SPOT 2 Satellite GPS Messenger - Silver $79.99 + tax + FS @ BestBuy

Just a small update on my previous post.

I was out windsurfing this last Sunday and the gusts hit 50mph. I was out in the water, having trouble and a thought ran through my mind over and over: "damn dude, you should have brought the SPOT". It kept repeating over and over. I was only about half mile out into the ocean, swell wasn't very big, issue was the extremely strong off-shore wind. For the conditions I was in, I brought a sinker board and too big of a sail. So even if I had the SPOT, I would have struggled if I had to change the spare batteries I carry on the water with it. Anyways, two 1min SICK SAIL SESSION and then 2 hours back swimming and trying to ride back to shore. BEST SESSION EVER! Lesson learned, never leave the PLB in the car.

After that incident I went shopping for a hopefully better device and one that I will always carry with me. I was debating between the MCMURDO FastFind 210 GPS [fastfindplb.com] and the ACR ResQLink 406 GPS [acrelectronics.com]

I found the ACR $236 online and the McMurdo for $200. I went to the store to check them out in size and quality. They're both about equally sized and feel just the same, plasticky. The ACR is a wee bit smaller. The ACR has the antenna wrapped around the body, while the McMurdo has it stoved away behind the top cap. From what I read online the ACR has a littler longer battery life (they're both mandated by the government to operate for at least 24 hours). Which means every so often they'll get the GPS signal and transmit it on 406MHz to the emergency response satellites and 121.5MHz homing signal, so the rescuers can find you if you had moved from your location. It also has an LED strobe light that turns on when the distress signal is activated.

I decided on the ACR due to its smaller size. Got home, registered it with NOAA (free), read the AWFUL INSTRUCTIONS, went to 406link.com, signed up for a 2 day trial (free) and decided to test the device. The site 406link.com sells a service to get TEST messages from you and send emails with your GPS coordinates that you're OK. But it would be really expensive as the batteries for these devices cost $150 to replace and you get a very limited amounts of tests.

So on to the test. I went into my backyard, activated the device and under 2 minutes I got an email that a TEST has been initiated. I think the first min it was getting the GPS coordinates. I didn't get the GPS coordinates so I tried again and only then read that the free test doesn't test the GPS on the free trial, It tests only the ability to send the test messages. Both tests worked VERY fast, I wish the SPOT messenger worked that well in the back yard when I was testing it.

If SPOT offered a service for $50 to just use the TXT messages from my phone, without the rescue plan I may pay for that for a year. Just to use it as a toy.