My last line was referencing your dancing quote and just meant that sometimes the partner isn't even at the dance for these dunces.

There is no phrase that SPOT could send that would prevent an SAR if the idiot set up a contact to call rescue if the signal is not received at a certain time.

The nature of the sat phone WAS the problem - it was used to make regular calls. The problem was when a call was not made. It would be a stretch beyond imagination to hold the company responsible for an SAR because their product broke.

I am willing to hold companies responsible for products that truly are defective or dangerous, but there is no way your example of low batteries causing an SAR because some idiot told people to start a search if they don't hear from it every few hours can be stretched into product liability.

Maybe a label: "People using this product are idiots and one should never do anything they tell you to"? Then again, that would be plastered over everything...

Mark