So, presumably now that they're legal in the US, everyone has rushed out and purchased their PLB and can report on who actually has them in stock and who's cheapest, right??

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For my money the extra weight on my back I will stay with my HAM lisence and a QRP - HF crystal rig like the Home Brew rok-mite in an altoids tin and a random (not so random after you make it) long wire antenna which can be thrown into the surrounding trees. Combine this with a decent sangean or other lightweight SW / AM / FM receiver and that is all I want to carry EDC. When I go tramping off on purpose (or in my BOB) I carry a good VHF / UHF Kenwood HT with 1/8 wave whip attached where the stubby thing was and (if I will be close enough to the towers) I only carry my cell phone. (The best weight / Communications flexibilty for non-emergency use - in an emergency it is hard to beat the rok-mite 40 for range / clarity (if you know the code) and weight.

Nope; on the rare occasions when I solo, my route, timelines, potential sidetrack areas, etc. are left with reliable persons. Once, many years ago, I was late hitting the egress point from a trans-mountain ski journey (one of my party was grossly unable to maintain the pace). The SAR helicopter found me blasting down a pass to the egress point a day ahead of the rest; that was AFTER they picked up the fatigued person and his baby-sitter. I was 20 minutes from my egress point when they spotted me. They found us by following the annotated map I had left with my wife; it helped that the other guys moved into a clearing when they heard the helicopter laboring up thru the area, and I was carving deep tracks thru exactly where I said I would be. (I altered my route when I sped ahead and marked it on the map the other guys had; it was risky terrain, but potentially much faster.)

That incident firmly set two things in my mind:

1. Leaving trip plans with concerned persons is very effective.

2. Groups of three are not desirable (I took risks alone that I would not have taken if we had split into two groups of two - I REALLY did not want the SAR guys to have to come looking for us in the Alaska winter).

So a PLB fills in no voids for me.

Apropos of erm, nothing -- Interesting article in National Geographic Adventure magazine this month.

Tom