Lycosaurus

Lycosaurus

Well Known Member
I was searching for a good deal on an Personal Locating Beacon, and came with the McMurdo Fastfind 210, whereby you can get $25 off from West Marine using this code:

West Marine Link

Code: AFFSPCL

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And now for the Canadian content of this post:

I remembered something about some problem activating these units. I spoke to West Marine, and they said 'no problem' for registering in Canada. Still not convinced, I called Trina at Revere (the US distributors of McMurdo products), and she told me that you do in fact have to have the unit activated only in the country in which it was purchased. The Canadian units are slightly different due to different Transport Canada requirements. Only a Canadian unit can be activated in Canada etc.

From a website (http://www.myboatsgear.com/mbg/product.asp?prodID=1700)
You can buy your Fast Find from retailers around the world. All you have to do next is register it with the search and rescue authorities in the country where you purchased it, and its ready to carry with you.
​
(emphasis is mine)

So... where to buy. Trina gave me a couple of leads here. There's Harbour Chandlers, Vancouver Life raft (both in BC), and IMP Group in Halifax. I'll be making some calls, but I don't expect a great deal as our American cousins have.

If anyone else has some information regarding purchase, activation, use of PLB in Canada, let me know. Thanks.
 
Can't help you with the Canada part, but I bought one at Oshkosh, got a few people together for a mini group buy from Wicks, they gave us about $25 off and sold them for about $275 each. Hope this helps.
 
Glenn,

That's what the West Marine price would be with the discount.... $275. Pretty well affordable for a PLB with 5 year life battery and built-in gps unit.
 
Differences between PLB ?

The Fastfind 210 seems like a real bargain compared to other PLB's. Most other models are at least $500. The only difference I've noted is that the more expensive models (ACR or Fastfind Plus) may have a longer battery life.

So is the Fastfind 210 really a great bargain or is there something that justifies the higher price of the other PLB's?
 
Rick_A said:
So is the Fastfind 210 really a great bargain or is there something that justifies the higher price of the other PLB's?
Click to expand...
I think that the Fastfind 210 is just what many of us have been waiting for- a lower cost 406/ GPS PLB. I've been watching them for a couple years, waiting for the price to come down. Sooner or later it always does, and this appears to be the unit.

PS- I was part of Glenn's aforementioned group buy at Oshkosh.

Group buy? Did somebody say group buy??????
 
I bought one at OSH from either Gulf Coast or Pacific Coast Avionics for $275. I activated it in my tent at OSH using my laptop and a wireless connection. It resides in a cell phone case clipped to the right hand 'map pocket' in my -8. Well worth the money IMO.
 
Mine was almost double...

flickroll said:
I bought one at OSH from either Gulf Coast or Pacific Coast Avionics for $275. I activated it in my tent at OSH using my laptop and a wireless connection. It resides in a cell phone case clipped to the right hand 'map pocket' in my -8. Well worth the money IMO.
Click to expand...

...that price 2 years ago... $275 is a really good deal...:)

I know it's been two years since I just got a "renew the registration" notice in my e-mail.

Note that in the US you are required to register (or re-register) the PLB every two years.
 
Ordered mine today.

Thanks for the coupon code. Getting a PLB has been on my wish list for a few months. This discussion motivated me to place an order today.
 
Alfio - beacons registered in Canada must be coded for Canada. There is a country code programmed into the data stream. Some US vendors understand this and will ship to you a beacon that's properly programmed (normally available by special order, telephone contact required since most web commerce sites offer no ability to specify PLB programming). Some have no clue and figure if it's good for USA it's good for everywhere. Unfortunately it just aint so.

If you do get a beacon and are unsure of its programming, provide me with the hex code and I'll decode it for you to determine whether or not it has been appropriately coded for Canadian use.
 
Follow-up

Aircraft Spruce has the Canadian coded Fastfind 210 for the same (reasonable) price as the US coded FF210. Happy with the price and unit so far (hope to never use it).

My friend Andy went in on the purchase as well, and since the total was more than $500, the shipping was free (bonus!).
 
FF 210

Resurrecting this thread...

Purchased an American coded unit (as it turns out) and could not register it in the TC.CA website, but was able to on the American website www.beaconregistration.noaa.gov ... I assume that will work out ok?? It is active and must be updated every 2 years. They did accept my Canadian address.
I also sent a note to McMurdo to ask if I should get a Canadian code, no reply yet.
Interesting thing is that i will be flying the a/c half & half, Canada,U.S.

Bought at S&F, Pilot Mall, $248
 
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reply from McMurdo

I received this from McMurdo.

It is just a disclaimer for non-US residents and as you will be flying in the US it does not really matter too much. The important thing is that the unit is registered somewhere so that if it goes off they know who to chase after or rescue!

Enough said...
 
i picked one up from gulf coast at snf for $235 + taxes.

the manager was looking to close a deal. turbo:D
 
Dave - the country coding is actually pretty important to get right. If your beacon signal is detected by a GEOSAR satellite then the country code helps route the distress call to the appropriate SAR authorities. Having the wrong country code can introduce delays in response, although the system is designed to allow a beacon to be used anywhere in the world so the probability of an incorrect country code causing significant delays in SAR response should be pretty low. Still, if you're flying in Canada then having it coded for Canada is a good idea - why not stack all the odds in your favour?
 
As mentioned, my flying will be 50/50 Canada/US since the airplane will be in Florida next winter so I think I will just leave it as is.... thanks.
 
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