Best Wilderness Survival Guide

My preference for beacons is a GPS-equipped 406 MHz PLB (e.g mcmurdomarine.com/personal-…). This solves any direction-finding vagueness, and also makes rescue a LOT faster as the non-GPS models only give an initial satellite fix within ~ 10 km.

The argument for a PLB over a sat-phone is battery life and bulk - PLBs tend to be smaller and lighter, and will typically continue to transmit for ~24 hrs (or more) - useful in deep valleys etc ... where satellite coverage can be spotty and overhead satellite passes infrequent, or if rescue is delayed. Being a beacon, rather than a transciever they also tend to cope much better with low signal levels and use less power. The risk with a satellite phone is that (like any phone) the battery will be dead when you want to use it, or that you'll only be able to get a garbled message out.

Instead of a guide it could be more beneficial to go to a week long survival training course like the Boulder Outdoor Survival School.

David Baddeley wrote:My preference for beacons is a GPS-equipped 406 MHz PLB (e.g mcmurdomarine.com/personal-…). This solves any direction-finding vagueness, and also makes rescue a LOT faster as the non-GPS models only give an initial satellite fix within ~ 10 km. The argument for a PLB over a sat-phone is battery life and bulk - PLBs tend to be smaller and lighter, and will typically continue to transmit for ~24 hrs (or more) - useful in deep valleys etc ... where satellite coverage can be spotty and overhead satellite passes infrequent, or if rescue is delayed. Being a beacon, rather than a transciever they also tend to cope much better with low signal levels and use less power. The risk with a satellite phone is that (like any phone) the battery will be dead when you want to use it, or that you'll only be able to get a garbled message out.

98.6 by Cody Lundin is great just for the simple straightforward approach to just about everything including being stranded in the backcountry and if you're stuck in your neighborhood during a natural disaster (when the water shuts off, there's a few clean gallons in the upper deck of your toilet, etc). Good life knowledge in general.

Austin Baird wrote: There's only one real survival techie t to trust. You know who it is:

I've learned and picked up so many small tips from him watching the discovery channel since I was a kid, gotta love Bear Grylls!