To spot or not to spot

Rufus

New member
Great discussion!

Us? Retired married couple, extensive land based travelers for the last 45 years via 4x4, on foot, and via kayak. Have been a SPOT owner for six years, then I bought a DeLorme InTouch last year. The SPOT is now a paperweight.

I went with the DeLorme because of the two way text communications. At the time of purchase I had a 92 year old mother at home and two adult children who would mildly stress out at their parent's crazy travels. It's funny that WE never stress out about our travels. It's the youngsters who get stressed out and demand that we carry technology to solve problems that aren't problems. Snerk.

Anyway...what I like about the InTouch:

-Like SPOT, my DeLorme webpage that shows cookie crumbs every x minutes of our travels. Friends and family can see where we are. If visiting friends is on our plan, they can figure out when we'll be in their driveway. After an adventure we'll save our trip map to reference later.

-Like SPOT, the InTouch has a messaging feature, but the InTouch allows users to self-defined a dozen messages such as "Start/Stop for the day", "Staying put today", etc. The SPOT only lets you send four basic pre-programmed messages. Sending these custoized messages helps lower family stress. Sending pre-set messages are free btw.

- Pay for only what you need with the InTouch. We pay one, low annual fee to keep the account active, then activate the InTouch only for the month we need it. SPOT makes you pay for the entire year up front. Depending on your plan, you will have a limited number of texts before you start to pay a per-text fee. So be frugal with your texts.

-The InTouch bluetooths to our iPad or iPhone for better ease of use. I download maps from DeLorme into my iPhone's memory before the trip. The maps are very useful and provide a lot of information.

-And the most useful feature is real time texting to people on your contact list. With a 92 year old mother at home, I can text her caregiver from the most remote campsite you can think of and ask "How's mom?"and I'll get an answer in less than a minute. That's pretty cool.

Are there any bad things with the InTouch? You bet! The user documentation absolutely sucks, just like SPOT's does! Actually it's non-existent. I'd suggest any DeLorme user to find a user group and read, read, read and practice at home. The machine is reasonably complex, know how it operates from the comfort of your backyard before you take it into the wild. I created a laminated cheat sheet that I take with me. It fits in my pocket and my disinterested in technology wife can use it if she needs to.

And for you guys who scoff at taking an iPhone or electronic device into the wilderness, we treat our power needs just like we do our water. We conserve at every chance. And like the water filter we carry, we have a small, folding solar panel that does a great job keeping our portable pocket battery topped off, which in turn we use to charge our camera battery, InTouch battery, iPhone battery, Kindle, and headlamp battery. I can hear my fellow backpackers groaning from here. I'm 62 years old, I'm taking some electronics with me!! Especially my Kindle. Boy does it save weight compared with a book!

The longest the wife and I have gone off-grid and with electronics is ten days and we had absolutely no problem with power needs, but you have to pay attention. The DeLorme will go three days without a charge IF you only turn on the tracking feature only when you're on the move. Thus the messaging. When I tell the kids that we are starting or finishing the day, that means that I'm turning on or off the tracking feature. I'll leave the InTouch turned on to exchange texts, if necessary.

Hope this helps.
 

Dalko43

Explorer
Can't speak to the Spot, but I'm an Inreach Explorer user here. The communication and navigational capabilities far outpace anything else on the market, including the Spot.

The older Inreach models (the ones Delorme originally came out with) are good, well-made units. They pair with your mobile phone for digital maps (provided by Delorme). This cannot be understated....Delorme has a wider variety of digital maps than just about anything else I've seen (digital Topo, US Quad, Nautical, Road maps, Sat imagery)...you get to choose which ones you want and don't want for each region. Only big downside, is you need a mobile device to display the maps (older Inreach's don't display actual maps) and they lack good maps for Canada or anywhere outside the US.

Since Garmin's acquisition of Delorme, there are newer Inreach units that have come out. They look different from the older units (they look similar to some of Garmin's other offerings) but otherwise seem to function the same way, except that the new Explorer+ can actually display maps. The digital maps are still the proprietary maps that Delorme developed....us Inreach users still don't seem to have access to Garmin's own map library. Hopefully Garmin makes their maps compatible with the Inreach devices (this should solve the lack of maps for Canada).
 

Dalko43

Explorer
What SPOT navigational capabilities??

My point was that it doesn't have navigation, unlike the Inreach.

Going back over the earlier posts, I think people are really getting too focused on one device or Sat-network vs another. The fact is, if you have any sort of sat-based communication and/or tracking, you are much better off than having nothing at all. I wouldn't fret too much over one brand vs another other, so long as the device works properly.

Some people expressed concerns that the inreach is a gadget or "toy" that won't be as reliable as a traditional PLB device. That's not an accurate description of the Inreach. This thing is rated for GPS accuracy to +/-5 meters, Mil-STD-810G for shock, IP67 for dust and water (tested for submersion for up to 30 minutes). I've taken this thing through all kinds of places and abused it pretty good and it has never had an issue. It feels and performs as solid as the GPS units I used overseas for military deployments. This thing is more a tool or piece of kit than it is a fancy "toy."

The messaging features, while by no mean necessary, are extremely convenient. You're able to actually communicate with others prior to and even during an emergency. Unlike traditional PLB's which can only be activated in case of an emergency, you've got more flexibility with the Inreach. I haven't tested the SOS feature, but there have been plenty of after actions on Delorme's (now Garmin's) website. The feature has worked for plenty of different people (sailors, climbers, hikers, ect.) all over the world. If people have any doubts about this thing's capability, they just haven't spent enough time researching it.

There is some simplicity in having a traditional PLB and a separate GPS navigational unit...the beauty of the Delorme Explorer is that it combines both of those features into one robust device.
 

PHeller

Adventurer
Sorry for the necro-post, but has anyone watched the decrease in subscription plan prices for two-way satellite stuff?

I like the PLB's "no cost until you hit the button" but I'm not big on the fact that you go from "Zero to Eleven" as others said.

I hope that in the future we can get services where you just pay by the message.
 

dms1

Explorer
If you get a Spot, I saw they were onsale for like $80.00 in some Memorial Day add, but I don't remember where, might be REI or Bass Pro.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
If you get a Spot, I saw they were onsale for like $80.00 in some Memorial Day add, but I don't remember where, might be REI or Bass Pro.

https://www.findmespot.com/summer17...ark_LM&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Summer17

50% OFF DEVICES*
50% OFF SERVICE UPGRADE

Get out there and adventure without the limitation of cellular coverage. No matter where your summer adventure takes you, SPOT gives you peace of mind. With SPOT Gen3 you can stay connected to family, friends and emergency responders and with SPOT Trace, you can protect your most valuable assets from theft.

LIMITED TIME OFFER. MAY 19 - SEPT 4, 2017. Purchases limited to three (3) devices per address.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
There is some simplicity in having a traditional PLB and a separate GPS navigational unit...the beauty of the Delorme Explorer is that it combines both of those features into one robust device.
I've been running a SPOT for coming up on 3 years now. I've been happy with it for the reasons I've mentioned before in this thread. I haven't any reason to change things. I have Bedrock Bag's slick SPOT harness that make running it on my Camelbak convenient. I run it at the very top of my strap (not low like they show here) and it's the ideal orientation for the antennas. I get exceptional battery life, several months of normal use and easily get more than a week of 24 hour tracking at 10 minute intervals.

bedrock+spot+2.jpg

My point here, though, is I *want* to agree with convergence of features. For smart phones having a phone, Internet, good navigation, specialized apps is clearly a major space saver and there's no argument that carrying a flip phone, GPS device, iPod is in any way better other than perhaps much greater battery life for a phone. But in all ways having a smart phone is handy.

Thing is I also use a Garmin eTrex to navigate along with my SPOT and I've broken enough GPS mounts, lost one unit and cracked a LCD in crashes that I most definitely would not want to combine a GPS and/or smart phone with my tracker/PLB. If I was to move to an InReach I would then feel compelled to add a PLB as a backup. In a vehicle an InReach would be more protected against this sort of abuse but for bike/ski/kayak/climbing I'm not as sure. Just too much exposure and risk.

Even under ideal conditions my eTrex is subjected to vibration and shock being mounted to the stem, which causes component failure that I wouldn't want to find out about 18 months down the road when it doesn't activate an SOS. But then again, if you're using your tracker all the time then you know it's getting flaky so that might actually be an argument for. So many combinations of variables. I'll only know my tracker isn't work if I get cell coverage and have a text from my wife that she hasn't seen updates in a while. DaveInDenver, making arguments against his counterpoints since 2008. ;-)
 
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