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Emergency SOS via satellite

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Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#51

Post by Cass »

sschueller wrote: post #37

Quoted post unavailable.

This isn't meant for heli-skiers who go out with a few thousand bucks of equipment. None of the average hikers I know own a satellite phone, plenty of them like to hike alone, and an hour of walking into the woods (hardly a strenuous hike) will frequently land you somewhere with patchy service (and this is in a country with perfectly well-functioning infrastructure, not the middle of the Rocky Mountains.)

I'm sure this is going to lead to a few spectacular, high-profile rescues, but I'd bet the average use case is going to be "saved me three hours of crawling through the woods on a broken ankle to get back to the last place I had cell service."

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#53

Post by brantonb »

wstrange wrote: post #21

This is really going to eat into Garmin's Inreach market (ditto for Spot, Zoleo, etc). It says free for the first 2 years. I'm curious what the yearly cost will be after that, and how it will compare to an Inreach plan. On an ongoing basis, it's the subscription fees that really add up.

I was just looking at the Garmin inReach on REI’s sale a few minutes ago. $350 for the device ($50 off right now), $30 activation fee, and $12/month for two years is $668. Upgrading my 3 year old phone is $800. Kind of a no-brainer to use the phone I’d be carrying anyway.

I’m not looking to use it for weeks-long trips. Mostly trail running and maybe a few days in the back country.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#54

Post by germinalphrase »

wongarsu wrote: post #25
tyingq wrote: post #4

As someone who grew up in the era before mobile phones, it truly is strange to see devices that do roughly everything Captain Kirk's communicator could do. But in my lifetime, and available to average people.

And phones like the CAT s61 [1] are well on their way to add the functionality of Spock's Tricorder into the same package. https://www.catphones.com/en-ca/cat-s61-smartphone/

Listed features:

- thermal imaging - laser assisted distance measurement - indoor air quality

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#55

Post by mikestew »

sschueller wrote: post #37

Quoted post unavailable.

I can only assume that you have never been to the western U. S. or anywhere at all in Canada much north of the 49th parallel. It can be quite barren, and even if one had a need to stick a cell tower in the North Cascades mountains, it won't cover everything. Hell, I go trail running on local mountains (Cougar/Squak/Tiger, for Seattle locals) that are within visual distance of a decent-sized city, and there are still spots where I don't get cell coverage (and all of those mountains have cell towers on top). Snap a bone or otherwise become immobile in the wrong spot, and you won't be calling anyone despite the fact that it's a ten minute drive to town. And those trails are full of day hikers on the weekends, many of which I'd guess aren't prepared to spend the night if they had to.

If you go hiking or heli-skiing...

I'd bet a paycheck that Apple's use cases did not include those that jump out of a helicopter to go skiing. Those folks, if they have any sense, have a dedicated device, as you state. I'm picturing this being for those like above, who just wanted a casual Saturday hike and something went wrong.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#56

Post by heynowheynow »

papito wrote: post #9

This is great, but people do still need to keep in mind that this is not a full replacement of the emergency beacons that use the Cospas-Sarsat system, which would work anywhere, from pole to pole. If you are going to do extreme hiking in Patagonia, get a real distress beacon. There is no service charge except for the device itself. This is no joke - I had to use mine in the middle of Death Valley (of all places) dur…

406 PLB's - monitored by satellite - Garmin InReach Explorer+ looks alright and doesn't need a special factory battery replacement.

121.5 ELTs - requiring sar aircraft proximity - are obsolete.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#58

Post by millzlane »

Yesterday I had a cust. come into the store with a iPhone 14 pro that was stuck in SOS mode. My tech couldn't resolve the issue with a restore in AC2. I wonder if this is related or just a coincidence.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#60

Post by photochemsyn »

Centrino wrote: post #5

The article doesn't mention which satellites or which satellite provider is used. But Apple invested $450 million in Globalstar. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/11/emergency-sos-via-sat...

This article from LeMonde seems to imply that they're using Globalstar:

> "To offer this new feature, Apple had to integrate a miniature antenna in its smartphone. It captures part of the signal of satellite constellations without relying on a satellite dish or a specific telephone handset. The iPhone manufacturer signed an agreement with Globalstar, one of the operators of low-altitude constellations, sets of satellites flying at about 500 kilometers from the Earth, in order to cover low-coverage areas of the globe. Specializing since 2007 in professional satellite messaging, Globalstar explained that it reached an agreement to launch 17 new satellites for 327 million dollars, 95% of which will be financed by Apple in exchange for 85% of their bandwidth."

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2022/09/13/apple-a...

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