy fish or line bites. In practical terms I don’t think any bite alarm will completely eliminate false indication, but the R3 does a bloody good job of it.
Like the remote, the heads are very good with power, needing far less batteries per rod hour fished than the original Siren. For those that didn’t like the operation of the original Sirens, they also offer improvement in this area too. No longer do you have to use the remote to change the volume on the heads, you simply do it via a button on each alarm. The pairing of the heads and remote is also more straight-forward, and you can colour-code the lights on the remote by way of clip-in lenses. A new vibration mode on the remote is also very handy, as is an anti-theft alarm if the heads ever get turned off before the remote.
All in all, the R3 is a superb alarm. I’ve used the same set for almost three years now and I rate them as the best buzzers I’ve ever had. They are very easy to use and very hard wearing. I’ve had mine out in all sorts of weather and they have yet to let me down.
