SPOT messenger / EPIRB

[hihosland]

Does anyone have any experience or comments re the SPOT personal messenger, EPIRB device.?

 

Sounds like a good idea, relatively cheap to buy cf a GPS enabled 406 EPIRB but would rapidly become expensive with the annual subscriptions.

 

Any web site info that I can find provides no real details just marketing spin.

 

and a great New Year to all

 

Davidh

 

 

[Guest pedrok]

Spots are okay if you want something that can record your trip and display it remotely on their website for friends to follow you. They are okay if you want to send text messages to your friends as well. If you get stuck somewhere or have an emergency you can press the button and a signal will get passed to the international station in USA. They then have to make contact with an emergency service provider in the country you are located in. I know of two occasions this year where it took a while (hours) for that message to get passed to authorities in Australia.

 

With an EPIRB, if you get in trouble, you activate it. A message goes to satellite and if its a new 406 one the satellite will pass it to a ground station and in Australia to AuSSAR, within 10 mins normally. Discounting the old beacons (as they become useless in Feb) Aussar will then call up your details on the database (as the new beacons have a unique code) and if you have kept the details up to date - they should have a good idea of who you are and your contact details and your other nominated contacts.

 

Now the big advantage of an EPIRB is that it will be transmitting on 406 and 121.5, so the signal can be homed by any aircraft Aussar tasks to look for you. The other advantage is that right from the start one organisation is coordinating your rescue - it isn't being passed via a commercial organisation to possibly a variety of organisations.

 

Your position. SPOT does send your GPS position witl your signal, so that is good. With EPIRBS normally the cheaper version doesn't send out your position. The dearer versions normally send out a GPS position. Price difference is generally $400 for non GPS and $600 with GPS.

 

Is it a disadvantage to have a EPIRB without GPS? Only a little. Although a stationary satellite will tell AUSSAR straight away that you are in trouble, they will need to wait for an orbiting satellite to get a rough position. BUT If you have registered your beacon and nominate some good contacts -when Aussar ring them and they say "you left this morning in your drifter from Bega enroute Canberra", straight away they have a region to get aircraft up and looking for your beacon transmission. So a GPS beacon is great but its not the end of the world if you cant afford the GPS version.

 

I think SPOTs have great use for land travel, ie for 4WDing and touring because you get a degree of flexibility with being able to SMS friends or request minor non emergency assistance, such as flat tyres. Plus your mates can track you as you drive around.

 

In aviation I prefer an EPIRB. For the few hours that you are flying no one will really track you on the web anyway. If you crash, or have an emergency in an aircraft you generally need help "right now" . The other thing is that even if the rescue authorities have a GPS position from SPOT to start at, generally (and particularly in tiger country) they will need to home in on the radio beacons radio transmissions to locate your actual position (which you cant do with SPOT)

 

Hope that helps. Tip if you buy an EPIRB try Marine shops first. They are a bit cheaper from them normally. Expect about $400-420 for Non GPS and $599 for the GPS fitted. So although the Spot initial purchase is cheaper, over 5-10 years the EPIRB will save you a lot of money (working on 5-10 year battery life)

 

For EPIRB details the reference for Australia is at http://beacons.amsa.gov.au/index.asp

 

Pete