Thanks for sharing your experience with SPOT. A few months ago I did some preliminary research in PLB's. I won't be buying for a few months more, closer to my plane going up for the first time, and will do more digging before I buy. I didn't like the idea of paying a yearly subscription to a device. Lots of them had this mandatory fee and I think SPOT was one of them. It may turn out that it's a better deal than a no frills, subscription free device like the McMurdo. I mentioned it cuz it was the cheapest without a subscription.

Below is a pic from the cockpit, showing the ELT ~3.5' back. For service, I'd slap a plank down the middle and shimmy back to the unit.

Attachment 1351