Darryl said: > For the price (including the subscription service), I'd rather carry > a VHF radio................. > > > ...........And if I'm out on the barrens where there isn't much in the way of > SAR personnel monitoring radios, then I'm going to have a sat. phone. > The specs for the SPOT say that coverage in the far north is -- > pardon the pun -- spotty at best. Darryl, The SPOT doesn't replace my VHF, it supplements it. My VHF is my first line of defense if I need help. But what do you do when you can't reach someone on the radio? Data transmission is much more reliable than voice transmission, so the SPOT is more likely to get through when your radio or SAT phone can't. The unit also is waterproof to the same standards as most VHF radios - are there any waterproof SAT phones? I don't think so. As far as coverage is concerned, almost all of the world that I'll be paddling in is covered and my experience so far is that the messages get sent within a few minutes of my pressing the button. At the current subscription price of $99 (I didn't get the tracking function at the suggestion of Jen Kleck-it makes the maps too cluttered at kayak speeds - but I do have unlimited OK messages which will perform the same function manually) and the price of the unit, it will be 5 years before I will have spent the same amount of money as the ACR unit costs. By then, I'm sure the technology and/or prices will have changed. Again, first line of defense is to call a mayday on the VHF. Then if that doesn't work - hit the 911 button on the SPOT. It will keep tracking me and updating my position every 5 minutes. No benefit accrues to me from SPOT, other than the peace of mind my family gets knowing where I am and knowing I have another way of calling for help if needed. Steve Holtzman *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jan 31 2008 - 07:03:43 PST
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