ACR PLB-375 ResQLink+ 406 Buoyant Personal Locator Beacon

AMAZON, THIS PRODUCT ENDANGERS THE LIVES OF YOUR CUSTOMERS AND ITS SALE SHOULD BE DISCONTINUED IMMEDIATELY!I activated this device on a boating trip in Lake Powell after I struck a submerged rock, sunk my boat, and became stranded on a remote stretch of shoreline with no cell service, about 35 miles or an hour by boat from the nearest Ranger station capable of dispatching a rescue party. I hailed ‘Mayday’ on my radio and the national parks emergency service responded immediately. I was able to tell them the nature of my emergency and my last known location, but my radio died on contact with the water before I could report my exact GPS coordinates. I activated the beacon in order to transmit my location to emergency responders and waited in hypothermic conditions for nearly 3 hours until I was able to signal a passing good samaritan with a road-side flare. The two boaters took me a few miles down the lake to their houseboat where we could get a cell signal and call the rangers office to inquire about the rescue effort. To our surprise, the ranger's office indicated they had received no notice of a distress call from a personal locator beacon, but they would send a ranger to our location immediately. Almost exactly an hour later, the ranger`s boat arrived to take me back to my car. The next morning I called my family to tell them the news since, even though all of their numbers are listed in the device`s registration as emergency contacts, they had clearly never received a call about my beacon having been activated. I then noticed a voicemail on my cell phone. It was from the Air Force Rescue time stamped the night before about 45 minutes after I had activated the beacon. I have transcribed that voicemail below, word-for-word, so you may understand the reality of what will actually happen if you ever have to activate this device, and how catastrophically negligent the response will be:“Hi, good evening, this is Sergeant Littrel with the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. I`m calling in regards to a distress beacon signal, a personal locator beacon signal that we`ve detected via satellite that appears to be on the upper Lake Powell area, if you could please call us back at your earliest convenience toll-free 1-800-851-3051 and just reference case number 3252, we're just attempting to verify if anyone is actually in distress or not, thank you.”This is the only tangible action I know of that occurred in response to my distress signal… “Call us back…if anyone is actually in distress or not….” I don`t know how I`ll ever be able to comprehend how a person could let those words fall from their mouth and think… ‘Well that's taken care of.' Over the past few weeks I’ve spoken to several ‘higher ranking' individuals at the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, NOAA, and the US Coast Guard, and despite the deliberate attempts to confuse, complicate the details, or redirect blame to another party, I have learned the following:- My device functioned correctly and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and the NOAA detected the distress signal within 5 minutes and were able to successfully retrieve my device's location and registration information.- The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center left the above transcribed voicemail on my cell phone, which they claim occurred immediately but the voicemail is time stamped 44 minutes after the device was activated.- NONE of my listed emergency contacts were notified.- Both parties claim to be “ask-not-act” entities which are merely tasked with passing the distress information along to the appropriate parties but have no accountability or responsibility for coordinating a successful rescue effort. “They're doing this out of the goodness of their hearts” I cynically proposed and an operator at the NOAA essentially indicated was correct. Once they contacted the Utah Department of Emergency, their task was complete… time to go home.- The Utah Department of Emergency claims they have NO RECORD OF MY DISTRESS BEACON BEING ACTIVATED. They were aware of the initial Mayday distress call I had made with my VHF marine radio, but they never received my updated location after my radio went dead so the rangers they had dispatched spent three hours searching blindly and checking constantly for a location update, just a few miles up the lake…too far to have ever found me in time.- Neither the Air Force nor the NOAA ever followed up to confirm if there was an emergency or if it had been resolved.- Both parties acted according to policy and accept no fault or error in these policies or the way they were carried out in this instance.Long story short… if you activate this device, you'll be lucky to get a courteous sounding voicemail on your dead cell phone. As for signaling rescue? It's basically a $300 low-visibility strobe light. If you're looking for something to save your life in an emergency…you know, give you the opportunity to walk your daughter down the aisle, or bury the hatchet with that old friend you had the falling out with, or whatever else makes your life worth continuing… spend the extra $30/month for the satellite messenger that requires the active service plan, but WILL ACTUALLY SAVE YOUR LIFE when you need it. And buy some flares! There are lots of smart ways to cut costs, but this one may get you killed...One last note… If this product is so flawed, why do you think I seem to be the only person to recount an incident where it failed?

Much more assured solo hiking and camping with this PLB. Before purchasing, read online reviews and watched you tube reviews on this beacon. Everything described on the packaging is accurate. The beacon came perfect in the box and had a recent 'freshness' date (manufactured Nov 2014). According to instructions in the packaging, the battery has a shelf life of 12 years, although others report only a 5 year shelf life. The more you test it, the shorter the life. The specs speak for themselves and you can review this yourself. Some points to consider:1) This is a one use item. Once you use it, you have to send it back to the manufacturer to replace the battery (its not user replaceable). I'm not saying you have to throw it away (disposable), just that the battery will run for 24 hours or until turned off and you shouldn't stake your life on half a battery. I am not an electrical engineer but maybe a half spent battery would affect the PLB's ability to transmit the signals and such.2) You must register it with NOAA. There are warning all over this thing about how illegal it is to activate this device in a non emergency situation. From what I can remember warnings are 1)on the outside of the box, 2) there is an insert inside the box, 3) and its even taped to the device itself. This is an all or nothing device. You activate it, and people are coming, period. There are no take backs (SAR is coming, choppers, mountain rescue, coast guard, etc.). I'm assuming they would be pissed if you just twisted your ankle or had your 2 year old nephew activate it at a birthday party (I think they stick you with the response bill in form of a fine). I registered the PLB with NOAA (required) and received my authorization sticker within 4 days (you have to put it on the device) like an car registration tag.3) Here is something I did not know, and no one has seemed to mention. If you use this device in an actual emergency (life threatening or immanent danger) the company will replace the device for FREE. Yes for FREE. Enough said with that. That makes this a great deal.In conclusion, I am a solo hiker and camper and go into the wilderness for long periods at a time. If I have insurance on my cars, my house, my health, against disability, and in case of my death, shouldn't I have some sort of insurance regarding staying alive? It was an easy choice.Hope this review helped.

Great safety device. This is a US coded device. I did register it with NOAA in the US with no problems. As these 406 plb are worldwide coverage, this will not affect your access to rescue where ever you are.

ACR PLB-375 has an extremely beautiful design, light-weight, and ease of use. Climate Change is a reality! As a yachtmaster and private pilot change in weather patterns is going to be a risky challenge. This PLB is a must and will be a part of my gear on all ocean races and open sea races. Its important to know that Help is out there.

5 stelle per l'ottimo servizio vendita e post.Fate attenzione: quando acquistate il PLB indicate al venditore il paese di registrazione del prodotto.Nel mio caso è arrivato registrato per la Gran Bretagna, ma sono bastate due veloci contatti via mail e il prodotto è stato rispedito indietro e in una settimana è tornato nuovamente a casa con la modifica richiesta.

This product CANNOT be registered in Canada without a technical adjustment that comes with another cost. This product SHOULD NOT be sold by Amazon to any user in Canada. This is systemic problem made worse by Amazon since they continue to endorse it as registerable in Canada when it cannot be registered in Canada. Buyer beware.

il prodotto è sicuramente buono.( 5 stelle )...ma.... Purtroppo per essere attivato in italia al suo interno deve essere inserita la codifica Italia 247; questo deve e può essere fatto solamente dalla fabbrica. Il mio prodotto è arrivato con codifica UK. Ho chiamato il venditore su suggerimento di Amazon e il quale avrebbe ricodificato il PLB per 90 €. !!! dopo che ne ho speso 312,00 ?!? Questo non è giusto. Amazon, dove vendere il prodotto con le codifiche giuste. Prodotto restituito.