your not going to like this but put it under lessons learned.
i got a new sticker for my beacon and for the first time in years did
a battery check.i got the flashing light and all that so i'm still good.this model is not longer made.i got it for my wilderness canoe trips and now older i can no longer go out,i can't even lift my boat.
so the beacon is left with my old gear at home,wait for it.
i go way up north in minnesota to a drive in camp just outside the canoe park where there is no cell phone service.one of the things i do
is driving back on the forest roads that are not very used to take pictures and hike around.after three weeks of this i drove home and
just minutes from there a wheel fell off the car! if this came off
where i had no contact with anyone and only had my cane and a water bottle i would have been in big trouble.the car was junked and i have a new one.because the canoe park was closed because of the fire danger there was no one on even the main gravel road to the landings.because i had spent several years driving into the remote back woods i felt like i knew them well enough and it would just be an afternoon out.
i will never leave my beacon home again.