On Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:05:30 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

In prep for my upcoming sailing trip, I bought a new battery for my
406 Mhz EPIRB and ran thru the self test sequence, IT FAILED. This
insanely expensive piece of equipment does not work? This coulda
killed me. I sent it via next day mail to the place here in FL for
examination and they say they might have to send it back to England
costing nearly $300. Like Hell.
Options........hmmm. There is something new out there called SPOT.
For $150, one can buy a beacon that when activated sends a signal to a
satellite (I think it must use the Iridium network) and that sends a
signal to some emergency station with your GPS location. Am not sure
how this differs from EPIRB.
It has other features too. One can use it to send a recorded message
back to home saying "I am ok, my position is........". It can also
send a signal back home so someone can track your path on Google
Earth. It does require a subscription service of $100/yr.
Anybody know about these things?

Yes, I own one, as do several others on "rec.boats.cruising". SPOT
devices differ from EPIRBS in a number of important ways: EPIRBS are
registered and certified; EPIRBS are monitored by an international
organization which has access to rescue resources all over the world;
EPIRBS usually have flotation and long life batteries; etc.

SPOT devices work as advertised although it takes a little practice to
learn how to activate the tracking mode. I'd suggest getting some
experience with it before starting any major cruise. The notification
options can be user customized on a web page.

SPOT has an internal GPS and a satellite transmitter. In tracking
mode it attempts to uplink your current position every 10 minutes. It
is not unusual to have gaps of 20 to 30 minutes every now and then
because of unsuccessful uplink transmissions.

Battery life is good, typically more than 2 weeks, but it uses lithium
AAs which are more expensive than Duracells.

What else would you like to know?