Personal Locator Beacons?

[Danh]

I use the ACR PLB I have it mounted right close by easy to grab if I need it.
It's solid and had great reviews

[BobRS]

We use a SPOT. Purchased it from REI. SPOT has (almost) worldwide coverage and is of course small and convenient. Just for a point of reference, we took a trip to the Galapagos where is is NO internet or phone service on the ships that transport you from island to island. I programmed the service to email/text our locations to friends and family back in the States and they were able to track us for 2 weeks. It works great! The SPOT flys with us in the Skylane tooling around the sparse areas of New Mexico.

BobRS
Building SS7 - Tri gear
Rotax 914 Turbo

[Av8r3400]

The guys on Back Country Pilots are claiming that the SPOT coverage in the western mountain states, Canada and much of Alaska is pretty spotty [sic] at best.

I don't have one, so I can't say. I was looking pretty closely at getting an InReach unit due to the better reviews it was getting in the mountainous regions. I haven't pulled the trigger, yet.

[SkySteve]

I am an active member of the BackCountryPilots site. I have used my SPOT II on several trips to the Idaho Wilderness mountains, Utah's mountains, SE Utah Canyonlands and Utah's West Desert. My SPOT II has always worked. Personal experience. As I have said before, there may be better PLBs and there may be worse. But get one and use it, please. And set up a good network of people who will watch your SPOT webpage, receive automated texts and emails and will commit to come and get you if they receive the "Help" message or the SOS message. My SPOT is programed to send out a message every time I take off: "Taking Off. All OK". When I land: "Landed. All OK". If I need help: "Need help". If I crash and need the Calvary "SOS". Each message includes Lat/Long coordinates and a link to my SPOT web page.

[aviator79]

Reviving an old thread here...

My SPOT GEN3 contract is about to renew, and it has gotten more expensive as time has gone by. I'm now paying $225/yr. New activations cost ~$150/yr. I'm going to call them today to see if I can get the current pricing, but my best alternative to a negotiated agreement is to cancel the service. That would put me in the market for a new PLB/satellite communicator - activating a new SPOT to get the better pricing, or switching to inReach.

The Spot X service costs the same as the GEN3 and gets you two-way messaging, which would be great, but reviews indicate the SPOT X is buggy. It also has a much weaker transmitter, and uses an inferior satellite network. There are a few anecdotes out there of people being left high and dry by their SPOT service. InReach seems to be a decidedly superior product, but it's priced accordingly. The devices are much more expensive, and the plans are pricier as well. The Flex plans (also available with SPOT) could mitigate the cost somewhat, but most months of the year, I'll be flying at least one trip where I would like the peace of mind of a PLB, and knowing my luck, the one time I really need it, I'll have forgotten to un-suspend the service.

What are you all doing these days for PLB/Sat communications?

[PapuaPilot]

I'm in the same position as you. I currently use a SPOT Gen. 3. and mine just renewed for $225. It works fine, but I have seriously thought about going to the Garmin InReach. The annual costs are about the same. I would really like the ability to do more than a few canned messages.

I'm curious what others are doing too.

FYI I got my SPOT Gen. 3 during a 50% off sale ($75) a couple years ago. If anybody hears about any deals for the InReach or SPOT X let us know.

[aviator79]

Just FYI, I called and asked for the new pricing. They told me no, so I asked them to cancel it. All of a sudden, they were able to move me to the new pricing, but with a $20 activation fee. I said thanks, but I already paid an activation fee when I activated it the first time. They said they had to charge the activation fee because the only way to get the new pricing is to cancel and reactivate, but they would refund the activation fee to my credit card. So I extended a year at the better pricing. I really was ready to make the move to InReach because the better pricing would have paid for the new receiver in a couple years. Sticking with the SPOT allows me to kick the can of buying a new unit down the road a year, and so far, I haven't had any issues with SPOT tracking or messaging.

For others looking at this thread: If I didn't already have a SPOT, and were buying a new unit, I'd get an InReach mini. I don't care about two-way messaging with family/friends/facebook, but in a contingency scenario, I see a lot of value in being able to communicate with people to coordinate the help you need. When this contract term is up, assuming there haven't been other pricing changes, I'll probably switch to an InReach.

Edit: Regarding finding a deal on InReach or Spot X. If you are patient, it looks like you can pick up a preowned InReach mini for $250 on fleabay. After reading reviews for the SPOT X, I would not buy one at any price.
https://www.rei.com/product/139231/s...lite-messenger
https://www.amazon.com/Spot-X-2-Way-...pe=all_reviews

[Av8r_Sed]

I'm on the Garmin InReach Freedom Safety Plan. It's about $16 a month plus an annual charge of $25. Comes out pretty close to your Spot pricing.

[GuppyWN]

I read a couple of stories about Spot not being there when it was needed. I switched to inReach and am very happy with it. Plus, Garmin just introduced the ability to slide up and down plans with no additional charge so I can up it during the summer flying season and downgrade in the winter.