Delorme w/spot vs oregon 450T

[BowElkStalker]

Just bought a Oregon 450T(have not opened yet) and really like the screen size and the idea of getting Montana public lands maps. However the idea of having the spot with a Delorme pn60 because I hunt alone during bow season would make my wife happy. Anyone have experience with both of these units.

 

[Monashee]

Buy the Garmin,you will find there are many more downloads like the Montana public/private maps available for it.I have the Delorme Pn60,and while it is great unit,you can not get anywhere near the number of aftermarket downloads that you can for the Garmin.Mine was a gift,I would have bought the Garmin and the SPOT seperately(The SPOT is a great idea if you hunt alone!).Do you need to text on your SPOT or send an SOS?I only need the SOS,and wish I had the Garmin GPS instead.Cheers,Monashee

 

[recurry]

Just bought a Oregon 450T(have not opened yet) and really like the screen size and the idea of getting Montana public lands maps. However the idea of having the spot with a Delorme pn60 because I hunt alone during bow season would make my wife happy. Anyone have experience with both of these units.

Hi Stalker,

I posted on another thread about the SPOT, but thought I'd reply here as well. I do a lot of backpacking in wilderness areas, often well outside of cell phone range and so on.

I would say that if your wife just wants to know where you are - getting a status update periodically, etc. the SPOT would be great.

If she wants to know that you'll be rescued if you have a real problem, then I'd say an ACR/PLB is a much better choice. A PLB costs a lot more than a SPOT, but a PLB gives you a much higher-degree of confidence that you'll be rescued if you have a problem - I've read a lot of complaints about SPOT devices with respect to connectivity and so on. PLBs, on the other hand, have a strong track record (especially with boaters) of working successfully and getting emergency help to somebody in a hurry.

The important thing to remember is that there is a distinction between an EPIRB/PLB and a SPOT - the SPOT operates outside of the emergency network that a "real" PLB operates on. This means that you have to rely on a SPOT call center to receive your initial distress call, and then route that call to the appropriate responders. If you pull the trigger on the EPIRB/PLB, on the other hand, the alert goes straight to the USCG SAR folks.


I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Russ

 

[BowElkStalker]

Thanks for the reply, that was the info I was looking for. I am keeping the Garmin 450T.

 

[Monashee]

I used my Delorme on an antelope hunt in Montana last fall(I'm from BC).It worked great and has the BLM 1:24000 maps installed,but as I said you cannot load aftermarket mapping unless it's Delorme,and they do not offer the maps that are availible for Garmin.There are some awesome aftermarket back country maps of BC but they can't be downloaded to Delorme,Garmin only so I'm SOL!May have to sell this unit! Cheers,Monashee