Hi Martin, I have been using a PLB for 12 years. The first was an ACR and I had it for 10 years and replaced the battery at 5 years. It cost £600. My second is an ocean signal plb1
http://oceansignal.com/products/plb1/ which you can often buy for about £200 and the battery lasts 7 years. It is also just about the smallest available so can easily be kept on your person. I have seen old stock with 5 years battery remaining advertised for £150. I obviously also have a handheld VHF (non DSC) but the advantage of the PLB is that the battery is only used in an emergency and will not be flat when you need it. Also up the west coast of Scotland there are many VHF black spots but the PLB signal should get through as long as you have a clear view of the sky.
Don,t confuse PLB’s with things like SPOT. These satellite text communicators batteries go flat, the electronics are not really up to safety at sea standard and any emergency signal you activate goes to a private company not the coastguard. Also the satellite network it uses is an old failing system which does not give the same reliable coverage of the dedicated system that EPIZrBs and PLBs use.
I recently posted about this on my blog. The comments are also worth reading.
https://seakayakphoto.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... sider.html
Douglas
