Scuba diver's Personal Locator Beacon - how never to be lost at sea
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Mike
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Just for clarity : The McMurdo canister is larger, heavier and bulkier than the Custom Diver Canister, it's 30% taller and 25% wider, also it doesn't have any built in attachment methods like the Custom Divers 200/210 does.
I looked at the McMurdo early on in all this as it was easy to get one, however I felt the little extra work to get something significantly smaller that I would have on every dive was more important to me. I feel the Custom Diver canister is already large, to go to something 1/3rd larger was absolutely out of the question.
The 2nd important factor was that the bigger size of the McMurdo meant the PLB would move around in the canister and require additional padding such as wrapping the PLB in something before insertion to keep the PLB safe from damage from knocking about from one end to the other, the Custom Diver Canister fits the PLB perfectly and snuggly with no movement, no wasted space.
The criteria when I started all this, was to find the absolutely smallest, lightest beacon and canister combination I could put together, that's what the Rescue Link and the Custom Diver 200/210 was.
Make sure you know the details, understand what your personal requirements are and choose wisely.
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Alexander1975
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Does anybody have experience with the Nautilus lifeline? It has a depth rating of 425 feet and includes both a GPS and a VHF radio with a range of up to 19 miles. Most boats have a VHF radio and with this tool you could easily contact any nearby boats.The price is also friendly at 300 USD.
I got one. My Op also carries one. I like it. While the sat things work everywhere, you have to commit to the "BIG" response if you push that button. Whereas I can fire up the lifeline and chat with my boat for anything on the chat channel. I like to fire it up and call for the boat to Money Bar on the chat channel......
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It's an option, certainly better than nothing - with benefits and shortcomings. Your profile doesn't say where you are, but for diving The Philippines - it might be great if you speak the same language as the nearest boaters. Do many boats have GPS locators there?
I live over 500 miles from the ocean and often travel roads where cell phones don't work, hike trails with no reception, and those have no benefit inland - but my PLB will work. It has to be a real emergency before I will use it tho.
Can you imagine 300 divers carrying these in the Cozumel marine park, all trying to talk to their own boats on the same channel? :silly:
You really recommend that a diver should learn Tagalog before taking a dive trip to the Philippines, etc.?
Wow, never realized how unsafe I had been not learning Thai, Burmese, Bahasa Indonesia, Palauan, Yapese, Chuukese, Guamanian, Papamiento, and French. At least I can say "ayudame por favor" in Spanish, so apparently I'll can safely dive in Cozumel if I don't want to spend a fortune on language classes or Rosetta Stone
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