DeLorme In Reach (now Garmin)

kloudie1 · Jan 31, 2017

Go with Spot instead..??
http://www.findmespot.com/en/

SFS · Feb 1, 2017

kloudie1 said:
Go with Spot instead..??
http://www.findmespot.com/en/

No, NO, NO, do NOT go with SPOT. They only work intermittently. Their coverage map has been defined statistically by their marketing people, rather than showing actual working areas. Their customer service is terrible, and the Coast Guard told my wife (when the one on the boat I was delivering quit sending for 7 hours) that "there are areas where that product just doesn't work".

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/spot-tracker-gen3-issues.179959/&highlight=SPOT

See also post #20 in this thread:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/spot-gen3-gps-tracker-170569.html

The Delorme is the more costly and vastly superior product for many important reasons. You can get weather on it, it has two-way texting capability, you pay annually OR "only when you need it" (though at higher prices for the latter), and it uses the Iridium satellites for truly global coverage, which Jackdaw has written about somewhere. See posts #4 and #20 here for his take:

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/i...ces-or-alternatives.176183/&highlight=Iridium

Please don't buy a SPOT if you want dependable outgoing transmissions. That would be a false economy at best, and a false sense of security.

kloudie1 · Feb 1, 2017

I am thinking that Garmin "vaporware" is a bit less likely to work. The Spot folks are doing a major overhaul as outlined on their site.. I am not affiliated with them, just have seen friend's using them successfully. I purchased an early Garmin chartplotter that was rushed to market before they had worked the glitches out.. it was in "vaporware" status for a few months past its announced intro date. .. Left a really bad taste in my mouth especially when, after a few years, they declared the unit obsolete and quit trying to correct its problems.. I agree that Garmin mostly makes great products, but I'd hesitate to buy anything from them that is first generation.

SFS · Feb 1, 2017

And given that the SPOT that I had trouble with was a THIRD generation, it apparently takes SPOT a little longer than first generation to get things working. Of course, a "major overhaul" means they are essentially starting over at Gen1 under some kind of new system.

If you buy one, and you want SOS capability, get an EPIRB or an InReach as backup. And don't depend on the indicator LEDs that would lead you to believe the unit is transmitting and operating normally. It may not be. My unit was checked every hour for the entire trip, and the LEDs always indicated that the unit was doing fine, even though it had stopped transmitting. Don't forget to turn it on again every 24 hours, as it is programmed to turn off by itself!

Your boat, your life (potentially), your choice. Good luck.

Southpaw · Feb 1, 2017

I just purchased an inreach se. I will be activating it today for our trip on February 10. We will be bringing our boat to Florida from the BVI. We liked that it works global.

Jackdaw · Feb 1, 2017

I've owned both.

The differences are so substantial, is that I don't even consider spot to be a low-cost alternative. It's an inferior product that is nowhere is safe and reliable as the inreach. All the updates that they want to do on the device and on their software side cannot make up for the limitations of the satellite network that they use.

Southpaw · Feb 1, 2017

Gunni we also have an epirb and plbs for everyone onboard. We got the inreach for the same reason just to let friends and family to be able to track were we are at and in case they need to get ahold of us in an emergency

dziedzicmj · Feb 6, 2017

Amazon and MEC has them available. If I were you, I would try buying from the Canadian site (at 25% discount).