PLB choices.

Thanks George, I had forgotten about GME and if my memory is correct, they are an Australian company. I'll do a bit more looking.
bruce

have just updated my gme 410g,previous one 7 years old,battery was still ok

Yes, GME is an Aussie company right here in Sydney. The new MT610 is a good little unit.

Appears you are right about KTI discontinued in RTM link

Roar Tech Marine

I can back Stephen's comments regarding the Spot device, but if you choose it, be aware that annual satellite subscription may cost an arm and a leg.
I discovered an option to have an "occasional" activation with Spot. Basically, you pay for an annual access account, then have the option to set up your account so you only pay for satellite access for a period you choose. You can turn on and off this access on a monthly basis through your online account.

Frank, I had a SPOT, great little unit, but changed to Garmin Inreach due to the ability to pause the Garmin subscription if not needed. SPOT just seemed to raise the cost each year, and with an older unit even though it worked, support was not guaranteed.

X2

With my InReach I just keep it charged. It will last around 4 days. Never had an issue keeping it charged.

Had a Spot, had no issue keeping that charged either.

Seems to be a non issue.

I see your point, Jim. But I like to keep my Spot alive so it tracks - my family likes to see where I am and that I'm moving and alive. To do that I keep it plugged in to a USB, so the battery is always 100%.

But, yes, if you stuck it in the console or a backpack and forgot it, then there'd be issues. But then, if you're a half-aware outback traveller that'd be pretty unlikely, I would think.

Yep just keep it charged, I have my Inreach plugged into a USB charger and it is charged all the time. Did the same with my previous find me spot device but I had to make up a unit to replace the batteries in that one.

We also leave the unit active all the time, if you have an accident and can't activate the SOS beacon once others discover your missing they can track the unit which you can't do with a PLB that's not turned on.

All very valid points gents. The tracking that can be done these days, even with our ExplorOz program, really does make life much safer.
There's just so much "stuff" to keep charged, plugged in, and turned on, it makes my tired old head spin.
Stay safe.

Cheers
Jim

I agree 100%.

By way of example - all commercial aircraft have good communication devices but all also carry the aircraft version of a PLB - it is for when all else fails.

The same with commercial maritime vessels, all have good communication devices but also carry the maritime version of a PLB, the EPIRB for when all else fails.

So on land for your camping trips etc, by all means carry communication devices that you are happy with but for when all else fails also carry a PLB - cheap insurance for about $300.

For those who say I will keep my batteries charged in my communications device - yeah right until the one time you need to rely on the device and the batteries are flat or dont work - its called Murphy's Law.

By all means buy your satphone, Garmin In reach or Spot but also get a PLB.

Come on guys, a PLB you have to activate, according to your Murphy's Law when you need to activate it your not going to be in a position to do so. Planes, ships have lots of communications devices, a PLB would be the absolute last back up and it would activate automatically, if you going to use that theory then you should be carrying a couple of automatic PLB's if you don't have another form of reliable communication.

The technology in the inreach units and spot are as good as PLB, battery life on a turned off inreach unit, no idea but I imagine it is a long time. Chances of it not working when you need it are probably a lot less than a PLB. If your using it for messaging and tracking your testing it daily and know it's working, when was the last time you checked your PLB functioned, a week ago, month year? Is it still in the car or did you take it out and forget to put it back?

Personally I carry both, out of the two I prefer the inreach unit for added piece of mind, if we don't check in then relatives will know something is wrong, can't do that with a PLB. They can also check to see where we are, again can't do that with a PLB. We can also set off the beacon to let the authorities know we a stuck and where we are, we can also message them to let them know what our condition is before they respond. Much more versatile than a PLB.

If a problem was to arise though the first thing I would reach for is the HF radio, if no joy there then the Garmin would be the back up. If all that failed then I would dig out the PLB and hope it works.

Leigh,

This covers the point of my post…

“By all means research both to determine what suits you best, but understand the fundamental differences.” (PLB vs Communicator - they are not basically the same)

Sounds like you have all bases covered.

Baz - The Landy

Dont dispute any of that - great communication device but you are missing the point that a PLB is for "if all else fails".

Well said Leigh.

I had a friend who was doing a bike trip, carried both, a PLB and a SPOT.

The trouble is, when he had his accident, he was unconscious and not able to trigger his PLB.

Lucky for him, the first on sceen was an off duty nurse who organised the ambulance etc.

His wife who was monitoring his progress hit panic stations when he was stationary for over an hour on a dirt track. His wife then started making phone calls, not to find her husband was involved in an accident and in hospital.

This was a clear case of the SPOT being superior, as if the off duty nurse did not happen along, and his wife was not monitoring his progress, who knows how long it would have been before he was found.

Like we all know, you have to be able to physically activate a PLB, while with a SPOT, anyone following your progress can see exactly where you are.

Really don't like the idea of wife/family/ friends being put in the position of when to hit the panic button.
Your safety should in no way be their responsibility. They would be monitoring the unit every five minutes.
Dave.

.
So I decide to pop in to the Lions Den for a lemonade and next thing the Cavalry burst in the door on full alarm? No way thanks!
I didn't raise the Kids to be nursemaids.

The Lions Den is civilisation and they have a phone for you to ring and very different to a person riding a motorcycle off the beaten track.

I am referring to the point that if you were involved in an accident and unconscious, all the safety gear you carry is useless if you can not activate it.

A PLB will not show where you are if not activated.

A SPOT on the other hand will show where you are and if authorities need to try and find you, they will know exactly where you are and exactly how long since you have not moved.

When we were in Birdsville on one trip over 30 years ago, the RFDS came in at 1.30am and next morning was the local talk. I guy had rolled his Range Rover, the vehicle was still on its roof, the guy critically injured and it was 15 hours before anyone found the accident.

He had a HF radio, the antenna smashed with the accident and the guy unconscious. Even if PLB’s were around then, it would have been useless and the poor guy could not have activated it.

Over the life of these devices there are very significant cost differences. That cost difference increases the options available, IF you wish to spend the $$$s.
If you don't want to spend the $$$s, a PLB is the lowest cost option.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Stephen

As with many things in life, much of it is a compromise. No more so than when it comes to safety in the bush.

In the instance you highlight above you have tended to ‘cherry-pick’ to present a view that a Spot was superior to a PLB as the unconscious rider would have been unable to activate a PLB, but equally, he was unable to activate the SOS button on his Spot device. Neither was superior, either would have been useful if he was able to activate.

Thankfully the thing that saved him was a registered nurse who turned up at the scene.

Tracking provided by a Spot device for Search and Rescue (SAR) purposes, whilst useful, has many flaws and without going into or debating them, it is worth highlighting that fact.

Alan, in his post, highlights two of the more obvious ones.

I go back to my original post, which was too highlight, PLBs and Communicator devices have some important differences and should not be considered ‘basically’ the same.

By all means, research what best suits your own personal situation, preferences and risk tolerances and accept they will all have limitations.

Above all else, never fear pressing the emergency button if you believe you are in imminent danger…

And accept that sometimes, like your friend, that your only saviour might be a dose of good luck…

Baz - The Landy

.
Hi Stephen,

Some may argue with you about the Lions Den being "civilisation". lol
And yes, you are right, PLB's, HF radio, phones etc. are only effective if manually activated.
But I still do not wish to place my family or friends in a position of being a watch-keeper over my movements and having to somehow signal them every time I paused moving.
One of the things I love about being 'remote' is the very isolation, the feeling of being alone in the world. I'm very sure you understand that emotion. So I accept the risk of not having someone watch over me or the need to constantly report my activity. Lifestyle brings with it risks, and I am prepared to accept that. If it means that I perish in The Bush then so be it, there is no better place for it to happen. lol

If a SPOT device brings a person needed comfort then so be it for him, but it is not for everybody.

Just do a search of the net for person missing in the outback and see how many hits come up, if each of those persons had a tracker they would not be missing.

My family are not my nurse maids, they are not instructed to check as daily. If we go remote we send a message when we arrive at a camp for the night if we remember to. If we are staying there a few days then we include details.

Some of our friends enjoy following our travels, they also know where we are and can meet up with us and visa versa if they happen to be travelling through the same area.

If they haven't heard from us or we haven't moved for a few days they were to suspect there is a problem then they can send us a text message asking if we are ok, same if they need to contact us urgently. We always have the Garmin on but hardly ever turn on the sat phone. If one is camped up and people aren't expecting you to be travelling daily and something was to happen then yes a tracker is of no advantage,
no one will come looking until they think there is a problem, but at least when someone does start worrying they know where to tell the authorities where to look!

Same other way around, if the authorities are trying to find you which happens when station staff etc report someone has gone missing or you are over due after filling in a log book somewhere.

We used to listen to the VKS scheds every day for messages etc, now we listen when we remember to as others can text us anytime they need to. We need a weather report we can get one straight away. We don't need a sat phone plan so we can keep the sat phone turned on, if someone needs to talk to us they can either send us a message to call them on the HF or Sat phone, we then just swap the SIM out of the mobile into the sat phone and call them, yes rates are expensive but we haven't needed to us it yet.

But yes we do also carry a PLB, have never used it a suspect I never will.

.
I have family, some quite close by. We communicate regularly, but sometimes not for a week or two.

If I was to die at home in my bed, neither they nor anyone may know for a time.
So what is the difference to being in the Bush?

Modern communication systems have certainly changed society's personal behaviour!
We all respond to available systems in very different ways, don't we?

True.

We went for the tracker for piece of mind it gives to family rather than making them responsible for pulling the pin as you put it. They know the type of travelling we do is not without risks, they can bring up our location and check on us whenever they feel like it. Same if I jump on the bike and go for a ride around town, other half can monitor where I am and what I'm up to, or I can text her to come get me.

Difference to dying in bed is you might be injured and in pain trapped under a car for long period of time! I was a pilot at one time, we submitted flight plans and search and rescue info for each flight, if you hadn't arrived by a certain time then they would start a search and rescue operation, it is just common sense. I see this as no different to the way we use our tracker, if we travelling and then suddenly stop with no communication then family will suspect something is amiss. People watching quickly learn your travel habits and know when something is not right. Yes it could result in a false call out but no different than pressing the button on a PLB, some will say they pressed it when they didn't need to others will say they did the right thing.

Leigh

No intention to ‘cross swords’ with you as clearly we are in broad agreement that if travelling remotely have some form of communication or device that communicates the message that help or assistance is needed…

However, you’ve stated…

“People watching quickly learn your travel habits and know when something is not right. Yes it could result in a false call out but no different than pressing the button on a PLB”

I’ll challenge that, and highlighting it was the point I was making in my original post.

Activating a PLB is very different to having someone tracking your Spot Tracker and notifying concerns to authorities that based on Tracking information you ‘may’ have a problem.

The PLB sends a very concise message (help) to the AMSA who are mandated to commence a SAR operation in the absence of any information that indicate an inadvertent activation.

Regarding Airservices Australia and SAR Watch…

I recall lodging a SAR Watch for arrival at Burketown via flight planning. On arrival I cancelled SAR Burketown only to told they were holding SAR for arrival Bourke, a couple of thousand miles south (lucky I arrived safely, hey!).

The frailty of human intervention has always had its problems…

After that I usually filed IFR, at least they had a better idea of where I was…

Good luck out there…

Baz - The Landy

.
It occurs to me that perhaps a good way to 'keep an eye' on a traveller via a SPOT device is to couple it with a satphone constantly powered and connected.
If then the monitoring suggested a lack of progress, a voice call or message could be initiated to the traveller to check on their safety thus avoiding raising an inappropriate emergency alarm. If no response to the call then it adds import to raising an emergency report.

This scheme of course requires the subscription costs of both a SPOT and a satphone and it seems that often the users of SPOT do so to avoid satphone charges. However, my view is that these costs pale into insignificance when compared to other vehicle costs such as fuel.

Allan,

That's exactly how we use the Garmin except a sat phone is not required. The Garmin is a two way device, as well as being a tracker it is also capable of sending and receiving text messages via the satellite. As I wrote if someone watching the tracking becomes concerned they can send a text message to the tracker via the satellite. The unit then beeps to indicate a text message has arrived and can be replied to via the Garmin unit. If the unit is in range of my mobile phone, text messages can also be sent and received on the mobile phone via the Garmin and the satellite. We do also carry a sat phone.

There has been only brief mention of the InReach’s use to receive messages, but that was an important consideration for us. With elderly relatives somewhat dependent on us we need to be contactable even when camped in remote locations for a week or more at a time - they text us from a phone and we get the msg next time we turn it on, usually a couple of times a day. This sort of device also covers those situations where you may be stuck but not in real danger, and can be used to ask for a tow, a tyre or a new radiator, when you might feel that calling for a helicopter is a bit over the top. Mostly though, we just use it to keep in contact with family.

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Nifty, I can understand where you are coming from. However in my case it was a satphone that provided.
My satphone was cradled on the roll bar and connected to 12v and to an external antenna so it was always operational.
We were halfway across the Anne Beadell Hwy when a call came from family at a hospital to inform that my dear sister was in her final moments of life. Although she could not speak she could hear my expressions and family members said that she acknowledged with gladness.
No other device could have served and those few minutes continue to justify any expenses of my having a satphone.

My family aren't my nursemaids either.. I give them more credit than that. They look at where I am from time to time. We have a plan if anything happens, and I know they will just execute the plan if required. Unlike a PLB, if I get into trouble 99% of the time I will be assisted by family or people I know. Even if its serious.. If life threatening, yes, I will also push the red button.

I can usually hang out where I am for days waiting if required.

99% of the time I will not have to use public resources.

A PLB is still a great extra to have alongside all the other trackers and phones with a SOS feature.

I come across this one.. PLB and a sat phone.. Lucky for the sat phone and the police/ambulance had gone the wrong way, we were able to turn them around.

Just around Docker River

Baz said earlier: "For sure, you can have a family member or friend to monitor movements provided by a communication device, personally I’d prefer to rely on someone whose sole purpose is to monitor PLB activations and are professionally trained to do so."

And professionals are on duty 24/365 monitoring. The friend/relative monitoring your SPOT or similar could have their own local emergency. Then they may be too preoccupied, or simply unable, to monitor you. And you'll be in the same position as a PLB owner: you'll have to activate the SOS call yourself.

I've personally opted for a PLB, and I've been carrying them for years. For various reasons I've stayed with them.

Anyone who buys a PLB should perform an initial self test of the unit as soon as possible. (And, of course, follow the specified test schedule for the life of the unit.) Below is a screenshot of a review I left on a retailer's website, detailing my experience a few months ago.

The PLB I initially purchased (twice) was the ACR rescueME PLB1. I ended up buying and keeping an ACR ResQLink 400.

The friend can pickup if something is wrong if you don't activate the emergency button which can't happen with a PLB. The SPOT and Garmin devices also have an SOS button which performs the same function as activating a PLB:

"During an emergency, you can request help by using the SOS function to contact GEOS, the Garmin-powered International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC)."

What happens next:

"The Garmin IERCC notifies the appropriate emergency responders of your location and situation. You can continue to communicate via text with them during your emergency while you wait for help to arrive."