Jacks

What have you got? Do you like it?

 

This is a problem that I haven’t figured out yet. I have a Hi-Lift from my Jeep days but back then I had steel bumpers with external recovery points. I do have the stabilizing base and the wheel hooks but that doesn’t work for a lot of situations.

Trying to strike a balance between semi-capable off-road and a daily driver—my built Jeep was too much of one and not enough of the other. Maybe I’m chasing a unicorn though.

The Hi-Lift shines in a high-centered situation—as pointed out by others, when nothing else will do.

 

My daily struggle trying to keep a balance of good enough on road and off road without tipping the scale too far just as a trail rig.

 

I do like it - it is registered to me, and my phone number. The 406mhz part of the ELT gets the GPS location from the sky where you are located when you activate the unit. The ELT sends the GPS location as well as the unique I.D. back up to the satellite to NOAA. NOAA sends the GPS info as well as the information about the owner of the ELT to local law enforcement to begin looking for you. The other frequency that it transmits on is 121mhz. That transmission pings until the battery dies, which should be about 30 days.

 

I carry one on every backpacking trip, as do many of my hiking buddies. In 2019, one of them had to use his when he suffered a medical emergency in a remote area. It worked, and we finished the trip without him. He has almost completely recovered since then, although it was slow and frustrating.

 

Is it a technology comparable to the Spot or InReach? Is a subscription required? Any two-way communication possible? Or is it purely an SOS? I like the 30 day ping.

 

I am not familiar with Spot or InReach. No subscription, just requires initial online registration (no fee) so that NOAA knows who the beacon belongs to. Every 24 months the owner receives an email to reregister online (again, no fee) to confirm that the beacon is still owned by the registered owner and intent to keep it for 24 months again. The beacon requires a battery replacement every so many years, can't remember if it is 5 or 7 years. No two way communication capability - purely SOS. Artex makes ELTs for a lot of aircraft. This is where I got the idea in the first place.

 

I use i Reach with subscription. It was my only option since I go with kiddo and doggo while mrs at home. So I send text from my phone via inReach about the updates with location.
(Updates like we arrived to the trail head, had a snack, had lunch, heading home, likewise...)

 

It uses SARSAT (https://www.sarsat.noaa.gov/), and it meets fairly stringent Government requirements for link margin and reliability, which was not the case for Spot. I know numerous people who have experienced failure of Spot messages in similar challenging RF propagation environments. Anecdotally, InReach is somewhere in between. Classic ACR products are pretty much pure rescue beacons. They have newer offerings with comms capability.

I'm toying with the idea of substituting a Garmin GPSmap 67 with InReach in many circumstances, because it will let me carry one less device and it's not much of step down in probability of critical message loss.

 

Very interesting. I like that there’s no subscription.

I have similar needs to yours. I have a Garmin GPSMap 66i with InReach capability. But I’m going to look into the ResQlink further.

 

One more issue with 2-way comms is the importance of training people back home who are expecting check-in messages. One of my friends was surprised by helicopters while sea kayaking in Alaska. He had lost his Spot the previous day and somebody decided not getting an "OK" was more equivalent to getting an SOS than he intended. That was a less egregious case, because it was a truly hazardous environment and several of his friends conferred before acting. However, there are frequent instances of people panicking and not following the previously negotiated plan.

 

Yes you are right.

Typically I try to resist the temptation to derail threads, but when they become rife with rudeness I sometimes look for an excuse to wander from the contentious issue.

 

I carry an Ocean Signal PLB1 while hiking/camping and vehicle camping as I usually have no cell service. I plan to do the Trans Labrador Highway next year and will more then likely purchase the new Garmin inreach mini. As others have said, receiving an OK message or daily check in is better then an SOS beacon, but they both have their place.

Concerning jacking, I have never had an issue with the factory bottle jack. I do not use it in the garage, but seems sufficient in the field with a few traction boards underneath. I added one of these to help security on the rear axle.

https://sites.google.com/site/landcruiserproducts/jack-adapters?authuser=0

 

I quit carrying a high lift Jack. We used them on the farm a ton but if you don't have a lot of experience using them, it's very easy to get hurt or damage equipment. On any terrain it is easy to position a bottle or OEM Jack safely and effectively no matter the tire size. I do use a 2"x12" for a base if necessary. My kit actually contains sidewall slugs, rope plugs, CO2 and a small air compressor because changing a tire is my last choice. Work smarter and safer. Just my 2 cents......

edit: Since I started carrying slugs, rope plugs and a way to inflate, I have not used a spare tire. I don't carry a spare on our two Polaris RZR's. Have had flats off roading and never needed more than the plugs, slugs and air. Good luck

 

I'm 72 years old. I hunt in the Big Thicket, alone. I also fly fish some remote streams/rivers, alone. (I'm the last one left from the old gang...RIP, boys...) I have carried a personal locating device for many years now. It is a comfort knowing if I get in trouble I have a way to get help, even without a cellphone. I also carry it when off roading and even on highway trips.

It's cheap insurance and just might save your life. Thankfully I've not had to use mine... yet...

 

We have both an InReach Mini and a GPSMap 66i in the family, so I have experience with both. I like that the 66i is a full featured GPS. I like that I can send texts via the InReach using my smartphone, but also have the ability to send texts through the 66i should my smartphone become disabled.

As was alluded to above, these devices are not intuitive and the use of them is a perishable skill. We practice twice a year.

I love the jack adapter!

Shorty, my Dad was the last of his gang. He was a tough old guy and never said much about it, but I know it was rough on him. You have my sympathies. On the plus side he had rich widows dancing around him like Vegas showgirls.

 

Exactly what I do also. Works fine off road.

 

As I mentioned when the posts were crossing, under most circumstances the 66i would give adequate coverage for my purposes. The ACR is excellent for its primary function, and being subscription-free, the cost is reasonable and it doesn't add a lot of bulk to carry in a vehicle for extra peace of mind. For backpacking, I'm constantly trying to keep the load down to absolute essentials, so even a GPS is something I carry grudgingly. I've only considered the InReach transition after much experience by trusted friends.

 

I understand. My daughter is a backpacker, and she’s the one who carries the InReach Mini. She uses her phone as a GPS, which is a questionable practice in my opinion, as the phone screen is fragile and the battery life is short. I have taught her to use a paper map and compass as a backup to the phone, but I suspect she is not diligent with respect to having the proper maps. One advantage to the acr device is it’s simplicity, and the likelihood that anyone in the group will be able to figure it out. I have found Garmin devices in general to be unintuitive and requiring a steep learning curve.

 

It's sometimes hard to remember where to find what I'm looking for, but those Garmins certainly are rugged. I still use a GPSmap 60csx that's almost 20 years old. I've considered upgrading a few times, but it seems a waste to retire something so reliable (with replaceable batteries). Only with the "i" models did the functionality increase enough to make it seem worthwhile. Plus, I have almost 20 years of stored water sources, ruins, campsites, parking spots, and off-trail routes squirreled away on that thing.

 

I have one in my Tundra. Supposedly a 25% off coupon just came out yesterday.

 

I also do the same thing with my Hi-Lift base. Made use of it since I have never used my Hi-Lift jack (bought it back in 2014).

 

Thank you for teaching this! The ability to use a paper map and compass is an invaluable peace of knowledge! Even with out a map a compass can do wonders, I always carry one when camping.

However my cell phone has been extremally reliable for my camping trips since battery life is incredible these days, especially since you are only using the most basic of features.

 

The sad thing about all this great information regarding location devices is no one will ever find it searching, as it is in a thread called Jacks. It needed its own thread...

 

Nah. Just leave “Search Titles Only” unchecked.

 

Yes, if you're already on the forum.

 

When I'm tempted to throw caution to the wind, what length of hi-lift is advisable? I've tried to guess from photos. 36" seems too short, so they must be 42" or 48". I'd like to avoid extra weight and bulk of the longest, but not if it precludes use in a reasonably likely scenario.

 

I've packed a Hi-lift jack since 1976 in my 4x4. Used it only once...and really didn't need it that time.

Met up with a group of guys in Jeeps a couple months ago. All of them had Hi-lift jacks. A couple of them had the Hi-lifts mounted just below the windshield, the rest were on the rear bumper. One of them had just had a flat so a scissor jack was used to change it. That brought up the topic of which jacks were the most useful...consensus of all of them was that the Hi-lift "might" be useful in some situations - none of them had ever used theirs.

 

I was on a Jeep forum for years. The general consensus was hi-lift jacks are more dangerous than useful, and tended to be hood ornaments more than tools.

 

Funny about these hi lift jacks, one came with my old 79 Buick but at that time they were just called jacks or Handyman/Sheepherder's Jack. Used it once for a few flats, boy was it sketchy but it did the job, but back then we had steel bumpers with holes to accommodate the jack.