Upgraded McMurdo GPS PLB/EPIRBs needed

Last year Doug Ritter (right) and his Equipped to Survive Foundation (ETS) did the boating (and outdoors) community a tremendous service by uncovering performance problems in the optional GPS portion of PLBs and EPIRBs made by McMurdo. McMurdo subsequently offered a free upgrade to existing units. ETS now plans to test the upgraded beacons, as well as the latest models from McMurdo and ACR. If you’re in the U.S. and have an unused, but upgraded, McMurdo beacon, ETS wants to swap it for a brand new one and will even send you pre-paid shipping material. The deal sounds pie simple, and you’ll be helping to confirm for all boaters that the upgrade truly did the job. For an idea of how amazingly thorough this testing program is, check out these ETS Web pages.
Update 5/17: Apparently Doug now has enough upgraded beacons.