So, I bought a PLB last winter. I finally got the "financial motivation" after a friend of mine broke her ankle on a day snowshoe trip and spent not one but two unplanned nights in the wilderness which nearly cost her her life.

I've been carrying my PLB in my pack surrounded by other items in hopes that were I to fall, the PLB would survive, cushioned by the contents of my pack. However, reading about the situation with the recently deceased hiker, Christopher Andrews (see http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=151287), I'm wondering if I shouldn't carry it on my person, say on my belt or in a pocket.

What do you guys think? How do you carry your PLB's?

HJ

ACR PLB on belt with Glock and rest of absolute MUST HAVE items.

Having my pack with me *should* significantly reduce my probability of needing rescue. But I have a bad habit of wandering about off-trail all day without it, and can also easily imagine accidentally getting separated from it in a fall or something, so I carry emergency stuff on my person by habit. If I had a PLB I'd think it would be prudent to do likewise.

Jeff

If you on occasion hike without the pack on I would carry it on your person. But if you always have the pack with you, I see nothing wrong with in in the pack.

Or do both, have it in the pack, but if you do some wandering without the pack have a way to clip it onto your belt.

When I go out on multi-day trips, I'll usually carry a small daypack in my overnight pack. The PLB stays with me everywhere I go either in the main pack or the daypack. The only exception is around camp. If I'm just going to get water or maybe look at the stars or some such, I won't take a pack with me. These are the times I'd worry about not having access to my PLB, although I do always wear a whistle on my survival necklace. Even if I fell down an embankment or something, I could blow on the whistle and hopefully attract the attention of others in my group. The whistle wouldn't work well on my occasional solo hikes, which is where I'd really want to have the PLB with me at all times.

Maybe a small fanny pack? My PLB is an ACR Aquafix, which is a bit bulky for a pocket but might work well with a fanny pack.

HJ

The Pilots in our company wear them around the neck on a lanyard.

Sounds a little uncomfortable, but it certainly would be easily accessed. Probably get pretty sweated out while hiking.

Any other ideas out there?
We've got:
belt
around neck
pocket
fanny pack

Anything clever and practical that I've overlooked?

I carry my PLB in the roof of my pack, with my FAK. If I'm in serious trouble and can't access my FAK I'll probably be dead anyway.

I don't want to prejudge a situation I know nothing about, but the deceased hiker died in a fall off the trail, sustaining serious injuries, and odds are he had a serious head trauma, and shock from internal bleeding. Frankly I don't know. But the presence of the SPOT device might not have made any difference to his chances of survival, given that he was hiking alone and the emergency response was delayed by weather. This is all just conjecture. RIP. Watch your step...

Don't confuse the tested and true PLB with SPOT. They are not the same thing. Not taking any pot shots at SPOT, but for my money, I'm sticking with the ACR MicroFix.

How easy is it to damage a PLB ? I think any place I carry it I would want some sort of padding around it. Three reasons 1) To protect it, 2) To protect the part of me that will without a doubt land on it if I fall, and 3) to keep it warmer (Batteries last longer if they are warm) I think what ever I carry it in I would want it to be crushable restiant.