Have Epirb's been superseded by the Personal Emergency response beacons?

[NorthPacific]

Now I am getting confused. From my reading PLB Arc type do the mayday distress thing the same way an Epirb does? So far the only difference seems that the epirbs float to give signal while the plbs need to be tied to your person of raft with a clear sight to the sky.

They are not cheap at over $400 each, but I honestly trying to see te advantages of one over the other. Hear is the one that caught my mind. The tech specs are the same as Arcs epirbs. Except the battery life. What do you think?
ACR AquaLink View PLB

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

a) EPIRBs are for the boat and PLBs are for the person. The boat goes down, the EPIRB starts beeping. It's an automatic MAYDAY. The PLB is not a MAYDAY, although you could radio a MAYDAY from the (undamaged) boat and the PLB, which should be the newer kind that transmits a lat/lon, will aid recovery if you are inshore. Between the Marquesas and Panama, tough titty.

An activated PLB is certainly a MAYDAY. Rescue personnel consider it to be, and so should you. You activate a PLB for exactly the same reason you activate an EPIRB: You are in serious danger and require rescue.

Also, the EPIRB and PLB transmit exactly the same signal, the significant difference being the shorter battery life of the PLB. If your boat is sinking somewhere between the Marquesas and Panama and all you have is a PLB, go ahead and trigger it. Even after the battery quits the SAR team will have tracked your drift, and may still be able to vector aid to you. Carry flares, smoke, and a VHF in your liferaft.

The PLB and EPIRB are different in some ways, but either one is good to have in an emergency.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by NorthPacific

Now I am getting confused. From my reading PLB Arc type do the mayday distress thing the same way an Epirb does? So far the only difference seems that the epirbs float to give signal while the plbs need to be tied to your person of raft with a clear sight to the sky.

They are not cheap at over $400 each, but I honestly trying to see te advantages of one over the other. Hear is the one that caught my mind. The tech specs are the same as Arcs epirbs. Except the battery life. What do you think?
ACR AquaLink View PLB

For $240 more you get an extra day worth of battery time. So it seems to carry a couple extra batteries would be cheaper and still get the same service as a EPIRB.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by NorthPacific

Now I am getting confused. From my reading PLB Arc type do the mayday distress thing the same way an Epirb does? So far the only difference seems that the epirbs float to give signal while the plbs need to be tied to your person of raft with a clear sight to the sky.

They are not cheap at over $400 each, but I honestly trying to see te advantages of one over the other. Hear is the one that caught my mind. The tech specs are the same as Arcs epirbs. Except the battery life. What do you think?
ACR AquaLink View PLB

The choice is pretty obvious: If you can afford it get an EPIRB for your boat. The auto-activation, proper orientation when floating, and extended battery life are huge advantages.

The only reason that PLBs don't have these same features is that if they did you wouldn't be able to carry them in your pocket. The PLB does what it can in the form-factor that fits on your person.

If you can't scrape together the money for an EPIRB, then get a PLB and accept its limitations. It's still way better than nothing. But do think long and hard about your financial priorities.

Finally, you may legitimately choose to carry neither (the "drown like a gentleman" thing). It's your call, but since you are considering EPIRBs and PLBs, remember that each is designed for a purpose.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

For $240 more you get an extra day worth of battery time. So it seems to carry a couple extra batteries would be cheaper and still get the same service as a EPIRB.

Many (most? all?) PLBs are designed with non-user-replacable batteries. These things are well-sealed as they have to work when immersed in salt water. Splashing the inner workings while trying to replace the battery would be a very bad thing.

[NorthPacific]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

For $240 more you get an extra day worth of battery time. So it seems to carry a couple extra batteries would be cheaper and still get the same service as a EPIRB.

Sorry your confused. My initial question was and still is, What is more functional? Do you pack your epirb with you when you head off in your dinghy? Or go trekking away from the boat?

I have acknowledged that the extended battery time on the epirb is an important consideration. Other than an epirb will float, hopefully close to the boat. While an plb sits on your lifejacket; other wise the functionality seems the same. Correct?

Your battery comment? Well I have said before 2 times 36 is 72 which is more than an Epirbs 48.

[NorthPacific]

Hi Paul,

That is my whole point of the thread! What does an epirb do that a top of the line arc plb does not?
I have done my due diligence and was not considering trying to replace batteries (that can not be replaced in ARC models outside the factory) or buy cheap technology!

Far from viewing PLB's as the poor cousins to epirb's I am viewing them as a significant step forward in functionality and usefulness. That is what I was hoping would be debated. Seems people are seeing SPOTS in front of their eyes and know little of the new technology that is available.

[goboatingnow]

Far from viewing PLB's as the poor cousins to epirb's I am viewing them as a significant step forward in functionality and usefulness. That is what I was hoping would be debated. Seems people are seeing SPOTS in front of their eyes and know little of the new technology that is available

Again its a valid argument, Furthermore the advent of ubiquitous GPS, has begun to change the game anyway. The next step in rescue is satellite based two way SEND devices, SO that the rescued can get feedback as to whats happening.

I use a PLB as I have done deliveries and I can never be sure of a on-Boat EPIRB, I have a top of the line ACR and it functions virtually equivalent to a EPIRB, exact that its not auto activated. GIven that most leisure EPIRBs are not float free types in general , I see little real practical difference.

Dave

[Wotname]

There has been a lot of mis-information on this thread but most has been corrected.

For the record, Paul has summed it up correctly:-

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

An activated PLB is certainly a MAYDAY. Rescue personnel consider it to be, and so should you. You activate a PLB for exactly the same reason you activate an EPIRB: You are in serious danger and require rescue.

Also, the EPIRB and PLB transmit exactly the same signal, the significant difference being the shorter battery life of the PLB. If your boat is sinking somewhere between the Marquesas and Panama and all you have is a PLB, go ahead and trigger it. Even after the battery quits the SAR team will have tracked your drift, and may still be able to vector aid to you. Carry flares, smoke, and a VHF in your liferaft.

The PLB and EPIRB are different in some ways, but either one is good to have in an emergency.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Paul L

In the scope of outfitting a boat for the SP, the extra 200 or 300 bucks just isn't going to make any difference in your budget.

This is what I don't get. You spend thousands buying and outfitting a boat to travel around the world, and then you're a crunger for a couple of hundred for an EPIRB? What the heck!

I can understand those who make the philosophical argument that "I should take care of myself, and I'm not going to carry an EPIRB because, if I can't rescue myself then I shouldn't expect someone else to do it." I think that's a bit of a crazy argument, personally, but at least I understand it.

For someone who has the money to buy a boat, outfit it, and sail off around the world, and who has decided that they want to carry electronic means to summon help, arguing over a couple of hundred here or there is just ridiculous. I don't understand that at all. Buy an EPIRB for the boat. Buy a PLB for yourself. Buy a SPOT, if you want, to keep friends aware of where you are at. Buy all these things and you probably won't spend half of what it cost to outfit the galley, provision for the first month or so, and fill up the gas tank.

Seriously. I just don't get it.

[pierrrre]

Please read "case 24" on page 77-78.

It happens to be the same device I carry in my pocket at all time when I sail single handed. After reading this, I will certainly not stop doing it. An Epirb would had sailed away with the boat. I am not saying that an EPIRB is useless, but I had the choice between an EPIRB and a PLB and chose a PLB. If I had the money i would also get an EPIRB. Never too safe.

http://www.maib.gov.uk/cms_resources...ection1_13.pdf

[zeehag]

having watched MANY TIMES in san diego bay as uscg searched in vain for an epirb that was signalling to them, i feel safer with a spot tracker. (i know that was what they were seeking as they ASKED me if i knew of any epirbs signalling...lol what a joke.

and i am out here with it--where are you guys--in a slip or on an anchor within bounds of whereverville dreaming about my life????? rodlmao.

i am loving this......

i find it quite hilarious that someone would diss me for using spot tracker when they cannot leave the desk.....

[Jimbo485]

Interesting topic, I find, because it also includes personal responsibility and life principles, although most of the posts discuss the electronic side - battery life, frequency, metadata, etc.

We are now back in Oz. So far we just had a SPOT, which dropped out a day or two west of Galapagos and reconnected again in Fiji. In between, we had no epirb, no working SSB, no sat phone and no liferaft. Fine, that was our family decision, but now we are back in a nanny country that is also our "home" country. So we have to obey some laws here that are stricter for the Aussies than for the foreigners. One of those laws is the compulsory Epirb when more than 2 miles from the coast.

So now we must walk down the path of re-connecting the umbilical cord. Ah well. Following the discussion here, it seems that we should probably buy two PLBs instead of one Epirb. It will give us more battery capacity and allow us to use the PLBs for personal use, hiking, dinghy trips, etc.

Hah! No way! We will buy one PLB to satisfy the law because it is cheaper!

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

............

Hah! No way! We will buy one PLB to satisfy the law because it is cheaper!

Sorry Jimbo, the PLB does not qualify as an EPIRB in any Aussie state as far as the regs. go.

[zeehag]

check of oz as a possible cruising place for more than one reason---
no spot
no termites
no cat
wow.........

mebbe after the world falls and no more nanny states exist.....mebbe then i can visit over there...until then.........