Was the search for Evi botched?

I haven't followed this too closely, but why was there a three week delay before starting the search? That to me is the biggest issue.

As for the search area, the GPS provided last know position (LKP) from Evi and/or Spot is going to be much more accurate than satellite triangulation on a non-GPS sat phone.

I've done Air SAR, and the fixes satellites give on older non-GPS ELTs (Emergency Locator Transponder) and EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) are really broad. I've had the initial fix be off by hundreds of miles. Since a satellite phone only needs to know what satellite to talk to, the positioning info is probably very broad as well.

The fact that their EPIRB was not triggered is not a good sign. Assuming it is a modern one, it provides a GPS location in addition to a homing signal.