First off, I love my InReach Mini, and have no plans on replacing it. And I know the internet provides A LOT of wrong information. That said, I came across a recent post that made me want to ask this group of smart people if there's any truth to the claims, or was the writer being paid by PLB manufacturers? I get the feeling that later is true. But his article was a longer comparison clearly angled to why PLBs are better (so clearly slanted). It said-
Advantages of a PLB over anything else (cell phone, SPOT, InReach, sat phone): It has a powerful transmitter on a
band monitored by government agencies. There are no private parties. If you need rescuing they WILL come, they'll
be using top equipment to do it, and in general you don't have any liability for your rescue costs. If you're using a
private band device like SPOT or InReach or a sat phone, you will have such liability and you won't have access to
nearly as large a rescue network. SPOT and InReach also have much less powerful transmitters.
Disadvantages of a PLB: You can't post selfies to Facebook. You can't send a personalized message to anyone, for
any reason. You have to spend $100 every 5 years to have the battery replaced.
The article (longer than above) is clearly slanted in that I don't send selfies in my messages over InReach. I send communication that is important to let people who care, know my adventure status. That said, any truths behind stronger transmitters and larger rescue network?
Please tell me to stop believing everything I read on the internet!!! :)
