ACR Model 2759 EPIRB service dicontinued

[Celestialsailor]

Well...Here we go again...I last reported that since being over in California to ready 'Faiaoahe' for my upcoming crossing to Hawaii, I was moaning about the crappy Blitz gas cans. I settled down from that and looked at the EPIRB I had bought (used) on e-bay and decided it was time to replace the battery ($300). The unit was manufactured 07/99 and the battery expiration is 2004. Ok, 5 years but hear they have a shelf life of 12 years. I have done the test to it and it seems to be ok.
I call Sal's inflatables in North Ca here and was told that they do not service them anymore...WHAT!!! They were told this by ACR.
Knowing these units were $1100 new and this thing is still in it's original box and only 9 years old, I found that ridiculous. The young lady could tell I was a little upset (Duh!) and gave me ACR's number. I called and I get a young lady on the line which obviously new very little. She told me that in fact they do not service them and when I asked why, she tried to tell me that they now use a 406 frequency. I explained to her that is the frequenct the unit is. She continued to fumble excuses on the phone until in desperation I asked for someone that knew what they were talking about. I then talked to a gentleman that informed me that ACR felt that model 2759 had reached their useful life and out of the last 5 units they had tried to swap the battery out, had failed the "visual" inspection by showing stress cracks. And that it would be better for me to shell out another $550 for a new ACR personal unit. While this might be a good choice, I feel it is BS that 'we', who pay the bucks for these things are not able to 1) Buy the batteries ourselves and 2) change it out ourselves.
If I wanted to replace the heat exchanger on my engine, is it ok for Yanmar to tell me I have to buy a new engine since my 4JH has seen it's day? How about my sails? Replace them if i want to put a patch on a chafe area?
I was polite to the gentleman at ACR but I'm not sure they are the only game in town.
In closing I will say that their cost of a battery from their supplier could not exceed $50 and maybe a 1/2 hour labor. So here I am Looking at the EPIRB and hoping for the best.

[Charlie]

Went thru that whole thing not too long ago. I have a 2758. Decided it wasn't worht saving. You can buy the batteries thru an electronics store. Here is what ACR says : SSCA Discussion Board :: View topic - ACR Electronics "Useful Life" Policy

Here is my conclusion before I decided I didn't have the time to mess with it.EPIRB Battery You can get a slightly better price in the city than from Sal's. If you take the unit apart and look at the battery pack you can find the manufacture and just do a google search for the batteries on their own. I needed 3 lithium 3v batteries total cost was about $50. But you had to figure how to put them together and . . . well I already have a newer one so I'll stick with that.