bulk buy new epirb?

[Vindicator]

Did my bit today and called my sister in law who works for reef marine in Mackay. The best they could come up with was 399 for the GME and 475 for the Pains Wessex. They said they started selling the Pains but then changed to the GME because people thought they were better value. What you have to remember is that it is up to you to send the unit back after 5 years to get the free battery replacement. The replacement battery for the GME is still only $99 so if we got it cheap enough it would be still better value than the Pains Wessex. I asked them about quality comparisons between the two and they said both brands were of a high standard. Steve, the manager, had no preference over either of the two but said that GME was still a high standard product. Just my 2 cents worth anyway.

Cheers
Kezza

[therapy]

That's the best deal around webby, even if whittworths have 15% off for the boat show it still only works out to around $500. It's up to Northside now to arrange the payment method's (eg an account to credit/ or credit card payment) and up to us to place our individual orders or we will lose credibility if we try to arrange something like this again. You say it's only one or the other (gme or pw) so best get indications from everyone their preference. ( can we attach a poll to this thread with the 2 choices??). I will be going the pw but if the gme wins out the price I got of $475 for the pw was for any order 2 or more so other people wanting the pw can pm me and we can go that way. Hope this hasn't confused matters and thanks again webby for your efforts. Now lets get this sorted one way or the other. As webby said the sooner we order and secure our epirbs the better as supply will become an issue closer to sept./nov.
Cheers ............ Terry...........

[flybloke]

Do I have to front up to the shop? (where is north side) or can They be registered to my name by the dealer and mailed to me?(at a fee of course)
Cheers and thanks for the great effort fellas.
JUST FOUND, They have a gold coast store

[fishing111]

some food for thought in all this , a very intelligent friend of mine even though he is a kiwi , tells me that the gme 406 is built to the absolute minimum specs for a 406 epirb and the pains wessex is of a far better qaulity and specs. may be worth getting prices for both and some further opinions about which way to go .

Marco on reading this I sent an email to GME, and Pains Wessex as I am after a top quality EPIRB, and not one made to min spec's. I would also like to make it very clear that no insult to you or your friend is/was intended. I asked Mathew if I could post his reply, and here it is.



Hi Paul,

Many thanks for passing on the comments that you read on Ausfish, I certainly cannot make in depth comments on the quality of the Paines Wessex EPIRB.
The one thing I can say is that all the GME EPIRBs meet the very stringent international standards that are set down by the COSPAS-SARSAT organisation (C/S T.001/007) certified to class 2 requirements, we also meet Australian and New Zealand Standards AS/NZ 4280.1, we are also Med Wheelmark approved for European sales, we also sell a number of our EPIRBs into the USA market.
To say that our unit is built to Minimum specs is some what unsubstantiated, does the person who wrote that piece know what the specs are?. At GME we have a state of the art manufacturing facility in Sydney, where all our EPIRBs are manufactured, and each EPIRB that is manufactured goes through extensive testing to ensure it will be reliable for the duration of its battery life and longer which is 6 years, as apposed to the Paines Wessex RB6 EPIRB which is only 5 years.
Any EPIRB that is sold has to have the relevant certificates, and to gain these certificates each product has to undergo extensive testing, the RB6 same as any GME EPIRB has gone through this test procedure and has the certificate to prove it.
May be the person who wrote the piece on Ausfish believes that because our unit is cheaper it is inferior, I can and I’m sure my friends at Paines Wessex would agree this is a load of rubbish.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.

Regards
Matthew Heap

Marketing Manager - Marine

[Mekana]

I want one as well!! dont leave me out

[NMK]

Boating and Leisure World in Labrador has a members and guests special night, tonight. They currently have the RB-6 for $499 and the GME MT400 for $399 on Special. i just received a brochure and tonight electronics are 10% off, including specials. which would make the RB-6 - $449 and the MT-400 - $359.

[marco]

Marco on reading this I sent an email to GME, and Pains Wessex as I am after a top quality EPIRB, and not one made to min spec's. I would also like to make it very clear that no insult to you or your friend is/was intended. I asked Mathew if I could post his reply, and here it is.



Hi Paul,

Many thanks for passing on the comments that you read on Ausfish, I certainly cannot make in depth comments on the quality of the Paines Wessex EPIRB.
The one thing I can say is that all the GME EPIRBs meet the very stringent international standards that are set down by the COSPAS-SARSAT organisation (C/S T.001/007) certified to class 2 requirements, we also meet Australian and New Zealand Standards AS/NZ 4280.1, we are also Med Wheelmark approved for European sales, we also sell a number of our EPIRBs into the USA market.
To say that our unit is built to Minimum specs is some what unsubstantiated, does the person who wrote that piece know what the specs are?. At GME we have a state of the art manufacturing facility in Sydney, where all our EPIRBs are manufactured, and each EPIRB that is manufactured goes through extensive testing to ensure it will be reliable for the duration of its battery life and longer which is 6 years, as apposed to the Paines Wessex RB6 EPIRB which is only 5 years.
Any EPIRB that is sold has to have the relevant certificates, and to gain these certificates each product has to undergo extensive testing, the RB6 same as any GME EPIRB has gone through this test procedure and has the certificate to prove it.
May be the person who wrote the piece on Ausfish believes that because our unit is cheaper it is inferior, I can and I’m sure my friends at Paines Wessex would agree this is a load of rubbish.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.

Regards
Matthew Heap

Marketing Manager - Marine

well they would say that anyway wouldnt they . the information given to be by a marine industry tech is that gme meet the spec as mr heap has stated and they have to to sell them , and pains wessex exceeds the standard . that is my point and it has nothing to do with price .

and i see they make the point regarding battery life but fail to mention that you are effectively getting 10 years for a pains wessex rb6 .

while your asking gme about how good there product is , please ask why my last two stereos and the 27 meg radio all of which are gme , failed within two years of purschase ? .


and i havent taken offence but did you really expect them to say that yea our product is no good ?

[reel scream]

Got PM and have voted. Thanks Terry.

Cheers Scott

[battler1]

GME ? Hope there better then THERE 27Meg Radio's just got my SEVETH one replaced in 12 months ? How do we know if the GME is any good as you never use them ? i would go for the Pains Wessex any day over a GME .

Reghards Joe

Marco on reading this I sent an email to GME, and Pains Wessex as I am after a top quality EPIRB, and not one made to min spec's. I would also like to make it very clear that no insult to you or your friend is/was intended. I asked Mathew if I could post his reply, and here it is.



Hi Paul,

Many thanks for passing on the comments that you read on Ausfish, I certainly cannot make in depth comments on the quality of the Paines Wessex EPIRB.
The one thing I can say is that all the GME EPIRBs meet the very stringent international standards that are set down by the COSPAS-SARSAT organisation (C/S T.001/007) certified to class 2 requirements, we also meet Australian and New Zealand Standards AS/NZ 4280.1, we are also Med Wheelmark approved for European sales, we also sell a number of our EPIRBs into the USA market.
To say that our unit is built to Minimum specs is some what unsubstantiated, does the person who wrote that piece know what the specs are?. At GME we have a state of the art manufacturing facility in Sydney, where all our EPIRBs are manufactured, and each EPIRB that is manufactured goes through extensive testing to ensure it will be reliable for the duration of its battery life and longer which is 6 years, as apposed to the Paines Wessex RB6 EPIRB which is only 5 years.
Any EPIRB that is sold has to have the relevant certificates, and to gain these certificates each product has to undergo extensive testing, the RB6 same as any GME EPIRB has gone through this test procedure and has the certificate to prove it.
May be the person who wrote the piece on Ausfish believes that because our unit is cheaper it is inferior, I can and I’m sure my friends at Paines Wessex would agree this is a load of rubbish.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.

Regards
Matthew Heap

Marketing Manager - Marine

[fishing111]

I take your point Marco, and very valid point it is too, as I have had GME radio problems in the past myself, and swore I would not buy anything GME related again. I guess I just hope that they (GME) would take total care, and not cut corners in producing such life saving equipment as EPIRB's.
I figure if I have to upgrade to a 406, then I just don't want a unit to within a 5km radius, a GPS equipped one that brings the search area down to 45-50 metres is probably a far better choice.That's where the GME ones are attractive, as they are a good price, but like you I have those radio failures in the back of my head. Shit I'm confused, and especially after what Chimo put up about the independent tests for the GPS equipped units.All I know is that if I have to change over, I will be getting a GPS unit, problem is what brand?

[flybloke]

Could you direct me to those tests?

[fishing111]

Flybloke, the whole thread comes under the author "outsiderskip", and the topic is "epirbs" and it was Chine, not Chimo who gave the link in the thread. But apparently they've sorted out those problems now, sorry i forgot, but it's there if you want to have a read of the whole thread.http://www.boatus.com/foundation/Fin...39/default.htm

[wiz]

Iam also interested in the bulk buy

Has there been any more progress???

[Zodiac fisho]

I have joined this thread a bit late but we sell the RB6 (Pains Wessex) $440.00 and the Mt400 (GME) for $410.00. We also have the GME MT403G with inbuilt GPS for $694.00
Why would the suppliers discount the EPIRB's when they know you will have to buy one anyway. At present we are having problems getting supply of GME models so don't think they have a warehouse full to sell.
I think originally they said there was 120,000 EPIRB's to be replaced but the combined production in Australia is 50,000 a year. Don't quote me on the numbers but it was somewhere around this figure.
This is the reason why they have brought the date forward in Qld to 1st Nov.

As for battery replacement, the GME battery has a 6yr life and can be replaced in Brisbane.
The RB6 has 5yr with free replacement first time. This has to be sent to Melbourne and is classed as dangerous goods because of the battery (owners cost).

You are not able to register an overseas manufactured EPIRB in Australia because of the country specific code when manufactured. This would cause all sorts of problems with retrieving information from the databases when the EPIRB is operated.

Hope this has been of some help.

[marco]

I have joined this thread a bit late but we sell the RB6 (Pains Wessex) $440.00 and the Mt400 (GME) for $410.00. We also have the GME MT403G with inbuilt GPS for $694.00



.

so who are you ? where do we buy it