Jay Honeck wrote:
I'd hold my ground for the new unit(s). Whatever installation labor your
greasy charges will be more than offset by being able to use D flashlight
cells every 5 years.

Another thing: The Ameri-King ELT claims to have "voice capability" in
their ad. What the heck would one use that for?

I asked the sales rep at Spruce about this, and she really didn't have
an answer. I suppose we could visualize a crash where the panel radios
have been rendered inoperative, the ELT is still intact, you are
somehow still ambulatory enough to remove your microphone (the
Ameri-King doesn't come with a mike, that I can see), crawl to the back
of the plane and plug it into the Ameri-King unit, so that you could
yell for help? (It can't receive -- only transmit.)

Seems far-fetched to me.

If you need to leave the plane for some reason, it's a lot easier to
carry your ELT with you than the panel mounted radio.

Personally, I'd rather just carry an HT, however.

-jav