I suppose this one will also won't be user-rechargeable? Will the unit need to be returned to the factory for battery replacement if it's ever deployed?

The answers to your questions are in the article.

PLBs currently are prohibited from having rechargeable batteries.

The PLB would need to go to a service center for battery replacement. If used for a real survival situation, the manufacturer almost always simply replaces the unit as a courtesy or services it for you.

As for end of service life issues, in 5-6 years the new PLBs available will be smaller and cheaper and nobody expects to be replacing batteries. PLBs have become disposable, effectively.

Yes, I read in the article "ACR claims that the ResQLink will always exceed 5 watts output" but was wondering if there was a more concrete measurement? Does "always exceed" mean 5.1 ?

I like the size of ResQLink compared to my SarLink View and being able save space in my pack would be terrific. The SarLink is rated at 6.3 watts. Is there a point of diminishing return on output wattage? Would 6.3 versus 5 watts have a real world difference?

I cannot offer more info than what ACR has provided. And, it is not something that is easy to measure, so we must rely on them for that info. I would expect that if they could reliably transmit at higher power, they would say so. They have every reason to do so and no reason to not.

As to the effect it has, the system performance baseline is predicated on 5 watts nominal +/- 2 watts (going by memory). So there's plenty of link margin there at far less than 5 watts. The link margin does not increase in a straight line, so the difference is not as great as it seems. We have been working at typically 5 watts or less for a long time. Nothing I'd give a second thought about, personally.

My issue with the ACR battery is that you use up battery life if you subscribe to the "I'm OK" etc. messaging service. This option to send such a message is valuable to me. As a frequent soloist there are plenty of situations where I may not exit the woods at the agreed upon time but I'm not needing rescue:

- weather that had to be waited out

- unexpected difficulty with the terrain that slowed me down or forced a re-route

- delay due to helping out another party

That's why the Spot 2 keeps looking attractive. I know ETS isn't thrilled with the Spot 2 but there are other serious evaluations where it did quite well. BackPackingLight.com did one such eval, but it requires a subscription to read.

For what is worth, the SPOT 2 that I was given to demo worked well for about a week and then failed to work AT all. There was no chance for a serious evaluation, it stopped getting a GPS fix or sending messages/tracking completely.

Right now there's no perfect solution. I have clients that carry both devices.

I didn't realize the law prohibited rechargeable battery. There's probably some rationale behind it but it doesn't make much sense to me.

"PLBs currently are prohibited from having rechargeable batteries."

Doug, rechargeable or replaceable? If McMurdo can have replaceable batteries,can ACR have the same thing or is that strictly a US law? Also is there any way they can put a external adapter to allow plug in to a car battery, solar, battery pack or so forth to work around the law?
http://www.rei.com/product/791973

I had waited for ACR to come out with something awhile back but due to how slow they are to come to production with things I ended up with the fast find 210 and like it except for the cap design. The ACR looks very nice and I like the design and when it's time to replace mine for batteries I may get one unless McMurdo Counters this design by making a removable battery and a a better design of the cap which holds the antenna to allow for multiple use, which really is a small design change to counter this design. I hope ACR will look into seeing if there is a way to add replaceable batteries and or external power jack as a workaround before release of production. They had said first quarter release, I'm thinking very late 1st quarter or slip into second quarter at the very least. With a replaceable battery pack, a extra battery can be modified to accept external power, I did that with the steripen and other devices to where I can hook it to a regulator and a solar cell.

Anyway, thanks for the update and hopefully the competition between the different manufactures will continue to lead to better products.