> I wish they had a non-cost plan (or maybe $10/year) plus $5/text or something like that for use in an emergency.

Given that the outdoor SAR use case is probably the largest reason for people to get one of these devices in the first place, I doubt that such a model would be economically sustainable (unless subsidized by government agencies or possibly insurances saving money due to spending less on large-scale search operations).

Vendors could also bake a free SAR plan into the initial sales price, I suppose.