- What's up everybody, I'm Miranda from REI.
Personal locator beacons and satellite messengers
both allow you to send emergency signals when you're
out in the mountains.
But how do you know which one is right for you?
Let's talk about it.
(upbeat music)
While cellphone service around the country and the world
is slowly expanding into wilderness areas,
you still shouldn't rely on your cellphone
as an effective way of communicating in an emergency.
So if you're looking for an emergency signaling device,
a personal locator beacon, or a PLB,
or a satellite messenger are both good choices.
In the simplest form, a personal locator beacon
will send an emergency signal to a search and rescue team
so they can come find you.
A satellite messenger will send an emergency message
to a team so they can come and find you.
There are a lot of different types of satellite messengers,
we only have two of them here.
There are one-way and two-way communications
with satellite messengers, so one-way,
meaning you can send messages out.
Two-way meaning you can send and receive,
and therefore communicate with satellite messengers.
There are many different types of these and different levels
or tiers, so to speak.
So this is just two of them but there are
a whole lot of different satellite messengers
that have a bunch of different features.
Essentially, with a satellite messenger,
you are able to send text messages.
Whether they are preset
or messages you can actually type out yourself
to friends, to family, and then sometimes
even communicate with search and rescue teams,
as well as cancel a call for help if you need it.
These do require a subscription, and that is
an additional fee that you incur
on top of purchasing the satellite messenger.
Essentially think of it as another phone plan
or something else you pay for monthly or yearly,
in order to use the features on the satellite messenger.
Some of these will also have the ability
to give you GPS tracking or send waypoints out to people
so they can track your trip as well as
get topo maps or even get the weather report.
With the satellite messenger as technology
is always evolving some of these even allow you
to use your cellphone to get all of that information
and essentially communicate with this via Bluetooth
to make your cellphone into the satellite
or to have access to the satellites
the way that the messengers do.
Again, the downside of these is that you do require
a subscription, which is gonna cost additional money,
and they also don't have as strong of a signal
as you'll get with a personal locator beacon.
In order to send messages on these
you really need a clear view of the sky.
They also don't have a super long battery life.
They're good for several days out in the backcountry,
but if you need to keep using them or you're going on
an extended trip, you'll want a charging stick
or something else that will keep this charged
so that in an emergency you have access to it.
If all you're looking for is a reliable means
of communicating with emergency rescue teams then
a personal locator beacon is a really good option.
With a personal locator beacon the signal
is significantly stronger
than it is with a satellite messenger.
You can see it has this massive antenna.
Which helps that.
So while a view of the sky is still a really good idea,
again just a much stronger signal on a PLB.
With a personal locator beacon there is no subscription
required to use it, but there is a registration,
a required free registration.
So you'll register this with
NOAA's Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking,
and essentially when you press the button on here,
this will communicate out and they will communicate
with the search and rescue teams and then send people
out to the location where the signal came from,
to rescue you.
Downside of a personal locator beacon is that
once you press that button, the calvary is coming
whether you decide you need them or not.
So that's something to keep in mind.
These do however have a very long battery life.
So the battery's good for a couple years
and then once it's dead you send it in
to get the battery replaced.
The reason for this is that the battery
really doesn't kick on until you press that button
and call for help.
So again, if what you're looking for
is a really effective way of getting or being rescued,
getting search and rescue in a location that's remote,
personal locator beacon is a really good idea.
If you want something that allows you to send messages
to your friends your family or get just additional features
as well as have that added benefit of communicating
with search and rescue teams,
that's when a satellite messenger
might be the best option for you.
This is a really complex topic,
and I've only barely touched the surface of it.
So if you want to get more information about
whether you need a personal locator beacon
or a satellite messenger, if you want to learn more about
all the different types of satellite messengers out there,
come into your local REI and talk to the experts there.
We'll see you later.