anyone use emergency beacon?

[terasec]

like spot?
am interested in an emergency beacon without a subscription based membership fee.
even if there's a good app for such(iphone)
my land and where i will be doing majority of my camping is remote but do have cell coverage there so an app could work there.
plan to do more camping with the kids and such and just like the peace of mind of an emergency beacon just in case.

[ArizonaSportsman]

Re: anyone use emergency beacon?

First, let me say that I do not have a beacon. Though about a year ago I was planning a long backpacking trip in a remote area with a friend and we were really close to buying the Spot device. Our justification was that you can pay $100 for the year and just let it terminate at the end of the period - you wouldn't necessarily have to keep the subscription going. Our thought was that given we were going to be in a remote area (no cell service) - suddenly $100 for piece of mind was a cheap insurance policy.

Turns out, my friend had an accident (broke ankle) about 2 months before the trip....so needless to say our trip was cancelled. But if (when) we get the chance to do it again, I'll research beacon devices again, but at the time the Spot device was hands down the way to go.