On Monday, March 31, 2014 7:35:42 PM UTC-4, Brian wrote:

Seems like the biggest issue is that when the battery life is up you essentially have to buy a new one as it costs almost as much to replace the battery as a new PLB costs.

Some of the newer models have seven year batteries. When my battery expires I plan to get a new unit because anything electronic (including batteries) gets better, cheaper, more reliable and lighter rapidly nowadays. Plus electronics can go bad with the passage of time and I want maximum reliability in my PLB. You can get a ResQlink PLB for $250, so cost is about $50 a year if you toss it when it expires.