Personal Locator Beacon vs Spot and others

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I'm going to end up with both. My wife demands that I carry a SPOT, which is a very small concession, considering where she lets me go and what she lets me do, but I need to buy a PLB for use in a last resort rescue situation. I'll keep the SPOT for causally checking in and leaving bread crumbs. The SPOT is really great for keeping friends and family pacified.
 
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Yes, the Spot does have it's place. It's great as a communicator to reassure family and friends if you are out on your own.

If I was in a real, life threatening danger, however, I'd want the ACR hands down.
 
I do love the PLB concept, but sheesh, that's a pretty biased pretend "review"
 
I flew from Calgary to India last year twice in a twin turbo prop. I carried my SPOT, and the ferry pilot with me carried a SPOT. Of course we had a 406 mhz ELT on board. I'd take a SPOT any day. I will be upgrading to the SPOT Connect as soon as money allows. The SPOT has a direct push for emergency button, that will go to all authorities and SAR. It is satellite covered and provides very accurate information.
I've used it with my ATV on Vancouver Island, and the locations are very accurate.
I also used my SPOT in India to send check in messages. It was so good, that within 30 seconds of transmitting from northern india, I was receiving blackberry instant messages of confirmation from flight ops in Calgary.
I'd stake my life on a SPOT,
 
I guess this sort of illustrates my concern with Spot. You have and love the Spot, but for a life threatening incident you have a 406 mhz PLB.

If you just had one of them in the plane, would you stake your life on the Spot or the 406 mhz FCC, COSPAS-SARSAT, RTTE certified PLB?

Spot has carved out a good niche for giving people peace of mind, but for a real emergency I think people should have a 406 mhz PLB. There have been too many reported cases of dropped messages with Spot.

On websites like REI the Spot is not even listed as a PLB. It's just a "messenger".

cruiserpilot said:
I flew from Calgary to India last year twice in a twin turbo prop. I carried my SPOT, and the ferry pilot with me carried a SPOT. Of course we had a 406 mhz ELT on board. I'd take a SPOT any day. I will be upgrading to the SPOT Connect as soon as money allows. The SPOT has a direct push for emergency button, that will go to all authorities and SAR. It is satellite covered and provides very accurate information.
I've used it with my ATV on Vancouver Island, and the locations are very accurate.
I also used my SPOT in India to send check in messages. It was so good, that within 30 seconds of transmitting from northern india, I was receiving blackberry instant messages of confirmation from flight ops in Calgary.
I'd stake my life on a SPOT,
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patrickfinley said:
If you just had one of them in the plane, would you stake your life on the Spot or the 406 mhz FCC, COSPAS-SARSAT, RTTE certified PLB?
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While 406 is supported by SARSAT due to the satellite network configuration there are blind spots for it outside of the mid-latitudes. (E.g. North side of a mountain in the northern hemisphere). Then you are limited to a maximum 6 times a day polar orbit overflight. 406 also can't be DFed by ground search teams as well.

SPOT does have an advantage of having GPS coordinates broadcast to the GlobalStar spacecraft using a small L-band patch antenna.

Personally when I am airborne I have both my sport with me (and tracking) and the aircraft's ELT. When I flew in Alaska with my uncle we both had SPOTs, the ELT, and and Iridium phone.

Both systems have their strengths and weaknesses.
 
First off, it is illegal to fly any airplane without a ELT on board. As a pilot fo 30 yrs, I've spent alot of time talking to ATC trying to locate an ELT as it chimes away on the ground. If an airplane goes into the North Atlantic, the ELT will sink with the plane. They don't work under water bolted to an airplane.

I have never had a lost message from a SPOT. This isn't a yuppie niche market, it's a verifiable piece of equipment.
Having the ability to call in SAR is great, but you better need it. A SPOT Connect is a fairly versatile unit.
FYI, SPOT wil provide an insurance carrier for within the lower 48 of up to $$$ recovery costs for a search and rescue. I don't recall the exact amount.

These are two completely separate pieces of equipment.
 
I did a lot of research before choosing the ACR beacon. The Spot is definitely a different tool. I used to fly a helicopter in search and location/rescue operations and would not trust my life to either, but I think the ACR is more reliable. The Spot would definitely get more day to day use, but here's how I set up my PLB to mitigate some of the differences. It has 3 buttons, the "red" button, self-test, and GPS self test. Red button is self explanatory. Through (I think) 406link I have set up 5 contacts to receive emails and text messages when my PLB performs a self test. The self-test button sends a short predetermined text to those 5 folks. The GPS test sends the same text with coordinates and a map attached of my exact location. I have it set up with these 5 peeps so if they get the message with no map it means I'm ok, I'll just be late(a day or two). If the map is there it means I'm ok, but need nonemergency help (broken ankle, 15 miles from the car, plenty of food and water). So, I get the reliability of the sarsat system with some of the convenience of the spot. My .02
 
What's awesome about SPOT is that you turn it on, push one button, and it continually drops your location on a map every 10 minutes. Your share the map URL with family and friends and they can see where you are in near-real-time. What sucks about SPOT is that its a pricey subscription service, but for me the benefits vastly out weigh the cost.

I'm seriously considering buying one the PLB's that's made to fit in a waterproof tube for scuba diving.
 
I stayed away from the spot just because I read many reviews where it couldn't get a signal out. Like in a deep canyon, thick foliage, etc. Any real world experience here? I'd love to hear that they are flawless. I'd get one in a minute. Much more useful day to day, but maybe not really for a life or death situation, I would think. One of the first things I did with my ACR beacon was drive my dirt bike to the most remote and topographically challenged location I could find. Probably 15-20 miles from the nearest road, very deep canyon with thick trees all around. Couldn't see but a few specks of the sky. Certainly no cell or other reception. Did a gps test. The message was sent immediately and had my exact location. The attached map was also surprisingly accurate. Showed the very trees I was under. Pretty sweet, and definitely adds a sense of security.
 
1407driver said:
I stayed away from the spot just because I read many reviews where it couldn't get a signal out. Like in a deep canyon, thick foliage, etc. Any real world experience here? I'd love to hear that they are flawless...
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I've used Spot in the US and in Oz. Obviously in the Oz bush there is a pretty clear view of the sky :)

But here in the US, I've used it in what I consider pretty dense cover and have not had a single message NOT get out. I'm very impressed.

It reliably sent a fix from this area:

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I'm sure any unit will have communication problems in various worst case situations. I'm a big believer in trying to not rely on a single device or piece of equipment.

cheers,
george.
 
PEIPS the avalanche transceiver company has a new 406 PLB coming on the market this summer that has two way text communication (?) VIA the Iridium Satalite Phone constellation. I think it's going to be a slick set-up.
 
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