anyone using locator beacons?
i use them on rough tracks if i'm alone.
frankly i think they should start billing people where they have to search for them and they don't have a locator beacon...
at least charge them the cost of a beacon as a fine and gift them a beacon....
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10842507
I've only used mine once. To get a friend out with a broken ankle. Despite having the beacon, they still encountered problems locating us for extraction due to the tree canopy.
Only minutes from staying overnight due to available fuel for the chopper to be on station.
did it have a gps? theres a big difference in the accuracy of them with and without gps.... the non gps one will only get them within a kilometre or two's accuracy
We've already had this argument about SAR charging a million times, so I'll just say I disagree, and anyone who wants to know all the reasons why can search the forums.
Personally I'm more bemused by the hunter who got lost and carried a 23kg pig with him for 15 km while 90 people were searching for him. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10842477
usual story, he was moving so probably moved into an area that had already been searched.... just like the gent who went walkabout in the hunuas for a few days recently.... breaking all records for anyone lost in the hunuas for the amount of distance covered and time taken while remaining lost without being able to find his way out of the park which he was extremely familiar with....
(read into that what you like)
no need to debate the issue of charging for search and rescue, I"m right, no other opinion is valid. end of story..... 8o)
some people don't learn from others mistakes, made all the classic mistakes.. could easily have wound up dead
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10842795
I do most of my tramping solo and often off track so always carry a GPS locator beacon. More for peace of mind than any thought that I would ever have to use it. It's probably more likely that I would use it to assist someone else given the amount of badly equipped and prepared people I meet in the hills
I always carry one and regrettably have had to use it. You wouldnt catch me not taking one these days.
only rented one once, over the cascade saddle. depends what i'm doing, most tacks i've done recently there are always other people on the tracks and the tracks arent that difficult. but if i'm doing something like the cascade again i'd rent one again..
although having said that i was on the routeburn in bad weather and the hut warden incorrecty reported that no one was travelling between the mackenzie and falls huts that day and two of us were as individals, if anything happened to the other guy no one would have known, i was ahead of him so he would have found me if i got injured. but he didnt have waterproof trousers, winds were gusting over 100k's he'd have been in big trouble...
