$37 a year PLBs! Why do people keep vanishing without one...?!

[JohnnyC]

I have the ACR ResQLink, the original in the series, 2880. It's neither waterproof nor buoyant. It will survive 10m for 10 minutes, or 5m for an hour. Thus I do not take it underwater. However the service life is getting close to being done, so I think for my next I will pick up one of these mini jobbers and start bringing it when I'm in open water.

 

[hroark2112]

I've got the Nautilus Lifeline for diving. If I disappear on dry land, I'm dead. Call kim, she will give you a great deal in my gear.

 

[DandyDon]

I've got the Nautilus Lifeline for diving. If I disappear on dry land, I'm dead. Call kim, she will give you a great deal in my gear.

So get a PLB for your wife's car.

 

[Scared Silly]

I need to check my PLB registration as I don't remember how many years I've had it - 2 or 3, and my old one is only good for 5. It may be coming up on time to replace it?

Typically it is just the battery that needs to be replaced not the whole unit.

 

[Diver0001]

Why doesn't everyone carry one?

I made my first 2 world trips without internet, without the cellphone and I was off the grid for 6-9 months at a time. My only communication back to "Earth" were weekly postcards to my parents so they would know I was still alive and so they didn't die of worry while I was traveling.

I did phone them once from some postoffice in Botswana in 1991. It was a satellite connection and we had to say "over" when we were finished talking because the signal took 5 seconds to get to the other side. I wish now that I had said something more profound and meaningful than "can you do something for me". They're both still alive and now *they* are the world travelers who call me (yes, I'm proud of them) but at that time it was unique for someone from our family to travel from the middle of nowhere (where I grew up) to the the middle of nowhere (in rural Africa). I should have said something more along the lines of "one small step".....

I've had a lot of adventures in my life and a few that were really on the edge. I am the man I am today because I didn't have an "escape" and I had to MacGyver my way out of all kinds of situations. You find your true strength like that. You find your voice like that. I'll admit I've never been in a life and death situation where being found was the only option but I've been in a number of life and death situations (particularly with respect to animal encounters, which is saying no small thing if you know my background) where having an "eject" button wouldn't have helped other than with locating my remains.

R..

 

[Hawkwood]

My son uses a SPOT when he is quadding in the back country.

You can use that to "check in" regularly. It also shows the location when checking in via lat/long and a Google Earth image. Sends it via text message and email.

If there is no "check in" and he well past overdue, we can contact the authorities.

If there is a "problem", he can send a different message that he needs assistance and we can decide how to proceed.

If there is a true "emergency" he can sent the distress signal which is sent to the GOES Rescue Coordination Centre.

 

[DandyDon]

Well, they found the body I mentioned above: Missing ex-White House chef's body found in New Mexico - CNNPolitics.com

Typically it is just the battery that needs to be replaced not the whole unit.

Yeah, if the unit is still in good working order after 5 years of carrying it everywhere - but while costs vary and may be different by then, the battery service cost is more than half what the unit cost me. For a few dollars more, I might want a new unit with new warranty, etc? My current thought is to change brands & models, but I have a few years. We'll see what is available at the end of 2017...?

I made my first 2 world trips without internet, without the cellphone and I was off the grid for 6-9 months at a time. My only communication back to "Earth" were weekly postcards to my parents so they would know I was still alive and so they didn't die of worry while I was traveling.

Yep, then. Now is now. Times have changed. While much of the world's population is still worried about clean water and sanitation, etc. - my thoughts were along the lines of the developed countries with current securities and disposable incomes.

My son uses a SPOT when he is quadding in the back country.

You can use that to "check in" regularly. It also shows the location when checking in via lat/long and a Google Earth image. Sends it via text message and email.

If there is no "check in" and he well past overdue, we can contact the authorities.

If there is a "problem", he can send a different message that he needs assistance and we can decide how to proceed.

If there is a true "emergency" he can sent the distress signal which is sent to the GOES Rescue Coordination Centre.

What do those cost over the life of the unit? Why don't you carry one?

 

[tridacna]

This guy moved to New Mexico and is an avid hiker, but now missing over a week. Former White House chef missing for more than a week - CNNPolitics.com

Turns out that he had a working cell phone. They located him by triangulating his signal. What's your point?

 

[DandyDon]

Turns out that he had a working cell phone. They located him by triangulating his signal. What's your point?

I'll speak slowly...

No, they located the mountain: "Investigators have been searching the area but the treacherous terrain and deep canyons have been interfering with their efforts, according to the release." It still took over a week to find him. Really, this supports why depending on your cell phone - as so many do - fails.

 

[tridacna]

I'll speak slower. Did they establish a cause of death yet? If he slipped and knocked himself out, how would a PLB have helped? You also don't know whether he had a cell signal either. OTOH (thanks to your previous advice)I do carry a PLB when I hike. I just hate assumptions in accident reporting.