Spot or a PLB

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
1

In light of the incident this Sunday has really got me thinking I need to up my safety gear. Would you guys recommend a spot or a PLB. I’m gonna get one, just not sure which one. Any experience with either?

2

I think I would go with a SPOT for the simple reason that I can easily test it to make sure I am getting the messages the day of a trip. I know that some will prefer the PLB because the CG directly monitors the signal, but I have no idea that it’s going to work when I need it. There is a lot of “faith” involved with a PLB. I know someone is going to come on here and say that there is a “test” feature, but again, it’s not like you can call the CG and say, “Hey did you receive my beacon?”. With the SPOT, I can literally test it 5 minutes before I leave the dock by having it send a text to my own cell phone.

3

I have the Spot and I have 2 custom messages

1 - OK Button:
From Stan & Kim’s SPOT GPS tracker - We are traveling or on the boat - This is where we are - We’re OK

This message goes to just a few people like my wife, friends wife, and I think my brother.

2 - Help Button:
From Stan & Kim’s SPOT GPS tracker. We are traveling or on the boat: We have broken down & need help-CALL/HELP

This message goes to the wife, father in law, a fishing club member, brother and Sea Tow.

Of course, you can’t set up a message on the 911 button, Spot sends the message to the proper authorities ------ I hope.

When I’m offshore, I’ll hit the OK button several times while on the water and every 30 minutes when heading in until we get to Fort Sumter.

“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad

Equipment:
190cc Sea Pro w/130 Johnson
1- 20 year old (boy of leisure)
1 - 17 year old (fishing maniac)
1 - wife (The Warden)

ECFC

4

Buy the PLB. When you engage a Spot your signal goes to a satellite and then to a call center who then call the Coast Guard, much like an alarm system at your house. The PLB signal goes to a satellite and then directly to the Coast Guard. The only reason a PLB cannot be called an EPIRB is it does not have enough battery life. Spot can’t say that. I have my PLB on my belt every time I go fishing inshore, near shore and offshore, no matter if its my boat or someone else’s. Spot has its place but if you are only going to buy one the PLB is what you want.

“Temptation may lean on the doorbell… opportunity may only knock once”

5

The correct answer is “BOTH”… You should have at least 2 means to save your arse… Isn’t it the military that says, “2 is 1 and 1 is none”??? I bought a SPOT first, then a PLB, then a sat phone. I might retire my spot now that I have the sat phone. Rationale being: PLB is immediate, sat phone is assuming I have time to make a call, but at least I know that I am talking to someone. But if I could only pick 1 it would be SPOT.

6

Skinneej makes good points regarding redundancy. I bought the PLB first because when I’m in trouble I want my distress signal to go directly to search and rescue. SPOT cannot call itself a PLB or EPIRB for a reason. I’d take the PLB and its 406 MHz technology first, but that’s just my opinion.
https://www.acrartex.com/

“Temptation may lean on the doorbell… opportunity may only knock once”

7

Epirb #1

Delorme in reach or spot #2

I went with the inreach. It has a gps, and I can text Towus directly if I am out of VHF/cell range from them. Month to month plan.

8

i have a personal spot, normally another person on the boat has a spot. the wife likes to get the I’m OK messages. i send her one every time we move to a new location so if we disappear somehow, she has a record of our last location.

also, just got an epirb from a friend who sold his boat.

the more signals you have the better. if the CG receives one distress alert from an area, they make calls. if they receive 3-4 different distress messages from the same area, they send the chopper a lot quicker.

another good idea is to make sure that your VHF is connected to your GPS via N2K network. this way when you hit distress, the CG as well as all other boats get your coordinates.

9

I have three PLB’s, overkill but that’s just me. They have gotten really affordable.

Pat Condon
“Carla Dee”

10

Also ask yourself what will give you the biggest “peace of mind”? For me, PLB is at the bottom of the list since I don’t know if it’s working or not and have no way to verify. Honestly, I’ve never had peace of mind like with the sat phone.

Here is how I would rank them by category:

Peace of Mind (Personal opinion):

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. EPIRB\PLB

Testability

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. EPIRB\PLB

Cost:

  1. PLB
  2. Spot
  3. Sat Phone

Function (ok, button, making calls, etc)

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. PLB

Response Time

  1. PLB
  2. Sat phone (You can immediately communicate distress to someone)
  3. Spot (They call your contacts before calling CG)

Relay of information:

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. PLB

Use in Water (MOB situation)

  1. PLB
  2. Spot
  3. Sat phone (Not even sure if you can)
11

Personally, I don’t look at it as a preference situation at all. A spot simply does not operate like a PLB/EPIRB. So for me, I’d have to have multiple PLB/EPIRBs before I thought about buying a spot.

This is a good read about the differences between a SPOT and EPIRB/PLB (from ACR, so obviously biased):

quote:
What?s the difference between a SPOT and either a Personal Locator Beacon or an EPIRB?

We like to say it?s an apples to oranges comparison. If your intention is to buy a life saving device, the most important part is to do your research and ask the right questions. We like the SPOT product, it?s a neat little tracking device, but it?s absolutely not a replacement for an EPIRB or Personal Locator Beacon.

What are the power and frequency differences?

Power and Frequency are two key areas to consider when researching a life saving device. If you?re not an engineer, these two subjects can be a little intimidating. Think about it like this: Satellites are thousands of miles away from earth, so your beacon?s signal needs to have enough power to travel that far and be able to go through anything between you and the satellite (trees, weather, out of slot canyons, etc.).

Power

SPOT is powered by 400 milliWatts while ACR 406 MHz PLBs and EPIRBs use 5 Watts. Think about the Total? cereal commercial where they show you how many bowls of the other cereal you need to eat in order to get the nutrition from one bowl of Total. In our example, you would need 12.5 SPOT units to equal the POWER of one ACR PLB or EPIRB. When your signal has to travel 22,000 miles to reach a satellite, you want to make sure you have more than enough power to get it there!

Frequency

The basic principles of frequency are that the lower the frequency, the easier it can penetrate buildings, trees and meteorological activity that appear between the transmitting device (PLB, EPIRB or SPOT) and the rece

12

Do PLB and Epirb devices allow me to just contact my towing service or do they automatically call in the Coast Guard to assist me ? If I’m out of fuel or the motor won’t start, I just need to contact my towing service. If I’m taking on water or I’m already in the water, I want the whole fleet to show up quickly !

SPOT will allow me to contact BoatsUS if I purchase SPOT Assist for Maritime.

2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha

13

One you will use every trip, and it will save you a lot of ■■■■■ when people on land would have been worried otherwise. SPOT has gotten my L/L to the towing service when T storms on land had their high rise network messed up and they could barely hear me on the VHF 45 miles out. They came straight to me and made contact from the two boat over the VHF, which was getting weaker and weaker since dead charging system and batts on the boat was my problem. (another long story thanks to a certain mechanic)
SPOT’s been the best purchase I’ve ever made in terms of safety gear for any activity.

Now, a SPOT will not do what an EPIRB will do. And I hope I never have to use my EPIRB. If I do though, it will be the best purchase of any type I have ever made because it will save my life.

Don’t pick either or. If you have to pick the one that’s most valuable, pick the EPIRB. If you want to pick the one you’ll get the most days of use out of, then pick the SPOT.

You really need both though. Neither is a substitute for common sense, and neither will do anything for you if you aren’t prepared and cool headed when things go bad.

It’s the ocean.

http://www.sustainablefishing.org/

www.joinrfa.com

Luke 8:22-25

14
quote:
Originally posted by skinneej

Also ask yourself what will give you the biggest “peace of mind”? For me, PLB is at the bottom of the list since I don’t know if it’s working or not and have no way to verify. Honestly, I’ve never had peace of mind like with the sat phone.

Here is how I would rank them by category:

Peace of Mind (Personal opinion):

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. EPIRB\PLB

Testability

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. EPIRB\PLB

Cost:

  1. PLB
  2. Spot
  3. Sat Phone

Function (ok, button, making calls, etc)

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. PLB

Response Time

  1. PLB
  2. Sat phone (You can immediately communicate distress to someone)
  3. Spot (They call your contacts before calling CG)

Relay of information:

  1. Sat phone
  2. Spot
  3. PLB

Use in Water (MOB situation)

  1. PLB
  2. Spot
  3. Sat phone (Not even sure if you can)

Don’t forget the value of a SPOT when something abruptly happens to you and you don’t get a chance to deploy any of the above or they fail (shocked face**?)

You will have been sending bread crumbs back to land or checking in every so often all day long, and if you go missing people have a pretty good idea of what area to start looking in rather than just knowing, “they left out of Charleston at 6AM and were due back at 6PM.”

http://www.sustainablefishing.org/

www.joinrfa.com

Luke 8:22-25

15
quote:
Originally posted by gregsc

Do PLB and Epirb devices allow me to just contact my towing service or do they automatically call in the Coast Guard to assist me ? If I’m out of fuel or the motor won’t start, I just need to contact my towing service. If I’m taking on water or I’m already in the water, I want the whole fleet to show up quickly !

SPOT will allow me to contact BoatsUS if I purchase SPOT Assist for Maritime.

2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha

If your EPIRB goes off in any way, the big Clemson orange and white helicopter is coming unless you stop it. If you aren’t sinking or sunk, you’re going to get a fine. There’s a delay of 45 mins to 2 hrs for the signal to contain an accurate position fix to the USCG unless you have a rapidfix or other type that has built in GPS. When given the choice, you obviously want the rapid fix type with built in GPS so that rescue can get launched an hour quicker in some cases than if not…

SPOT calls your list of contacts if you hit the 911 button. There’s a HELP button that I have this programed to go to people able to handle it back on land “Non-lifethreatening distress. Please relay my position to seatow/towboat.” That means I have broken down- not sinking.

You never deploy an EPIRB unless lives are endangered.

http://www.sustainablefishing.org/

www.joinrfa.com

Luke 8:22-25

16

Thanks for all that good info Phin. Right now I’m pretty much a lake guy and don’t make it down to the salt water much. That could change in a couple of years and I’m trying to do the research.

2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha

17

For now, I think I’m going to buy the SPOT. West Marine has it for 149.99 with a 50% rebate.

2013 Tidewater 180CC
115 Yamaha

18

My Spot Use: I took it offshore maybe a total of 8 times. I tested it and it was working fine the night before fishing. When I turned it on an hour into our run offshore…thing would not turn on.(this past Sat.) Not a battery issue, thing is plain broke. It did get wet, not submerged but in my pocket wet with just spray normal to a CC. Great to have, and its functions are great. That said…I would’t rely solely on it. Usually take both.

26’ Regulator, Twin 250s “On da Reg”

19
quote:
West Marine has it for 149.99 with a 50% rebate.

How much money would you spend for rescue if you and your family were 60 miles offshore and treading water, and not sure that anybody was coming to help you? $149.99 won’t nearly even buy gas for a day of offshore fishing. It probably won’t even cover the ice, bait, tackle and beer. One good offshore rod and reel cost a lot more than that. How much is your life and your crew’s lives worth to you? Less than the price of gas? Skip a fishing trip and buy some good safety gear, with redundancy. You can’t buy what you need out there when you’re swimming, not for any price.

Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper

20

PLB and EPIRB are different. …Those are what I would consider. I believe PLB’S are GPS based…I’m sure Phin or someone is more informed.