Personal locator beacons

[emc]

I know none of us (hopefully anyway) don't go way into the hills, without at least compass, maps and GPS equipment whether mobile phone or a Garmin or similar.

If you're off into far-off remote areas,especially alone does anyone carry a Personal Locator Beacon in case of a really serious or life threatening mishap.

If you do, what?

[Bobfly]

The Viewranger mapping/GPS programme incorporates a Buddy Beacon feature which might suit you as an all-in system. Needs to be twinned up with a buddy who will then know your location when you are out.

[Part-time]

Caorach is your man for PLB's; I remember his thread from last year http://www.wildfisher.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=29389.0

I don't use a PLB but I do use a Spot Tracker, mainly at work for lone working but do sneak it away to the hills now and again for a bit of fishing. It's not a PLB, as I learned from the thread last year. A proper PLB is pretty much guaranteed to get an emergency signal to the emergency services. A spot tracker isn't as certain in this regard, however, it does let you check in with family/friends to let them know you are OK and your location. If you leave it tracking all the time and you don't checkin someone has a fair idea where you are which is good if for some reason you can't send an emergency signal, say if you are unconscious. Using them at work I've not had any problem with a checkin signal getting through. Spot are now making a tracker with two way texts which sounds pretty good. 

[caorach]

First of all I should say that I strongly recommend against a PLB, at least until I get some evidence that the person concerned has some common sense :-) Clearly you've got it all sussed in every other respect and so I will confess that I think PLBs are a fantastic idea and that they are a worthwhile investment. There's way too much of the "I sometimes walk down my back garden, should I get a PLB in case I run out of pizza?"

They have to be certified and so in terms of the critical functionality there isn't much between them simply because they all have to meet the same basic requirements, for what it is worth I have a McMurdo Fastfind 220. It is small, light, well designed and easy to operate but as stated it is basically the same as any other PLB. It has a 6 year battery life but a replacement battery is very costly indeed, more than half the cost of the unit, so after 6 years I suspect I will just be having a new one.

The coastguard/MRT seem to unofficially like people to have a PLB because it removes the search phase from many rescues and the search bit can be the long and resource hungry bit. If you suffer some sort of event that puts your lights right out then you'll not be too worried that it takes them a week to find the body but if you are lying in the rain with a broken leg and someone was to say "Give me £200 and I'll reduce the rescue time from two days to 25 minutes" then you would take that deal. So my thinking went along those lines.

I am out alone on the hill probably 100 days per year so I considered things like the SPOT device which has the advantage of sending messages to selected friends and family etc. In the end I decided that as the PLB was a device of last resort that was certified to work it was the one to go with if you wanted to save yourself in a really serious situation. The other devices all had a patchy reputation for reliability and, really, being able to message people is what they were selling on and not on the basis that they were designed to give the absolute highest chance of getting a message out in an emergency.

[emc]

That's all helpful - thanks.

A PLB would be dual purpose. I'm going to be sailing the West Coast and Islands and will get the opportunity get ashore and wet a line in places that aren't really very accessible otherwise. In addition I quite like the thought that someone competent might know where I am if I leave the boat involuntarily, always assuming that I am conscious of course.

I'll have a read of last years thread!