Hey Ken,
I saw that show also, pretty sad
I bought a EPIRB manually activated Cat II years back(actually from Jim at BOE!), . I like it in the fact that if all goes to $hit i have something to "pray" with.
Reading the diff between EPIRB vs PLB, you need both to cover different scenerios.
Big diff is "Both categories of EPIRBs are designed to activate when they are immersed in water, regardless of the position of the manual switch" vs "PLBs are manually activated only"
If i had a PLB, i would wear it. EPIRB is in the ditch bag.
PLB are great when you fish alone or as others stated using on others boats, hiking etc ...
It is on my list, but going for the raft this year and another survival suit. Working on saving the crew first, .... then myself
- Nick