Originally Posted by
K.L. Davis
I just spent a summer testing one of the SPOT units... for what you are describing, it may be a good choice - mostly because there really is not that much else to pick from.
My honest assessment of the SPOT is that having one for an emergency "on the road" device is where it really makes sense... The SPOT is a hybrid GPS and Sat Phone of sorts; it finds out where it is via conventional GPS, and relays than info via Sat Phone communications through a private service <== That service costs 100 bucks a year too.
The up side to the SPOT is that it is easy to use, has great battery life and offers the choice to send more than just a trouble message... you can send pre-programed messages to let folks know you are okay, or that you need non-emergency help. The ability to send an "I am okay, but will be later than expected" message to HH6 is perhaps the greatest breakthrough in comms to come about in my lifetime.
The down side to SPOT is that the GPS fix is at times more of an approximation, and I have had positions come up that were hundreds of yards off - but, for most SAR situations, no one will argue with that.
The comms with the Sat System are sketchy too... I lovingly refer to my SPOT unit as "spotty" - it uses the Globalstar L-Band satellite network and requires line-of-sight with one of the satellites. This is where you can run into problems, if you should decide to fall 35 feet from a ridge crest and land in a fashion that precludes walking around much... you want to make sure you fall on the side that has exposure to one of the satellites.
Finally, the SPOT is a simplex device... meaning that it talks to satellites, but they don't talk back; so there is no confirmation that a message was successfully sent.
Okay... so with all of that, I still think they are a good device, especially for what you have in mind. The truth is that the things that I don't like about the SPOT really don't happen that often... they are the exception, rather than the rule. But they still can happen.
A true Personal Locater Beacon is (imho) much more reliable, but is also kind of comparing apples to handgrenades... I did the SAR thing for a long time, I have an ACR SARLink 406 and will never get rid of it (or whatever replaces it). But again, it serves a different purpose.
I have the same PLB in my flight bag and registered with the CSAR folks over here. It's a great piece of kit to have.
For God and the soldier we adore, In time of danger, not before! The danger passed, and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted." - Rudyard Kipling
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