Albin Owners Group

I'm about to re-launch having rebuilt engine and done some interior work on my A25. The declining engine that I bought the boat with kept me very conservative in my travels but I'm ready to stretch my wings offshore (Texas Gulf) more than I dared before. I have an inflatable, two VHF's, flares, etc.. But the fellows on my fishing list serve insist that they wouldn't leave sight of land without an emergency transponder.

I've looked at EPIRB and GPS enabled PLB's with and without messaging/tracking. It appears that the cost of EPIRB doesn't buy one more capability over a simple PLB. Am I mistaken? I'd appreciate input about others' equipment and experience.

I'd go with the mcmurdo PLB, purely because I make the internals for them

I have an ACR ResQLink PLB... McMurdo's are great units also.

PLBs have shorter transmit time (24+ hours) and have to be held or positioned while transmitting above water... EPIRBs float, can be automatically deployed from your boat if it sinks, and have longer transmit time (48+ hours)...

I like the PLB since its less expensive and i operate off-shore 50-70nm... but near shipping lanes and not far from shore based USCG helos... so I'm comfortable with that... but an EPIRB is more capable...

I also carry a SPOT transmitter... good to keep the family/friends informed of my location and can be used to signal for help as well.

The Spot3 is what I started my search with but the tracking was something I have on my Garmin and my backup (Android Nav app) so the subscription fee seemed like an extra. I saw the ACR and McMurdo and they were very competitive. We usually stay within 20 miles of the beach so 24 hours of transmit time seems adequate with all of my redundancies. I suppose if I can't hold a PLB above water I've lost my PFD and I'm in deeper trouble than electronics can solve. Thanks a lot for the input, guys.