[quote=Aussie

Regarding a SPOT, these are great for (remote) tracking your progress or for a real emergency, however they are one-way communication. If you do set one off it can still be hours (or days – esp in bad weather) before help can reach you. If you did have phone coverage, you can get information about how long before rescue reaches you, and you can receive instructions about what to do.

Any satellite communication (SPOT or phone) will be hampered by steep terrain, so if you’re in a canyon or deep valley you may not be able to get a signal out – but I guess that goes for a regular cell phone too !
[/quote]

I don't like being a Sharpshooter Aussie but your statements above about SPOT2 are incorrect or a straw mans argument.

SPOT2 is fully capable of working in deep canyons. HERE is one of many pages you can Google to refute that line of thinking.

While SPOT2 is a one way communicator, it is a communicator with in a worst case environment 90%+ success rate for communication when there is no cell phone coverage. It is a straw mans argument to state it will take days for rescue when the fact is without communication, specifically cell phone coverage, there would be no notice of SOS for rescue.

Standard Disclaimer for myself, but regardless if a person uses GlobalStar/SPOT or other PLB unit, it works when there is no cell phone coverage over 80% of the globe.