I've followed this story closely.
From my understanding:

1. he felt he was gonna be in trouble due to lost tent, wet bag,horrid weather, etc.
2. he hit the 911 on his brand new SPOT (with brand new batteries)
3. woke up the next morning, SPOT was dead
4. he assumed SPOT didn't work (no helicopters in area + bad weather, etc.)
5. he then made the decision to hoof it as fast as possible to his known destination.

This is a very experienced guy, SF trained, fit and intelligent.
Sounds to me like a good use of SPOT, but he didn't truly beleive it had worked.
He thought another couple nights in a wet sleeping bag, in a blizzard, etc would do him in.
At least pride didn't kill him, as we have seen in other situations.
Glad it ended well.