Thread: School me on PLB

Ok so i have $500 to spend, can go a bit over if need be

Im after a PLB for general hunting, i currently use a Garmin In Reach which i do like. However now that im gonna start taking the young fella out me and the wife reckins we need a proper PLB.

What is good value?
What is shite to avoid i geuss?

I was gonna get a ACR but some local guys here reckin they dont last the longest

I dont know, what is the go here?
Also, do they work overseas? As i would eventually be going to South Africa, UK and Maybe Aussie so that would be useful but not essential

Cheers
Not so Newbie lol

you will have change....$300 is going rate,carry mine all over the show as its not big,will fit inside a coffee cup with room to spare.... there is a whole thread on this in here somewhere...

There's quite a few useful PLB threads already. It's hard to definitively recommend one over another because so few of us have actually had to activate one. McMurdo and ACR are brands that come to mind. I have a McMurdo, battery life is slightly longer than the ACR at 6 years vs 5 years. I have a "spare/backup" McMurdo PLB which is 10 years old and still passing battery tests - not to be relied upon though. Check dates when you purchase. Avoid KTI as they are out of business. Yes, they will work anywhere in the world and despite what retailers tell you, they do not have to be models specific to your country of residence. However, registration is more straightforward if you buy a PLB coded to NZ.

They work anywhere in the world.
I have a GME and a RescueMe, the RescueMe is much smaller

One with an infrared strobe is a worth while feature, it might be night time when you require assistance.

Be sure to register it.

If you need it, turn it on and leave it on until someone there to help is standing next you.

They are much of a muchness.
Interestingly, it’s a case of the lesser models going off on their own more often than the others that makes them not quite as good.
Inadvertent activations are an important reason to register the PLB, contacting the owner by other means saves a lot of unnecessary SAR responses.

The rep told me the ACRs have a shorter battery service interval to ensure the beacon can transmit the required 24+ hour through any likely temperature range within that five year period.

Also carry it attached to you and not in your pack, the amount of people who have a fall and lose their pack with beacon in it who then cannot reach their pack.

Mine lives on my knife belt and travels everywhere with me, even in the car when driving as large parts of the SI have no phone coverage.

absolutely this, I have the ocean signal rescue me and it is so light that you don't even notice it on your belt.

knew a fellow who managed to break a rib or two coming off a bike, hurt so much couldn't get his pack off to get to his phone, had to be rescued by someone who came past. always have that in my mind when I'm thinking of where to put the PLB

Originally Posted by Moutere

The rep told me the ACRs have a shorter battery service interval to ensure the beacon can transmit the required 24+ hour through any likely temperature range within that five year period.

That’s not unique to ACR, that’s just a rep blowing smoke about their product.
All genuine PLB’s are required to still have min. 24hr transmission at extremes of temperature (from memory, -20 to +50?), right up until stated battery expiry. So a longer stated battery life is exactly that - a longer life.

There is, as one would expect, a significant safety margin built in anyway.

Battery expiry itself isn’t a works/won’t work output, but rather is the point after which the manufacturer can no longer be sure the beacon will provide at least 24 hours of output, at the limits of the temp range. Deeper sub-zero temps start to really hammer useable battery capacity.

No, there is some context that you’re missing.
That statement stemmed from a conversation where I challenged the rep about the differing (better) battery replacement intervals on the various manufacturers.
ACRs threshold of comfort as a company, standing behind their product to operate to spec was the reason for their chosen calendar life, there was no smoke blown.

The post isn’t to endorse ACR, just to pass on info so people can make informed decisions about product features to best meet their needs.
For example KTIs have 10 year life and were comparatively well priced, but also have a reputation for going off inadvertently on their own and coincidently are no longer sold.

Originally Posted by +Snoop

Garmin inReach.... next

A Garmin inreach is not a plb


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I really like the KTI ones which have a 10 year battery life (acknowledging this might just be the companies appetite for risk in certification as said in above posts).
Have one personally and use for work. Only problem is I haven't seen one in stock for a long time and suspect they're no longer made?
https://walkingnewzealand.co.nz/prod...or-beacon-plb/

Originally Posted by Makros

I really like the KTI ones which have a 10 year battery life (acknowledging this might just be the companies appetite for risk in certification as said in above posts).
Have one personally and use for work. Only problem is I haven't seen one in stock for a long time and suspect they're no longer made?
https://walkingnewzealand.co.nz/prod...or-beacon-plb/

KTI has closed down. But sounds like another company is going to pick up on their PLB products and manufacture them.


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Originally Posted by +Snoop

Garmin inReach.... next

I already have one, its not a proper PLB. Its OK, but the transmission is very slow, i just like it for being able to send messages to the wife. But i wont be betting my sons life on it.

NZ brought KTI are/were coded to NZ so the Rescue Coordination in Wgton told me years ago when registering.
This thread is just a rehash of the whole discussion earlier from another thread. Below is the link about KTI and what happened - it seemed to coincide during the first Covid lock downs?

Here is a comment i found from 2018 about the Kti - interesting situation- KTI general manager Mark Knowles said there was no known fault with the particular beacon involved in the incident. Although it was possible for beacons to be faulty, he said, it wasn't a common occurrence.

"Out of tens of thousands of these we have probably had two or three problems in Australia and a larger number in New Zealand and we are trying to work out why."

http://skippersmate.co.nz/kti-epirbs-plbs

it seems the 3 that are available mostly are the

Resq link ACR 2 models the View and the 400
Ocean Signal Rescue me
Fast find