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.