PLB's

[katqanna]

Experiencing that batteries drain in cold, in sub zero or near freezing temps I have kept batteries for devices next to warmer parts of my body (not extremities), to keep them from loosing power in the cold and had back ups. If you combine that with a solar charger unit, cold temps shouldnt be as much of an issue then.

 

[1_pointer]

To me the reliability of the irridium satellites vs. the global star is far more important than the fact that it can only go 10 days on a charge or 7 days on a charge.

I would turn mine on in the morning and turn it off at night and send 3 or 4 preset messages during the day and it still had plenty of battery left at the end of the week although I don't recall exactly what %. It got below freezing every night we were there but warmed up into the 50's during the day. I did the tracking thing one time but decided it wasn't anything anyone cared about so I didn't use the tracking feature after that. I would assume that sending your tracking point every 10 minutes would use more battery than just sending 3 or 4 messages during the day.

The solar options are a gimick in my opinion. For $30 you can get a battery pack that stores more juice than one of those small solar panels could generate in a week probably and they cost a lot more and are harder to pack. I also didn't have any issues with cold with my battery pack. I think the lithium batteries do better than the old NiMh batteries did in the cold. Of course I wasn't in below zero temperatures either.

All that to say, I wouldn't fret too much about the battery being rechargeable instead of AA. Unless you are going to be out beyond a full week I very much doubt you would need to charge it at all. If out beyond a full week, for $30 or less you can get a battery pack as big or as small as you want that would be able to recharge it multiple times.

We think alike. However, I didn't turn mine on until I wanted to send a message or check for new ones. I can't imagine it really being a problem for how I'll be using mine. Then again, mine's old and uses AAs!

 

[Don K]

The batteries on the Inreach SE last a long time if you don't use the tracking mode and leave it on. I hunted 10 days and turned the unit on 3 times a day to check and or send messages and it didn't even go below 75% battery. Was very impressed with the battery life.

 

[Z Barebow]

I have waffled on this topic.

I am leaning toward the philosophy. "I am there to hunt and not give daily updates". Like noted above, if I am too tired, making food, etc., I don't want to feel obligated to "check in" daily. One of the allures of backcountry hunting is the "primal nature" of it. One of the reasons I love hunting the back country so much is I can get away from life's complexities. Life is generally simple, hunt, eat/drink, sleep, survive by not doing anything stupid. If something derails me, I will have a PLB.

 

[1_pointer]

I have waffled on this topic.

I am leaning toward the philosophy. "I am there to hunt and not give daily updates". Like noted above, if I am too tired, making food, etc., I don't want to feel obligated to "check in" daily. One of the allures of backcountry hunting is the "primal nature" of it. One of the reasons I love hunting the back country so much is I can get away from life's complexities. Life is generally simple, hunt, eat/drink, sleep, survive by not doing anything stupid. If something derails me, I will have a PLB.

I don't disagree. For me, the piece of mind with the check-ins is for my wife. She used to not have much of an issue with me being gone and not knowing. That changed a bit for her and me to a lesser extent when we had kids.

FWIW, it took less than 5min to power up the device, send the pre-set I'm Okay message and turn it off.

 

[Don K]

I really liked having weather updates and a quick "Im OK". Every morning when I rolled out of the tent I fired up the Inreach and the wife had the current weather there for me to read. Being 6 miles in the wilderness and knowing what the weather is going to do is huge IMO.Once a day I would send a I'm OK message or a update and I had a packer ready to come in if needed and using this would save all kinds of time. I used to use the Spot but this Inreach is better in so many ways.

 

[WT_in_MT]

For those interested in the PLB option, ACR is offering a $50 rebate on the ResQLink.

http://www.acrartex.com/info/2014-end-of-year-promotion/

 

[WT_in_MT]

Article in today's newspaper on their usefulness- http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyl...cle_b3e2a806-bc93-5938-b764-b9b75448fa60.html

 

[WT_in_MT]

Just found this morning that Delorme has a $50 rebate on the inReach units through 12/31 too.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Bumping this up! any new advice? I am thinking I might go the Delorme SE route, any thoughts,
Matt

 

[WT_in_MT]

I ended up purchasing the SE last November. The rebate that came with it also included a free month of service so I opted for one of the higher levels with unlimited tracking. I didn't always run it with tracking on but when I did it transmitted them all. It also transmitted all the preset and text messages I sent. I inactivated it before my January renewal I think and it's been inactive since. I'll be reactivating it shortly. I will likely opt for the lowest cost Freedom Plan and if I want to use it for sending tracking points I'll just manually send an I'm OK preset message. I'm plenty happy with it.

 

[sneakypete]

I'm heading to B.C. In Sept. Anyone ever rent a sate phone ? And where. I'm learning some services won't work that far north?

 

[Duck-Slayer]

I'm going with the SE, great thread and advice....
Matt