Locator Beacon: PLB or SPOT?

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rlown
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Re: SPOT personal tracker

Post by rlown »

the mods or admin might consider folding this into viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10201&hilit=SPOT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Mike pointed out, we've had these discussions and it would be nice to consolidate them.
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maverick
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Re: Locator Beacon: PLB or SPOT?

Post by maverick »

the mods or admin might consider folding this into viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10201&hilit=SPOT

As Mike pointed out, we've had these discussions and it would be nice to consolidate them
Done :)
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
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hjldennis
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Re: Locator Beacon: PLB or SPOT?

Post by hjldennis »

I ASSUME that SPOT's reliability must have increased during the past year. I don't know much about SPOT, but for Globalstar's sat phone, it used to be so unreliable that they offered something like $40/mo unlimited plan, and still couldn't get people to sign up (including me). Since then they deployed more satellites and supposedly better/continuous service. I never thought I needed locator beacon since I don't go solo, usually with my family of four, but I should seriously consider one.

Unless Google is successful and decides to deploy their Loon Projects (which I thought was a far fetched idea out of comic book at first) over wilderness areas .... who knows - many sci-fi things have come to reality already.
wandering outdoors and the universe
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robow8
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Re: Locator Beacon: PLB or SPOT?

Post by robow8 »

My wife works for an outdoor retailer so we were able to pick up an inReach Explorer really cheap, and we used it for a week trip in the Yosemite high country. We sent a preset message every morning and evening to 7 people (kids etc.) and had no problems. I really liked that you can get a weather forecast for your location, and if you have it as one of your preset messages, it only costs you one message when it is sent to you. More info here: http://wx2inreach.weebly.com/details.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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EpicSteve
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Re: Locator Beacon: PLB or SPOT?

Post by EpicSteve »

After a lot of research, I came to the same conclusions as ondafringe and bought a PLB. I carry a McMurdo FastFind 210 GPS. Bought it for $279. Weighs 5.6 oz. 5 year battery life (unused).
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