Off the price point topic, All that does is let folks know where you are, there's no guarantee of rescue. Ask those guys on Mt Hood.

Back to the price point issue, if the technology is mature I could buy one at the current price. I just don't want to spring for one and then find it's been replaced by a newer model (better, smaller, faster) so I'm just waiting.

PLBs shouldn't really become as cheap and easy to get as cell phones should they? I think personal responsibility goes along with the cost of buying one, so a VERY low cost PLB would be nice, but it may not be the safe way for the market to go. REMEMBER, I'm just saying MAY not be the way to go.

Hypothetical situation speaking of a moron buying one and unnecessarily triggering it: Where do you draw the line if a rescue is mounted and lives are risked and funds used? What do you do with the knucklehead when you find him safe and sound not in any danger to begin with? Seriously, what if someone was injured or killed during the rescue? I just want to learn what, if any, repercussions goes along with triggering one unnecessarily.

I would like to see one in the $200 - $250 range. I think that is about as reasonable/accessible as they should get for now.

That is a fear that's been expressed oftentimes by some, but there's little evidence that frivolous alerts will be a problem. EPIRBs have been in use for about a decade with no such widespread problems. Occasionally, yes, it may happen. There's already been one prosecution of such a false alert. The law does allow for that. There is always some offsetting negative issue with any positive technology. In this case, the good far outweighs any bad.

The thing with cell phones and cellphone-GPS combos is that RIGHT NOW most 911 units don't automatically read them. Notice that T-Mobile engineers were crunching the math to locate these signals. In my case a relative will get a text message with a lat-long from my GPS and told to send help. If they determine that means calling 911, so-be-it.

At first I was a bit PO'd that my phone has aGPS but that no one can read it out. Now I think that maybe it's just as well. In an urban setting where time is critical (homefires, B&E, rapes) and the phone can pin-point its location quickly it may be good, but I'm not so sure it's necessary when all someone really needs is a tow, which is really all the Kim's needed until after they'd been stuck for a couple days.

So I send my text message and the relatives call a tow truck for me -- that works. If I was in voice contact, I'd have called roadside assistance too.

From the ETS Ultimate PLB FAQ at http://www.equipped.org/faq_plb/default.asp :

"Deliberate misuse or a transmitting a hoax distress is a federal felony punishable by a $250,000 fine, imprisonment for six years and restitution to the rescue agency for all costs incurred responding to the false distress."

Ouch! Accidental signaling is a different story. You can either contact officials to cancel any rescue activities ASAP, or at worst rescuers will be happy to find you alive and in no danger - but I'm sure there will be a LOT of questions to make sure it was truly an accident.

When you purchase a PLB your a required by U.S. law to register your beacon. The registration form requires you to provide telephone numbers for yourself and an emergency contact.

The rescue process involves calling the telephone numbers to determine if the PLB's owner could actually be in the place where the beacon reports AND be in need of rescue. If in doubt, a SAR team will be called into service.

Thanks, KenK, you hit the nail on the head for me.

I know its not the same thing, but here locally there are seven golf courses, four of which have the GPS enabled electronic screens that tell the Proshop where each cart is, and also tell each cart how far they are to the pin.. all of them have a little button that is for medical emergencies, when the button is pressed the local first responders and the proshop are both called.
When the proshop gets that call someone (with the training) is sposed to grab the FAK and AED and rush out to the location of the cart and provide first aid until the first responders can get there to take over.
This button is pressed fairly often, and most of the time the 'medical emergency' is 'I'm out of beer, did you bring more?'. After several of those false calls (and they were all charged for the emergency call to the first responders btw) it began to take longer for the first responders to respond. After a week or two, at the rate of three to four false calls (with no real emergencies) a week, the first responders soon said that they were going to stop responding to the calls until it was confirmed by the staff on hand, and who could blame them.
After another few weeks the proshop staff began sending one of the untrained staff members with a radio to check and see if the call was for real. After about a week of that, the staff that was being sent out to check on the situation began to slack off and began takeing longer to get out to the cart themselves (I'll just get these people comeing off the course real quick so I don't miss the tip).
When there eventually was a real medical emergency, from the time that the button was pressed till the first responders arrived was over an hour. I don't remember what happened to the guy.

As I said, I know its not the same, but something like this would be what I was afraid of happening. That being said, I can't afford a PLB at their current price.
If I feel that the situation calls for me to have a PLB (deep woods backpacking, long driveing trips where I might pass through remote areas, etc) I can rent one for a fraction of the price, and the Rental price is more then likely going to fall greatly as the price of the PLB comes down and the tech becomes more widely available.
If I start useing one often enough (which I can't see needing in my present circumstance) I will gladly shell out the cash on credit and work for a year or two to fully pay back the unbudgeted amount.
I feel that if the price becomes too low, perhaps a one use SAR Insureance coverage by the PLB manufacturer could be added into the price and included with the guarantee of the product, if it isn't allready, that would protect you from X amount of cost if you have to activate the PLB for a genuine reason.
Or something similar to keep the price at a level where those people who would push that button for 'medical emergencies' that only require 'another six pack of beer' thinking twice, if they get one, about useing it for such trival things, as long as its Non-Government (The government already takes enough of my money then tries to sound like I should be grateful when they give some back) artificiality.

I would buy a PLB/GPS today for $500 if -
1. The batteries were easily bought and replaced.
2. I was convinced it would not be obsolete in 5 years.

I think that's a very valid concern which is very dependent on price. If the cost of these units comes down dramatically, I think that may create an even bigger problem. That is, people will start to RELY on these units as their escape plan rather than being properly prepared in the first place.

Right now, I think the high price has a certain side benefit of making the purchase of a PLB a decision to be taken very seriously, not as an afterthought. After the James Kim scenario, and now the Mt. Hood incident, it seems like the motto of the day is "gotta buy a PLB". I wouldn't be surprised if there was an immediate increase in the sales of the beacons, simply because of the media attention and people are starting to think of them as the "Get of of trouble" button. Not only are you going to have more false alarms, but after too many false alarms, the SAR might start to take a more casual approach to each response.

I would love to have access to a cheap and affordable PLB, I think it's a great solution to a current problem, but also the opening to a much more troublesome issue. However, if I really thought I needed one, I would have bought one already. But like everything else electronic, I wouldn't put complete faith in it.

Isn't that kind of like claiming that if everyone can dial 911 then people won't plan properly, will take unnecessary risks, might submit false reports, that 911 call centers won't take calls seriously, etc... ?

Some of that has happened, but for the most part 911 centers and the availability of phones (both wired and wireless) have be very successful.

The PLB system does have VERY severe penalties for real false alerts. Registration of PLB's is free, online, very easy, and required by law to be updated every two years. The registration captures information for the user and two emergency contacts that is used to assess the validity of alerts before rescue teams are dispatched. It really isn't much different than a 911 call center.

Yes, the current PLB system will eventually become outdated, but I still went ahead and purchased a PLB. The batteries need to be replaced every five years - I figure if I get 10 years out of it, I'll be more than happy and I'll feel much safer in areas without cell service. Besides, by then much smaller PLBs will almost certianly by available.