I need advice on purchasing an ebirp for a 44' Gulfstar. Any suggestions on make, model, price, good place on line to buy, etc.
Thanks,
Thanks,
Ebirp Purchase
- Thread starter Valhalla II
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Depends
Are you going offshore? If so I would get the ACR or the McMurdo. I want to say that BoatUS or Cruising World just had an article on them about a month or two ago. Other than that it is just price and for that you could look here on sailboatowners.com, West Marine of Defender. BoatUS does have a loaner/rental program as well - these have definitely saved a few lives.
Are you going offshore? If so I would get the ACR or the McMurdo. I want to say that BoatUS or Cruising World just had an article on them about a month or two ago. Other than that it is just price and for that you could look here on sailboatowners.com, West Marine of Defender. BoatUS does have a loaner/rental program as well - these have definitely saved a few lives.
I have done extensive price checking. Defender was having a great sale on an ACR Epirb RLB-35 that I purchased last week for a Bermuda trip. It has internal GPS position sending capability. ACR has done well in Practical Sailor reviews. They also have a former model of the ACR PLB with internal GPS as well.
I am encouraging my crew to have PLBs as well as having the ships EPIRB.
I am encouraging my crew to have PLBs as well as having the ships EPIRB.
Epirb or PLB vs. Spot
For marine purposes, I can't see a situation that a Spot is better than an EPIRB other than the ability to send an I'm OK message.
When the chips are down, I want an EPIRB or PLB. Thats why I bought them. World wide coverage.
For marine purposes, I can't see a situation that a Spot is better than an EPIRB other than the ability to send an I'm OK message.
When the chips are down, I want an EPIRB or PLB. Thats why I bought them. World wide coverage.
Love my SPOT. Erie to Tampa the families always knew where we were. Push one button and three households got the OK message with our position. If they wanted they could sign on to the SPOT website and track our every move. We posted the password and several on this site followed. For emergencies I guess the only downside is someone has to push the button. And I don't think it floats.
Never, The Spot will not send help if you have a real emergency as an Epirb will. It is not linked to any emergency response center as your Epirb is. As stated, it is a great toy for your friends and family to track you, when it works. It is not a device you want to bet your life on. And there have been way too many cases with Spot where family or friends lost the tracking and launched a rescue effort when there was in fact no emergency. Chuck
Here is a good example of how important a good working and registered EPIRB can be.
http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2010-12-02-2
http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2010-12-02-2
Chuckbear, I beg to differ... The spot emergency message goes to their private response center, and they notify the same agencies that get the epirb message. If you have their optional insurance, they'll also launch a private search and rescue if needed. The spot lets you easily keep family and friends aware of your location and status, which can be a great help if you change routes or divert into an alternate port. It's a cheap option-why not use both? A spot can be used everyday, and on land. Yes, it costs $100 per year, but it's $150 or less. You can get a PLB for $250, or a full EPIRB for $700 or so. It's cheap insurance to have 2-you might lose the EPIRB in a rollover, the spot can be in your pocket at all times.
One issue, and I haven't really being paying attention. I think at the moment the EPRIB world is shifting to new technology (120 Mhz and couple of km of resolution) to 406 Mhz and a few meters of resolution. You probably don't want to buy used, I think the older gear won't be supported for much longer. I could easily be wrong and you need to do your own research but there may be a gotcha with used gear.
John, the transition has already occured-120 Mhz is no longer monitored and is only to be used for MOB systems and directional locating. If you want your signal to be picked up by a satellite, you have to have a 406 epirb or PLB
This is far from a true emergency response system and it is quite a disservice to anyone to suggest that someone substitute a Spot system for an EPIRB. Here is a posting we put on our website that helps to understand how an EPIRB works, http://tinyurl.com/32bdnhj . Spot offers nothing close to this. Spot is not designed to do anything more than maybe have someone from SPOT make a call for you in an emergency situation. As I said, I would not want to bet my life or that of my crew on this and I will never suggest that anyone else do it either. This is a private company that makes money selling these devices and service. It has many potential failure points should you need rapid assistance. It is a great toy, but really nothing more in my opinion. But if anyone wants to use the system in place of an EPIRB, go for it, I won't be aboard when the stuff hits the fan and neither will those that recommended that someone use it as a substitute. Is it better than nothing, sure, is it the right way to go for safety, not in my opinion. Should someone have both, well that is up to the skipper. But my answer was to the question of when someone would use a Spot in place of an EPIRB. And we all know what opinions are like. Chuck
Chuckbear, I don't think I ever said get a spot instead of an EPIRB. What I did is disagree with your opinion, stated as fact, the a spot will not summon rescue services. Escape is equipped with an ACR EPIRB and deck crew carries PLBs in their heavy weather harnesses offfshore and at night. What concerns me is that many boats carry NOTHING-and a spot is a far better option than hoping someone will pass nearby.
the other Chuck
the other Chuck
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