Do you bring a Sat phone/SPOT etc?

[Racethesunset]

One of the main benefits of hunting wilderness to me is to disconnect from the business of life and work. I also am not a fan of creating a scenario with pressure to "check in" by a certain time, or having the very tool that is to create peace of mind at home actually create anxiety because I miss a check in or the message fails to send.

^ This.

The beacon or spot is probably the best route for weekend / weekly warrior purposes.

If I worked full time in the hunting industry or guiding wilderness hunts, a satellite phone would be a no-brainier.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

I just bought a SAT phone this year. Big investment but I think I will be nice to have and I'm solo most of the time.

I got the iridium extreme 9575

 

[robby denning]

I always have a SPOT on me. Good investment.

 

[Kotaman]

DeLorme In Reach Iphone edition for me as well. Wished they would've come out with the new unit a year earlier!

 

[Aron Snyder]

These also help with divorce rate (I've had two already) and my current, and hopefully last wife really likes knowing I'm not dead....

 

[Darren Best]

My step mother rode on the back of a mule 20 miles into the wilderness, got off the mule, slipped, fell and broke her humerus. Set it herself, got back on the mule and rode the same 20 miles back out to the emergency room.

A InReach, Sat phone or SPOT would of saved her the misery of the ride out. Not to mention the risk of ripping the artery in her arm with the broken bone. Her and my dad have a SPOT now.

 

[bigeasygator]

These also help with divorce rate (I've had two already) and my current, and hopefully last wife really likes knowing I'm not dead....

This is half of the reason I got my InReach haha I'm not married, but the gf was none too happy when I told her I'd be headed into an area without cell coverage for potentially a week. If a few text messages a day is all it takes to ensure that I don't have to get in a fight before the next trip I'm taking, I'll gladly do it!!

 

[actionshooter]

I've seen one airlift out of the Idaho wilderness where a SPOT was used. I don't know if the guy would have died without it, but I would say he was glad he spent the money.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

I started out with a Spot for solo Big Horn hunting trips, it worked well for 4 or 5 years then crapped out half way through last season. I had no idea that it had quit sending the check in signals. By the time I realized it wasn't working my wife was ready to send in search and rescue ( a couple of days, ya I know what was she waiting for). When I contacted Spot they replaced my unit with the smaller Spot II at no cost with one year free subscription. I'm thinking of up grading to the Inreach for this fall, I think that two way texting would be nice on days that you are fogged into your tent for hours or days at a time.

 

[2rocky]

We have had Sat phone and a Spot in elk camp.

The Sat phone has called in an airlift rescue in 2006. The Spot was more for reassurance for family. If I could only have one the Sat phone would win. I've rented them a week trip and never unpacked it.

I can rent a phone for 7 days for $84 or buy one for ~~$1200 . The break even on that is 14 weeks of use.

 

[Jeff Martin]

I use MCMurdo PLB Beacon. I never liked the idea of paying a yearly subscription like SPOT and not knowing the service on the other end when you need them.

Being in Enterprise IT, I have seen first hand how outsourcing, cheap labor, low skilled workers, Tier 1 support can look like.

To be clear, I do not know how it works, or the quality of the people on the other end of the line, but without knowing, I didnt want to take the chance. I know what they tell you....but what is the 3rd party operation really like? With a Beacon, you get NOAA rather than a 3rd party.

 

[Solitude]

Personally I purchased a PLB as I rented a Spot twice (older version) and when the signal did not get out to my wife at the predetermined check time (happened more than one time) she started to freak out.

My advice to anyone considering Spot, SAT phones, Delorme In Reach, etc is to rent before you buy and look into what entity/service is actually called if you hit the "emergency" button. In some cases/locations I have found help would be minimal or non existent.

 

[jherald]

Honestly, people died. My sat phone has saved two people's lives FOR SURE in the 8 years I've owned it. One was my wife when she broke her leg on Kodiak. The air taxi wasn't slated to come back over a week later and the Dr. in the ER stated she would have lost her leg had we waited for another day let alone a week. The other was my sister's father inlaw had a heart attack 60 miles from the road middle of winter at -30. Called the Air Guard and they got them out of there. So if that makes us a pansy for taking the extra insurance to save a life or two then yeah I guess I am.

For me as much time a year I spend outside the extremely limited cell service Alaska has and the times I am out away from Becca for 1-2 weeks at a time hunting its worth it being as I am away from here 1/2 the year as it is with work. That and being able to contact the air taxi to provide weather updates or a early pick up means the $750 I spent for my half of an Iridium 9505A 8 years ago and the $200 I spend each year for my half of the service which hte minutes roll over and we have well over 1000 minutes now seems pretty minimal in the scheme of things.

I like the extra insurance and communications when we are miles from the nearest roads or away spend up to 100 or more days in the field, maybe if I only did one or two week long trips in the backcountry in the lower 48 a year and hunted where I was never more than 10-15 miles from the nearest road and have much better cell coverage than I would consider something else but for me and my uses it makes sense.

That is right, people died. Where I'm working, people get stranded and die of exposure every year. It's not a matter of if someone dies from the elements or other mitigating factors, injury, vehicle breakdown etc, it's a matter of how many people are going to die and if the bodies even get found.

I've personally been on the recovery side of finding bodies in the wild and its sad to see. I'll always have my sat phone when I got out beyond cell coverage.

 

[G Posik]

I use InReach for Android.

Glenn

 

[LitenFast]

Thanks BB, what are suggestions for guys with one weeklong backpack hunt per year(hopefully more)? I have an Iphone, so the inReach is tempting but battery life on my phone is barely a day, so it would have to be off from the first step out of the truck.

 

[Aron Snyder]

Thanks BB, what are suggestions for guys with one weeklong backpack hunt per year(hopefully more)? I have an Iphone, so the inReach is tempting but battery life on my phone is barely a day, so it would have to be off from the first step out of the truck.

Rent a SAT phone.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Rent a SAT phone.

This is what I would do also if it was a week a year. The most flexible, and usually affordable for that duration.

 

[Drdantdc]

I use the SPOT. I think it's great.

 

[Pilgrim]

SPOT for the same reasons already mentioned: emergency factor and the wife's peace-of-mind.

 

[jherald]

heres some photos of the 9575 extreme against iphone4 for size comparison. Weight is about the same. 9575 has an integrated sos button, the sos feature is programmable to SAR or to send a message to someone you know. For the person that wants it, you can turn the phone into a wifi hot spot but that runs extra, something I dont plan on getting.
The guys at the local sat phone store here showed me how to mark waypoint progress with the gps feature and it's viewable online. Many features, some not needed, some needed, some luxury, but overall the phone is badass.

Here's a link to the gps mapping which one of the sat phone guys were doing a float trip down a river here. http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=61.277333&lon=-149.380950#.UAOyM_DHWYI.email

Aron, i think when we spoke earlier i had the size of the 9505 and 9555 crossed. 9575 is about the same size as 9555.

Originally had the pics sideways but should be fixed now.