For all high tech electronic equipment including GPS, PLB, chargers, phones, computers, software. Discussion of simple electrical devices such as torches, belongs in the main 'Equipment' forum.
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 4:28 pm
What are everyones thoughts on this?
https://www.ja-gps.com.au/SPOT/spot-gen-3/Is it effective in Australia
Does anyone have one and know what the additional costs are for subscription?
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 4:33 pm
search the forum, its been discussed a fair bit in threads before. cheers
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 4:53 pm
For tracking - it's supposedly a good option.
For Emergency - get a PLB.
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Sun 15 Nov, 2015 5:27 pm
I have one and it's never failed in over 50 "OK" messages to phones, email and social media. I don't use the tracking to preserve the batteries.
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 5:28 pm
Hi.
As suggested, search the forum. For some it works a treat, for others they thought perhaps there was reliability of coverage issues, but I can't remember for sure.
If it is in ANY way being purchased for rescue capability, then buy a PLB instead. I'd only buy one if I already had a PLB and wanted the additional message home capability on top.
I bought the PLB1 RescueMe from Appleseed last week and it's tiny. A minor annoyance was a delay because they can't ship PLB without confirmation of your identity from the electoral roll or some such - they emailed me for confirmation, but it went to my junk and caused a 1 or so week delay before it was sorted out.
Best way to search this forum is in Google using "site:bushwalk.com" in the search string.
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 6:13 pm
I second the comments of GBW. I lost one message out of 100+ and that was from a very deep and steep sided valley with heavy tree cover. Decide what you want - keeping loved ones informed with rescue a lesser priority then the SPOT is a good option. Only want it for rescue then a plb.
I would comment that by having a well thought out messaging protocol you can do things with a SPOT like letting people know you are running late but OK and even get assistance for a vehicle breakdown - can't do that with a plb. Key thing is to make sure you follow the instructions and let it run for the required length of time in a a well chosen location.
Sun 15 Nov, 2015 7:58 pm
Look into InReach also if one is looking for two way text messaging. Otherwise for rescue calls, a current generation PLB is the go.
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