I hunt in really remote areas by myself and I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts or experiences with various PLBs on the market.
I don't use PLBs but this season my wife will be able to track me online with my phone. The idea certainly has it's merritts.
I'm ex military and have used military PLBs extensively. I've always felt safer with them. I have used them and can't describe the warm fuzzy feeling when you hear the beating rotors of a help coming for you. However, I have no experience with the civilian models so hopefully I can gain some insight from hunters who have used them. From what I read the SPOT PLB is mediocre and the ACR is the way to go. But again, that is just what I read on the net. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
SPOT is not a PLB, it is a messaging service and is dependent on satellite coverage which is, as yet, not as reliable as the SARSAT system that PLB's use. PLB's are a last ditch resort and as such I tend to steer people away from them so that they don't become reliant on someone else to fix the mess they got themselves into. If you understand that and plan accordingly then my experience as a marine safety instructor and extreme hunter using both systems here in AK tells me that the 406 EPIRB / PLB is much superior to the SPOT service for remote locations, and face it, if you're not in a remote location, why do you even need it? If you want to send messages to your friends to update them on your progress and can go a day or two without being able to get a signal then either the SPOT satellite service or Facebook on your cell phone will work fine. If you want someone to come get your busted ass off the backside of a mountain in the middle of nowhere get a true 406 Mhz PLB like the ACR.
KodiakArcher we might have crossed paths. I did all my cold weather packages at our compound in Kodiak (not the Coast Guard base). Ever been to the End of the Road? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If you mean the end of the road at Spruce Cape then yes, I've shot in the boathouse out there with a rather unassuming guy named Joe that used to come in the gun/bowshop and visit. If you mean Road's End then yes, I've had a beer and a burger or two out there on the way out to hunt or fish in Chiniak but they closed down a few years back.
Yep...that's it...Roads End. Like the burgers there. What the name of the bar in town across from the piers and coffee shop? I spent way too much time in that place. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
