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Comment by noughtme | Hacker News Reader

I prefer a standalone PLB (personal locator beacon) when backcountry skiing. Smaller, lighter, more reliable, no subscription fee.

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That's what I got as well: ACR ResQLink -- you register it with NOAA every 2 years, I can't find anywhere listing the price, I think it's $50 or $75. It then talks to NOAA satellites to send out your distress call and location. The device itself when I got it was $250, looks like they are $350ish now.

The downside is there is basically nothing other than "I need rescue" that you can do with the device. You turn it on and a rescue team shows up.

Do people get charged after they get rescued? I'd imagine it's pretty expensive to send a team out into the wilderness, do they recoup the costs from the rescued?

I believe if it's a legit emergency, then no. If they find you obviously were clowning around, yes.

Most SAR teams are not dedicated to SAR, but do other tasks (firefighting, soldiering, etc) so SAR operations kinda fall under training.

UK: pretty sure you dont get charged for anything execpt possibly ambulance/hospital if you are not from UK or EU, but I suspect it’s so unusual most NHS staff wouldn’t know how to bill you. Definitely no charge for sea rescue by the RNLI even though a typical shout for a Severn class ALB will burn £1-2k in diesel fuel.

Rescue insurance isn't hard to come by or particularly expensive for the group of people who spend a lot of time outdoors. The American Alpine club, for instance, offers rescue insurance with a membership, dollar amounts vary with membership "type."

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