Emergency satellite locator devices

[Pandy51]

Do any pilgrims ever use an emergency locator device, such as the Garmin Messenger. It uses international satellites (Irridium), and the subscription service contracts initiate a local response. Just curious!

 

[Bradypus]

A sledgehammer to crack a nut on the main Caminos. Most of Spain is well covered by the standard mobile phone network. Most of the Camino routes are fairly well travelled. On the Camino Frances and the Portugues for most of the year there will be 100+ people walking each stage - rising to over 1,000 on some days in the final stages of the Frances. Help will usually be on hand quite quickly. It is not a wilderness experience.

 

[Pandy51]

Thanks Bradypus! Of course, agree on the quantity of help available, just not sure of the quality, LOL!
Many use wifi calling as well, so help, especially on the Mesata, might be a long time coming!

 

[Bradypus]

Many use wifi calling as well, so help, especially on the Mesata, might be a long time coming!

I think that relying solely on WiFi calling is mainly practiced by people who have come from outside the EU. The great majority of pilgrims are from Spain and other EU countries and so benefit from international roaming without extra charges. They generally use their ordinary mobile phone contracts.

 

[dick bird]

It’s the Meseta, not the wilderness. A mobile phone will get you the emergency services you need, probably quicker and as good if not better than your home country.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

I hire a PLB when I go tramping in Aotearoa New Zealand but that is a completely different environment. See:

Personal Locator Beacon Hire | Macpac

www.macpac.co.nz

I wouldn't bother in Spain unless you are way off on your own on a very remote Camino and even then you can probably use your phone most of the time.

 

[Bradypus]

I hire a PLB when I go tramping in Aotearoa New Zealand but that is a completely different environment.

I hired one in Darwin a few years back for some bushwalking and camping in national parks in Australia beyond mobile phone coverage. I could imagine a few unpleasant scenarios there. But it would be expensive overkill for a Spanish Camino walk.

 

[Kitsambler]

I have, so far, walked from Prague to SJPP. Even in the wilds of the Czech Republic, I had cell coverage. What I did not know -- and have since corrected -- is that the local emergency number in Europe differs from home. 112

 

[trecile]

Download the AlertCops app

Home - Alertcops

alertcops.ses.mir.es

 

[J Willhaus]

Download the AlertCops app

Home - Alertcops

alertcops.ses.mir.es

Agree with @trecile , it is the equivalent of 911 in the US. I use an emergency beacion the US, but I live in Wyoming where there is not much service and lots of wilderness.

 

[JerryStroebele]

I live in Alaska and hike and sail very remotely some times. Nada cell coverage. I used the Spot for a couple of years. It worked well when we walked our first Camino so the rest of the family could follow us. But in Alaska the connectivity was spotty (hey, an unintended pun) due to our high latitude. I gave it to my French son in law who hikes in Corsica and the Pyrenees and it works well for him. I switched to the DeLorme (now Garmin) InReach and it works great. However, I have never carried it on subsequent Caminos as it is totally superfluous to my iPhone and WEIGHS TOO MUCH. Buen Camino

 

[Pathfinder075]

I've used Spot a few times in the past, but on Camino, that is overkill. You aren't walking across the outback or riding the Road of Bones.

Get a mobile phone with dual sim capability and put a local sim in it from (I think) Movistar, which has the best coverage. Coupled with your regular phone sim, that should cover you for most things.

 

[C clearly]

it is the equivalent of 911 in the US.

I would say that 112 is the equivalent - the simplest direct phone contact with the emergency services, and useful all over Europe. AlertCops has some extra functionality for non-life-threatening situations in Spain, but it may depend on a data connection - I have read various discussion about this and have never quite determined the answer.

I take AlertCops on my phone, but would probably dial 112 first in an emergency situation.

 

[dougfitz]

It’s the Meseta, not the wilderness. A mobile phone will get you the emergency services you need, probably quicker and as good if not better than your home country.

Spain has implemented the Advanced Mobile Location service standards in its emergency call centres. This service is activated when you dial one of the emergency numbers for that country, eg 112 in Spain, but there are others elsewhere. Once your call is complete, your location details are then transmitted to the call centre. If you have location services turned off, they will be turned on by the AML service, and turned off again at the end of the transmission. The emergency services you need will have pretty accurate location information as a result.

 

[Robo]

Do any pilgrims ever use an emergency locator device, such as the Garmin Messenger. It uses international satellites (Irridium), and the subscription service contracts initiate a local response. Just curious!

I did consider one before walking the VdlP this year.
But decided not to, based on the sound advice here.

I didn't find the VdlP that remote.
I always had phone coverage, and I made sure to have Alert Cops on my phone.

I never felt I needed anything else.

I have bought one for use in Australia though! (GME accusat)
We often take our campervan into quite remote areas........that are really remote......
And many people carry them here for bush walking.....because some areas are very remote.

I'm not sure I would ever need one on a Camino.

 

[dougfitz]

I have bought one for use in Australia though! (GME accusat)
We often take our campervan into quite remote areas........that are really remote......
And many people carry them here for bush walking.....because some areas are very remote.

I carry one when bushwalking. Remoteness is not so much of an issue as lack of mobile coverage. Spain and Portugal have their dead zones as well, but it seems these are less likely to be along the Camino routes.

 

[peregrina2000]

There are spots on many of the less traveled caminos I have walked where I had no cell phone service from Vodafone. In most of those places, however, Movistar did provide service. If I had needed emergency services, any available network would transmit my 112 call.

That leaves some places, though, where there is no cell phone service of any kind. They may be few and far between, but they are there. Just this year on the Lana, @C clearly and I were told that two of the canyons/gorges we walked through were dead zones. In those cases, we made sure to walk together, on the theory that if one needed help the other could go get it. Not a perfect solution, because there is of course a ”what if…” that could have produced a bad result with no way for us to get help, but it seems to me that getting some kind of emergency beacon would have been overkill in our situation.

For most peregrinos, who are likely to be on the Francés, Portugués, Primitivo or Norte, both the number of other walkers and the general availability of cell phone service makes some other kind of emergency alert unnecessary, IMHO. For the more remote and less traveled caminos, I can’t deny that there may be an occasion when it would be useful, so it’s just a case of figuring out your comfort level with the risk you may be undertaking.

 

[Bernice M]

I use a Spot and messaged my brother daily at the start of each day using the OK button. The Mozárabe was remote, especially after Granada. It gave me as an older solo walker a certain confidence that help could be summonsed from more than one source if needed; and there were areas where there was no cellphone coverage. The added plus was that my brother presented me with a map showing me my track at the end of the walk. He enjoyed tracking me and re-living his previous exploits.

 

[JerryStroebele]

Bernice, you are indefatigable! Jerry

 

[kmrice]

We always carry a Garmin InReach Mini. Never needed it but we like to know we have it, just in case. Used to use a Spot but the Inreach lets you text which, in an emergency, would be valuable. Weighs 4.4 oz.

 

[DoughnutANZ]

There are currently plans to extend mobile phone service and protocols to satellites.

I am not sure about the rest of the world (something must be happening), but in Aotearoa New Zealand the two main networks have separate plans to extend mobile phone service to competing satellite providers.

In one case, this means SMS TXT messages from anywhere and in the other case phone calls and limited data from anywhere.

This will tend to make the specialist devices obsolete.

 

[WGroleau]

Do any pilgrims ever use an emergency locator device, such as the Garmin Messenger. It uses international satellites (Irridium), and the subscription service contracts initiate a local response. Just curious!

I had one from deLorme/Garmin called Explorer. On the cheapest plan, can send text messages where there is no cell service, and/or use the "SOS" button when in trouble. Cell service in Spain is in general good, but there ARE places with no service. An emergency there may not have the option of "wait till you get closer to a city." On the other hand, such emergencies are not common, and on the Camino, there another pilgrim will likely come along soon. I carried that thing in many countries, and never used the SOS button. But I did use three features: (1) sending a text with latitude/longitude when I wanted a friend to pick me up in a car; (2) giving a web URI and a password to relatives who could use it any time to find out exactly where I am; and (3) uploading data to Garmin's website to show my path on a map (which also required a password to view).

 

[Tincatinker]

112 works even when you don’t have network coverage. It may not work if you’re in a deep canyon or one of those Albergues, bars or churches built with 8 foot thick walls but generally it will work.

If it doesn’t just set fire to a pair of socks and several forum members will appear, if only to ask you what the hell you think you’re doing

 

[dougfitz]

112 works even when you don’t have network coverage. It may not work if you’re in a deep canyon or one of those Albergues, bars or churches built with 8 foot thick walls but generally it will work.

For 112 to work, there must be mobile network coverage. It cannot work without that. If you mean that it doesn't have to be from your contracted network provider, that is true. Another carrier will provide a service for 112 calls.