The age-old question: Garmin InReach Vs SPOT. But most importantly, what plans?

[Sergio Escobar]

Hi all,

I know a lot of pilots use SPOT and are very happy with them, but due to the 2-way communication characteristics, I am considering that an InReach device could be better. It is more expensive of course but yearly plans do not differ too much.

I have a couple of questions for InReach users if you can help me please?

• InReach Explorer or InReach SE? The main difference seems that the first one has maps. I would not use this unit for navigation and the only time I can think it would be very valuable is if you are in far-away country on an expedition and if you land on a remote area, so the only way to know where you are and where to go is to use the maps. Is it worth the extra amount of money for this feature?
• What plan do you use? It looks that the most basic plan (safety) has everything we want EXCEPT that you have to pay £0.1 for each tracking point. I believe that tracking is essential for paragliding as you might not be able to push the SOS button if you get in trouble, so you want to be able to show on a map if you are not moving. The unlimited tracking package costs £13 more a month. Is it worth it? Is it better to pay for tracking points on demand?
• Do you use the other features? It seems to me that custom text messages and weather would not be often used unless, for instance, you are in the 7th day of your bivy-fly expedition across the Himalayas. 

And for SPOT users:

• Did you ever find that signal was not reliable?
• Any reasons why a SPOT could be a better choice than InReach?

Many thanks.

Sergio

[johnnewton1234]

Had to use spot sos for real in spain last year it worked.

There are some remote countries in the world it hasnt got cover

So depends on where you go 

Cheer

John

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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[johnnewton1234]

I find spot easier less to use go wrong and it tracks and has sos which is what you have it for the rest us just bells and whistles

Great but is it really necessary

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Sergio Escobar <sergio_e...@hotmail.com>

Date: 18/01/2018 13:45 (GMT+00:00)

To: LLSC <ll...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: [LLSC] The age-old question: Garmin InReach Vs SPOT. But most importantly, what plans?

[Andrew Williams]

Sergio

I went with the inreach explorer.  Sorry to spot users for the list below.....

There are some heavy hitters that steered me to it:

1. The inReach has full global coverage, Spot does not. When you have a potential blind spot when using a gps locator (as you do with the spot system) it renders it useless if you land in the wrong place. This holds true for Scotland as well as exotic places.

2. Two way messaging. Your phone is useless if it doesn’t have a signal or the battery runs out, or gets cold and shuts down. 

The other point I heard someone say is “I’ll get one when I do XC”.  My opinion is that If you are out on your own and doing a top to bottom - you should have one. If you are lying with a broken leg or worse - it doesn’t really matter if the car is 50km or 50m away - you need help! 

An inReach and a buddy system will keep you covered. Anything else has holes.

Why the explorer? It had a feature or two that I thought would be useful. Plenty of comparison reviews if you want to have a look. I don’t remember what they were...... 

As for contract - I went with basic and will pay the rest as I use it for messages and tracking. You can go month by month if you choose, but spread over the year I thought it would be six or two threes for total cost and it saves having to remember to switch on / off service. 

Personally I also now fly with a flymaster live for further safety / coverage. There are also phone apps that can do a similar job such as followmee. It will likely mean you have to fly with a battery to keep the phone charged.

Cheers

Andrew