Irwin, we purchased one of these after finding it highly recommended by pilots; see www.equipped.org and you might find some add''l info. My wife tried it when we started cruising again and it seemed to work miracles, so we bought a 2nd one for me (less prone but not without some problems on occasion). We got into a blow on the Chesapeake during our 2000 shakedown, both put on our bands (too late, no doubt, as we were both feeling poorly) and it was a case of total recovery, within a few minutes.
In these incidents, I don''t think our results were initially pychosomatic - in fact, the results were despite our mental attitude - as we were doubtful & curious, not ''believers''. The intensity setting was, for us, very important in order to get good results.
Regrettably, the story doesn''t end there. When going down into the islands of the E Caribbean, my wife tried this unit several more times and, each time, found it to provide somewhat less relief. Eventually, when we later crossed the Atlantic and subsequently got banged around in the North Sea, she never bothered to dig it out.
NASA''s early research on motion sickness - half the astronauts they put in orbit were getting sick - demonstrated two things among others: individuals vary in their response to a given remedy, and a given person''s response to a given remedy can vary. I think this is why all these anecdotal reports on ''what worked for me'' fail to lead to uniform recommendations.
In my case, I don''t normally need anything & simply found oral meds that were at least as effective, when I do. In my wife''s case, she continues to experiment with meds that she can tolerate and don''t complicate or interact with her prescribed meds. But if you plan a lot of sailing and someone in the family or crew has a real problem, I''d encourage you to purchase & experiment with the cheaper (non-replaceable battery) version, as the potential is certainly there to have a major positive impact.
Jack