http://www.equipped.org/blog Musings from Doug Ritter, editor of Equipped To Survive® Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:25:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (Click on images for higher resolution photos) Our initial evaluation of the second generation SPOT GPS Satellite Messenger (SPOT 2) was cut short when the unit died after we immersed it in a bowl of water. While we were originally told it was a production SPOT 2, turns out it was ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=119 The tragedy of the three college softball players who were trapped in their vehicle and drowned in a pond on Sunday was totally preventable, if only someone had equipped them to survive. A simple, inexpensive safety tool on their keychain could have saved them. Either the ResQMe or ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=115 (Click on images for higher resolution photos) Click to read our Follow-up Report. SPOT, LLC has started shipping their second generation SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger (which we will refer to here as SPOT 2) that we took a look at when it was introduced at Outdoor Retailer earlier this year. ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=114 Initial Hands-on Report - Second Generation SPOT SPOT, LLC introduced their second generation "SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger" at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City, Utah, this week. The new device (I'll refer to it as SPOT 2 to differentiate between it and the original SPOT) appears to address ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=113 Here's an update on the previous post, "Canada Backs Off on 406 MHz ELT Rule" In speaking with members of Canada’s National Search and Rescue Secretariat at the 2009 RTCM Annual Conference, they indicated that the regulation is still in the Canadian Minister of Transport, John Baird’s, office and ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=112 AVweb reported today that according to Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) President Kevin Psutka, the Canadian Minister of Transport, John Baird, has suspened implimentation of a proposed rule that would have required most aircraft flying in and into Canada to have a 406 Mhz ELT (emergency locator transmitter) ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=111 Ultimate Survival Technologies has resumed production of the StarFlash Ultra signal mirror after originally ceasing production back in October, 2008, based on concerns we had expressed after testing, primarily regarding the effects of immersion in water. When initially presented with our test results, they did some months of preliminary testing ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=110 BoatU.S. Foundation has published results from their recent tests of visual distress signaling devices, primarily pyrotechnic flares, but also including a few non-pyrotechnic visual distress signals (but not signal mirrors). Click here to go to the BoatU.S. Foundation visual distress signal article. As you might expect, their tests focused on the ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=109 One of the frustrating parts of owning a 406 MHz EPIRB, PLB or ELT has been that it is nearly impossible for the average consumer to actually test their beacon, at least affordably. We have been pretty much forced to rely on the beacon's own internal self-test mechanism. It's ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=108 Some revealing information being reported today on the recent off-shore boating tragedy (from St. Petersburg Times originally and FOXNews.com). The difficulty is, we cannot verify the facts, but it makes for a plausible explanation and is entirely consistent with reports of others acting in the same manner in similar survival ... http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=107