Another disturbing fact here is the the parent company Globalstar looks a little shaky. They have been sued for misrepresenting the condition of their satellites. Their financial statements do not inspire confidence either. The response is via human interaction and I would hate to be lost in the boonies when they went chapter 7. Also I would hate to be dependent on a satellite which may fail.
Yes, but let me play devil's advocate a bit with you. (and understand this is from the perspective of someone who carrys a "real" ACR plb, not a SPOT). I was just having this discussion with someone who flies SAR. We had a plane crash in the northern rockies recently, they had a SPOT and a PLB beacon. Here, the PLB beacon relays throught he CSAR coordination centres which are with the military SAR bases in Vancover and Trenton Ontario - They got SAR to the plane by the SPOT, not the plb, just because the message and coordinates got relayed to the frontline guys sooner.. Go figure.
ANY piece of gear can fail. (I would hazard the MTBF of the spot or my plb is probably shorter than a satellite - and the satellite itself a lot more reliable than a cel tower..) Would I take a SPOT over nothing? probably. Would I depend on either the SPOT or my PLB as a substitute for not being an idiot and being prepared to get my own sorry butt out of anything I get into, no....
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