I think i paid about $650 for it about 2 years ago and now its about 2/3 the price from most online sellers.
battery lasts 7 years and replacement was quoted to me (2 years ago) to cost $220. These days it costs $191 to replace.
weight: 289 grams. To me, its worth every gram and i'd still carry it if it was 10x as heavy but as a comparison, my friend's spot 2 weighs less than half of this.
you can rent beacons from the infotrack center in Glenorchy and some DOCS offices in NZ for $30/week.
I read the rental form and it said if activated, you will be liable for an $800 rescue fee, + 200 battery replacement fee.
In NSW, you can borrow one from the blue mountains visitor centers for free, and there are drop off box at certain locations in case you finish up your hike after hours
After activating mine a few weeks ago for search and rescue, i had been awaiting for the bill to send off to insurance.
I found out today that Australian and NZ residents do not get charged for search and rescue operations if they are genuine, as mine was.
The MT410G is equiped with a GPS so a helicopter was heard within 5 minutes of me activating it, but it took them 2.5 hours to locate me because i was down by a river in a valley with very steep walls, just enough for the chopper to fit in.
I was glad none of us were in a critical state since I was getting abit anxious with the 2.5 hours wait. During that whole time the chopper was whizzing back and forth not seeing us even though we could see the chopper. They spotted us after we made a massive bon fire 3m wide
The SAR guys told me after that the PLB had told them i was on the other side of the river! thats why it took them so long. I guess it can be abit inaccurate when signals are distorted by cliffs. But my Garmin GPS had located me exactly where we were, so I found that very strange.
so much for advertisments saying i'd be rescued within half an hour! haha
The rescue guys were very skilled and they were all volunteers, as they are in Australia. They are true heroes.
Then came the battery replacement when i got back home. The guys at GME said that PLBs cant be sent over australia post and had to be via courier due to its battery?!?! I find this quite funny since I bought from an authorised dealer who delivered it to me in the post. I bet most sellers ignore this issue.
I was quoted over the phone $191 but when i got there for battery replacment, I was pleasantly suprised.
What they do is contact AMSA for a incident report and if it was a genuine rescue, GME's policy is to offer you a brand new replacment!!!
I am not sure if this is the same for other PLB brands, but it certainly gives GME a big plus in my books!
There are now smaller PLBs out there with longer battery lives but also at a much steeper price range!
to prepare for my walk in the SW. Picked the biggest hills around near all the housing development & the builders/truck drivers all thought I was nuts 