asmrz wrote: Third, you would not carry anything like it if you were in Peru, Nepal, Tibet etc. anywhere where the call would go into a black hole...
GPS works nearly world-wide, SPOT works in all the areas you mentioned, and rescues have been done in very remote areas-- the rescue guarantee is through Lloyd's of London Insurance. People have been carrying sat phones in remote mountains for some time; SPOT is less bulky and in my opinion, less intrusive.
Really, I respect all opinions on this, But whatever choice you make, try to minimize negative impacts on other people. Consider:
Technology has advanced a lot, and not just in electronic gadgets. All those advancements have increased ease of access to remote areas. We could still be carrying oilskins, wool jackets, alpenstocks, crampons without front points, and manilla ropes. Perhaps the greatest change has been wrought by the internet; back in the early 70s, even a through-hike on the Appalachian Trail was an adventure into the unknown. Nowadays you can find detailed instructions and advice on-line. The very fact that you are reading this post on SP, means that you have bought into one aspect of the advance of technology. The advance in technology has turned some ideas of wilderness upside-down; there is Wi-Fi and cell service much of the way to Everest. There are places I go in Nevada that are, in some senses, more remote than Everest; there is no 3g service (we don't even get normal radio).
An awful lot of S&R actions out here are for rock-climbing accidents, and the rescue is typically initiated by cell phone calls. I don't think the climbers in Red Rock are doing more risky moves because they think their cell phones will save them; there are just more people out there, and a lot more people who treat everything like a rush-rush competition. The cell phone calls just increase the chance that there will be a rescue, and not a body recovery. Being able to pinpoint someone (based on info from the call) saves S&R time. Las Vegas S&R used to get a lot of "overdue climber" calls, and would be out there at midnight flying around with bullhorns and spotlights (I had a friend in that situation 11 years ago).
In the last two years, we've had unfortunate accidents in the Sierra, where folks left little indication of where they were going. It's a lot more expensive (and more painful for the relatives) if the rescue can't narrow the area down. I advocate people wear bright clothes; I tell people it's for safety and so others can see them, but what I don't say is that it makes body recovery a lot easier.
Perhaps I'm atypical; but I have found I've become more careful since I took to carrying a SPOT. A lot of my solo trips involve aretes like this:
http://hwstock.org/chaze/images/IMG_0563.jpg...I used to just climb these in a stream-of-consciousness way, and nearly lost my life to loose rock many times. Now I've promised my wife that I will send a signal before and after any risky move. So I now I sit and study the routes a lot more.
I can't make other people be responsible; just as there will always be people who abuse rescue devices, there will also be people texting while driving and otherwise driving recklessly.