gps tracking devices?

Ranger Rick

Ranger Rick

Member
Greetings:

I do a fair amount of hunting alone. Now in my 60's and with a few health issues over the past 10 years, I worry about something happening to me while I'm out of cell phone coverage. My wife and I have "find my phone" on our Iphones. She can see where I'm at as long as I've got coverage. But a lot of the areas I hunt are outside normal service.

Can anyone recommend a GPS device where she can see my location in those situations?

She doesn't mind my going, she just wants me to make it back. And, no, I'm not going to quit either! So no snarky comments about being old and feeble, etc..
 
I have also looked at them. I would like to find one with a onetime purchase price and done, but the ones I have looked at, you have to buy a plan. the research I did suggested they might not get a signal if in a gully or a lot of tree cover.
 
Maybe not what you're looking for, but a satellite phone will always get a signal as long as it can find a satellite in the sky. They don't run on cell phone towers. People that go into the wilderness for a long period or live off the grid often use them for emergency situations.
 
Ranger Rick said:
Greetings:

I do a fair amount of hunting alone. Now in my 60's and with a few health issues over the past 10 years, I worry about something happening to me while I'm out of cell phone coverage. My wife and I have "find my phone" on our Iphones. She can see where I'm at as long as I've got coverage. But a lot of the areas I hunt are outside normal service.

Can anyone recommend a GPS device where she can see my location in those situations?

She doesn't mind my going, she just wants me to make it back. And, no, I'm not going to quit either! So no snarky comments about being old and feeble, etc..
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I began carring a Garmin Inreach Mini while solo archery hunting in the backcountry of Colorado for days and weeks at a time. It's remote country with no cell sevice. For years my family would voice their concerns about me being out of reach until 4 years ago when I purchased a Garmin Mini. I've never had issues sending or receiving messages. It costs $350 for the unit. The unit allows you to text. It will track your location so your family can see your location at anytime. It provides weather alerts. And There is a button you press in the case of an emergency and search and rescue will be sent to your location. You do have to subscribe to a plan. There are 3 plans to chose from that start at $11.95 a month and go as high as $64.95 a month. Each of the plans has a feature for a slightly higher cost that allows you to turn the plan off the months you're not using them so you don't have a monthly charge for the months your not using it. I subscribe to the safety plan for $14.95 a month and use it from the end of August through the end of January. I pay $14.95 a month for 5 months and then turn the plan off for a total cost of $74.75. I find it a small price to pay to for the peace of mind it gives my family.
 
Do any of the watches let a person track another through an app? I know my sister was tracking my brother in law on a hunting trip we were on last fall. But I think she was just tracking heart rate and steps.
 
This won't help this thread at all but is intended to bring some of you might find a little humor. I was wiring an Ulterra into my boat last night. I was on my hands and knees crawling around. Next thing you know my brother-in-law is calling me. He asks if I am alright and I said "sure am but now that I got you on the phone I have a trouble shooting question on this boat." He proceeds to tell me he got an emergency alert with my gps location and was checking in on me. The light bulb goes off and I realize that my wrist flexed into the watch button for an extended time setting a medical alert off. I got two more text messages from co-workers asking if I was alright. I minimized quickly and reassured them I was all right and thank them. I had checked three people in my contacts by accident as emergency medical contacts.

I can verify that this worked great when a person has cell service. I am thankful that only my pride was hurt last night and dread the campfire story my brother-in-law will tell over and over. He will likely share how I insisted I correctly hooked all wiring up correctly only to have him tell me to check the cranking battery and discover one black wire had fallen to the side of the battery that I missed hooking up.
 
My brother purchased a nice sat phone for this situation. In open country I think it may work fine but in mountain and Timber situations you have to find clear line of sight to the sky to hold signal. In a true emergency situation this would be difficult. Also very expensive
 
Cackle Crazy said:
I began carring a Garmin Inreach Mini while solo archery hunting in the backcountry of Colorado for days and weeks at a time. It's remote country with no cell sevice. For years my family would voice their concerns about me being out of reach until 4 years ago when I purchased a Garmin Mini. I've never had issues sending or receiving messages. It costs $350 for the unit. The unit allows you to text. It will track your location so your family can see your location at anytime. It provides weather alerts. And There is a button you press in the case of an emergency and search and rescue will be sent to your location. You do have to subscribe to a plan. There are 3 plans to chose from that start at $11.95 a month and go as high as $64.95 a month. Each of the plans has a feature for a slightly higher cost that allows you to turn the plan off the months you're not using them so you don't have a monthly charge for the months your not using it. I subscribe to the safety plan for $14.95 a month and use it from the end of August through the end of January. I pay $14.95 a month for 5 months and then turn the plan off for a total cost of $74.75. I find it a small price to pay to for the peace of mind it gives my family.
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Thank you. Great advice. I'll be looking into this.
 
I carry an ACR personal locator beacon. No subscription required. More powerful than many of the other devices.

If I get into trouble, I simply push a button and it brings search and rescue to me. I like it for its simplicity.
 
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