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[azblackbird]

I seem to recall Spot sold insurance policies that would pay you for rescue expenses twice a year, if needed? Does the Epirb company do this? An emergency rescue must cost a small fortune I should think and could break your bank account?

 

Here in AZ you are not charged for a legitimate rescue. Search and rescues are part of your tax dollars. We do have a "stupid motorist law" in which you can be charged for a rescue if you drive around any barricades and into a raging river during our monsoon season. Believe me... every time it rains more than a couple inches, there's always some bozo that thinks his high lift 4WD is immune to the forces of flowing water, so they disregard the warnings and end up getting swept away down stream several hundred yards and slammed into a tree. It happens every time we get a good rain.

 

The GEOS insurance with the SPOT is for anything above and beyond a normal rescue. I carry it just because it's cheap and where I prospect I want to make sure somebody (whether LEO or private party) can come and get me.  99.9% of the time, if I were to get into any kind of serious trouble, usually a helicopter could easily come and pluck me out. It's that other .01% where a private party on horseback or ATV may have to be called in to come and get me that I want covered by insurance.

[vanursepaul]

i kinda like the sound of that satphone.....

 

I will do a little research on it..

 

Thx Norvic

[Shasta gold hunter]

Here in Redding CA my family can make a family donation to Reach air rescue ambulance. It was real reasonable 100-150 for the year....any helicopter rescue in the state is $10.00 if you've donated and carry their card. Matt

[Gold Hound]

i kinda like the sound of that satphone.....

 

I will do a little research on it..

 

Thx Norvic

Mine is exactly the same model as Vic's.

When I bought mine Inmarsat was the only carrier that had a prepay option rather than having either a expensive monthly contract or disconnection and reconnecting fee's.

I'm happy with my sat phone, its saved me alot of time and headaches.

[Norvic]

I got the name wrong the sat company is Inmarsat but the phone is the Isatphone Pro, not Inmarsat Pro . But Dale knew what I was on about, Another Senior moment for me vanursepaul and it`s international so you`ll get it over there.

It is on my belt whenever I`m detecting, it`ll drop off one day and become a artefact from the Electronic Rush era.   Inmarsat don`t give us the good deal they did at first, pre-paid credit was for 2 years. Now think it`s down to 6 months unless you fork out many 100`s.

[Gold Seeker]

AJR and Wes, I don't blame you for being skeptical per a 406 EPIRB reception in canyon areas. Do I have personal knowledge that they work great every where but underground? No I do not. Did I do research before spending my dollars on an EPIRB? That's a big yes. Most things in life don't work at 100% efficiency 100% of the time. My research tells me that in a life and death situation the 406 EPIRB offers the best chance of me being able to contact emergency services.

I am not trying to start a pissing match with SPOT owners but 5 years ago when I did my research, the internet was rife with complaints of poor to no reception in many places by spot owners. I could not find one instance of some one setting off their 406 EPIRB and emergency help not arriving. Do some research yourself, your mileage may vary, after all mine is 5 years stale.

The other advantage of an EPIRB is no monthly subscription fee. Once you buy it all you pay for is battery replacement ( every 5 years on my model). Of course you can not chat up your family and friends with one, that honor belongs to the SPOT.

Whatever option you decide on make sure you take it with you, doesn't work if setting on your work bench at home. Mine lives permanently in my prospecting back pack. I convinced my brother to get one and he used the holster to mount it on his suspenders.

 

Merton

 

 Goldbrick,

 

 I feel it's worth mentioning that from the research I have done and from reading reviews the cost of the battery replacement is around $150, another fact that needs mentioning for someone who has a much older EPIRB is that the units that use 121.5MHz and 243MHZ are no longer satellite detectable and these persons should buy a newer model that uses the 406MHz .

[Gold Seeker]

Goldbrick,

 

I seem to recall Spot sold insurance policies that would pay you for rescue expenses twice a year, if needed? Does the Epirb company do this? An emergency rescue must cost a small fortune I should think and could break your bank account?

 

-Tom

 

 This is from ResQLink website under F&Q..

 

"Q: Is there a subscription fee for beacon registration or rescue service?

Beacon registration is free, should you ever have to activate your beacon, rescue is free in most parts of the world.

- See more at: https://www.acrartex.com/products/catalog/personal-locator-beacons/resqlink-plb/#sthash.W06PA3By.CKCZyAg0.dpuf"

[Featherdfishead]

Told the wife about this thread and of course she said i better get me a locator this summer since she knows i'll be hiting it harder than ever with my new SDC. I plan on climbing into some pretty hairy waterfalls that historically produced allot of gold and to my knowledge were impossible to dredge. A friend and his partner climbed into one such fall and pulled out 3 Oz's in the late 70's. Looks like i'll be getn one in the next month or so.

Thanks for all the good info everyone.

AjR

[fredmason]

I listened to part of an interview with a couple that were sailing around the world with their infant and other children. They had a satellite phone. Just after a call to the Coast Guard the phone went dead. When they sorted the problem out (after getting home), The Sat-co had changed sim cards and MAILED the replacement to their address...pretty stupid - and could have cost them their lives.

 

fred