2-way SAT phone rental?

Hey Tracey, great question!

I haven’t used a satellite phone myself, but some folks do say they are handy to have. A quick search on Google did’t find any big brick-and-mortar shops (it’s a niche market) but I did find this company that does weekly Sat phone rentals.

Personally, I have used a SPOT Messenger, and it works pretty well. I got mine last year before I started hiking the Theodore Solomons Trail, and it gave my wife peace of mind. It has three basic functions: You can let it send your GPS location every 30 minutes or so and your friends and family can “see” where you are (or at least, where you were in the last 30 minutes). Second, it lets you “check-in” sending one of three pre-written messages to your friends and family (for example, “Camping here for the night and all is well”). Finally, it let’s you contact Search and Rescue (SAR) in the event of a real emergency. They’ll know your location and will send help.

Note that there is a subscription service required for the SPOT and a 1-year minimum contract.

Some friends of mine prefer the Delorme InReach. It does all the things that the SPOT does, but also allows two-way messaging. On the Theodore Solomons Trail last year, my friend Mario used it to receive weather reports or ask his girlfriend where I was last see (we were hiking opposite directions). The device is more expensive, but you don’t need to commit to a year contract for service — it’s month-to-month.

I take my SPOT whenever I’m in the backcountry. I’ve never had to use it contact SAR yet (thankfully) but it’s nice to know that I could.

Hope this helps.

I looked into this as well and after a thorough analysis came up with the following:

-This places rents them (https://www.lowergear.com/product.php/id/261) among others.
-Talking to a very experienced friend of mine he made the point that when you need it (i.e. you are in serious trouble), knowing that help is on the way would be critical to how you handle yourself. For that reason the two way communication is important.
-Although the Spot is initially cheaper to purchase when you look at the data plan it is almost the same price. When you look into depth on the data plan on the Spot you must purchase a full year whereas with the InReach you can buy it month by month and turn it off when you don’t need it. So the InReach will work out cheaper in the long run.
-You can rent both of them but when you look at the pricing for weekend rentals after four uses you would have paid for buying it. If you rent for longer the pay off might be different.
-For me, and the hiking I am doing (one or two day hikes on reasonably well traveled trails) there are enough people around that I decided that for the cost using my whistle would probably work fine for me. Keep in mind that to use one of these devices you need to be lucid enough and have enough time to fiddle with it. It is much more fiddly than using a cell phone to text.