Garmin Inreach vs Spot vs what else is out there?

[dlochner]

Considering a satellite communication device. Wondering what people have used and think of Garmin Inreach and Spot. Both are on sale now at attractive prices. Is there another similar product out there?

SPOT Satellite Communication Devices | Saved by SPOT | US

SPOT sells affordable satellite safety devices, delivering reliable location-based tracking, messaging and lifesaving SOS technology. SPOT products monitor your location, connecting to emergency responders while out of cellular range.

www.findmespot.com

Garmin inReach® Mini | Hiking GPS | Satellite Communicator

inReach® Mini is a compact hiking GPS & satellite communicator that serves as your go-to connection for off-the-grid contact.

buy.garmin.com

 

[jssailem]

An interesting question. You must have read my mind. I am looking at this idea and am still trying to form an opinion.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Some previous discussion on inreach here - Garmin In Reach

 

[Hunter216]

No personal experience with either one. Apparently lots of off piste skiers, hikers and I assume some offshore sailors use them. Lower cost than sat phone etc so might be worth it. Small price to pay for a potential life saver! Also kinda cool as others can track your progress to some degree.

However if you believe the stuff about this and their competitors then their viable lifespan is possibly short lived.

Starlink - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

If the starlink et al turns out to be real I’m both concerned about more space junk and happy about the nightly fireworks show from all the burn up on re-entry events! However world wide cheap internet would really change things!!!

 

[Gene Neill]

An interesting question. You must have read my mind. I am looking at this idea and am still trying to form an opinion.

Same here. Was looking more at PLB's (Christmas present for the Admiral) but still undecided.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

In a Spot vs Inreach I’d choose Inreach.
However I don’t think it’s an alternative to an EPIRB or PLB. Those are “In case of fire break glass”. Whereas spot/Inreach are “hey we’re fine I’ll call you if I need anything “

 

[dlochner]

I dashed my initial post as I was on my way out the door, should have provided more information.

On our adventure next year we anticipate parts of the journey to be 20 to 50 miles off shore, beyond the reach of the USCG's Rescue 21, so DSC distress calling won't work.

We will not be offshore or crossing oceans for days and weeks. If we were I'd have an EPIRB onboard, but they are more expensive and our budget is not unlimited.

Priorty One is being able to send a distress signal if we get in trouble more than 20 miles off shore or in the more remote areas of the Bahamas.

Priority Two is the ability of family to contact us in an emergency or if something serious is going at home.

Priority Three is the tracking, so friends and family will know our whereabouts more or less.

No personal experience with either one. Apparently lots of off piste skiers, hikers and I assume some offshore sailors use them. Lower cost than sat phone etc so might be worth it. Small price to pay for a potential life saver! Also kinda cool as others can track your progress to some degree.

However if you believe the stuff about this and their competitors then their viable lifespan is possibly short lived.

Starlink - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

If the starlink et al turns out to be real I’m both concerned about more space junk and happy about the nightly fireworks show from all the burn up on re-entry events! However world wide cheap internet would really change things!!!

Interesting idea, however, the time line for implementation is still several years away. I could be dead by then. Thanks for the lead.

Some previous discussion on inreach here - Garmin In Reach

Thanks for the lead. A short but positive discussion.

Same here. Was looking more at PLB's (Christmas present for the Admiral) but still undecided.

We went with 2 Ocean Signal MOB1s as they use DSC and AIS to alert and locate a person overboard. I"m not a fan of satellite based PLBs for this purpose. The boat that is in the best position to rescue an POB is the boat the person fell off of. A PLB doesn't help much with that, the MOB1 does.

The PLB could be a poor man's EPIRB.

 

[Michael Davis]

We have a Garmin In Reach. It allows the kids to keep track of us "old folks" all summer. Never too much safety equipment on a boat.

 

[nightowle]

I did the Baja Ha-Ha last year. We had 2 units on board. The captain had used his first when sailing from Seattle to San Diego. His unit failed to communicate for days on end from Oregon until SF. A number of friends and family wanted to track the boat, but tracking relays just stopped. Then later, out of San Diego when I was on board, another friend had brought along a new one. It was all set up and working fine upon departure, then it just crapped out for several days on the way down the coast of Baja. The captain's unit had trouble again, too. I can't relay what really happened, but to say the least, it was frustrating. We even communicated via VHF to the rest of the fleet for fixes, but none seemed to work. Yes, the units got working again.....but for that kind of money who needs the headache and concern when family and friends want to follow the cruise or communicate. I have Garmin products, but wouldn't trust these.

 

[SFS]

I did the Baja Ha-Ha last year. We had 2 units on board. The captain had used his first when sailing from Seattle to San Diego. His unit failed to communicate for days on end from Oregon until SF. A number of friends and family wanted to track the boat, but tracking relays just stopped....

@nightowle - you don't say which units you had two copies of, but based on my experience, you had two Spots, which are useless.

To the OP: check out my thoughts from direct experience (copied from a previous post):

SPOT Tracker (Gen3) issues

See also post #20 in this thread:
SPOT Gen3 GPS Tracker - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

If you want reliable tracking, go with the DeLorme InReach product. 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.

 

[Hunter216]

I could be dead by then.

Well I certainly hope that doesn’t happen!

Another option to consider, again no personal experience.

Iridium GO!

Stay connected with Iridium GO!® and access global voice calling, text messaging, GPS, SOS, and real-time updates all through your own smart device.

www.iridium.com

 

[RobG]

+1 for the Garmin InReach. I do the "when you need it" and it is really pain free. It makes the overall cost pretty reasonable for what you get. Also you can download marine charts to display so it is yet another back-up GPS. I used it with Topos for a far northern Cape Breton NS hiking trip and even way up there in deeply forested areas there were no sat reception problems. Haven't had any problems on the water either.

 

[HMT2]

I have used both the Spot and Inreach. I was renting the Spot for an offshore regatta. I decided to buy one and decided to buy the Inreach. It’s initial cost was. more than the Spot, but the Inreach has a plan where you pay 25.00 ish dollars annually and you can have a plan you turn off and on and pay for the month you need to use it, then you turn off the plan when you don’t need it. Great for those of us that only occasionally sail outside our normal sailing area.

 

[BarryL]

Hello,

I bought a SPOT 1 back in 2010. I used it for years for tracking and checking. Never for emergencies (thank goodness). It worked well for friends and family to know I was OK, when to expect me back, etc. IMHO the main shortcoming of the SPOT tracker was that communication was one way only from SPOT to the world, there was no way to receive information FROM the SPOT.

Last year I learned about the SPOT X - a two way satellite communicator. All of the features of the original SPOT with the ability to receive text and email. The price was good and the subscription services reasonable. I did some research on the InReach but I decided to buy a SPOT X. I played around with it at home and used it on the Around Long Island Regatta. I was able to communicate when we were 10+ miles off shore, out of cell phone range. It worked fine for that and the tracking feature worked well too.

My complaint about the SPOT X is that the keyboard and screen are both small - like an old blackberry. I had mounted the SPOT X on the cabintop - out of the way of being stepped on, but with a clear view of the sky. But this meant I needed to go to the SPOT to see if there were any messages. The Inreach products pair with a phone, so you don't need to have the device on your person.

Anyway, I learned that SPOT just released the SPOT X with blue tooth. This version can pair to a phone so you can send and receive message from your phone. This is great - you can use the phone address book, large screen, easy editing, voice control, etc. And you can still use the SPOT X if the weather is too bad to use a phone. The SPOT people were nice to me and gave me a discounted price to upgrade to the SPOT X Bluetooth.

Now I have learned that Garmin just released a new hand held plotter, that also has Inreach capability. This sounds great but the device is expensive and I already have the SPOT X.

Anyway I am happy with SPOT X. For my use, some off shore racing, some off the grid travel and hiking, the SPOT X works very well.

Barry

 

[dlochner]

Thanks for all the comments and links to other discussions. They have been helpful.

One comment mentioned the DeLorme Inreach, that's the same product as the Garmin InReach, Garmin bought DeLorme a few years back.

I did look at the Iridium Go, it is a nice unit and the data download is attractive, however the price tag for my purposes is out of reach. If I was sailing off shore for days at a time, downloading weather data would be valuable (See PredictWind web site). And our needs for messaging and since we will be mostly coastal cruising, most email can wait a day or two. We do have data plans on our phones, when wifi isn't available.

In the end I opted to go with a traditional EPRIB and a Spot X.

Ocean Signal has a couple of reasonably priced traditional EPIRBs. The big advantage to these is the long term low cost and the direct connection to the Cospas/Sarsat system without reliance on a third party company and they provide a homing signal. There is no activation fee or subscription fee. Depending on the unit, battery life is 5 or 10 years.

I also opted for a Spot X. The two features I wanted were tracking and messaging. The Spot Gen 3 has both of those, however, the messages are only pre-programmed text messages. Two way messaging was worth the extra $100.

I considered the InReach, however, it was more expensive and offered features I didn't need, i.e., integration with making programs. We have about 8 or 9 GPS enabled devices on the boat half of the have charting capabilities, we don't need another one.

Again thanks for the insights. Hope my decision making helps others.

 

[Michael Davis]

One comment mentioned the DeLorme Inreach, that's the same product as the Garmin InReach,

I'm told they are a little different. Not sure how. I know our DeLorme doesn't give an inshore weather report.

We do have data plans on our phones,

That's great for the East Coast. We are out of cell coverage at least 50% of the time(maybe more) on the West Coast and are often in places where even Coast Guard VHF doesn't reach. So much fun going back to basics.

 

[dlochner]

I'm told they are a little different. Not sure how. I know our DeLorme doesn't give an inshore weather report.

That's great for the East Coast. We are out of cell coverage at least 50% of the time(maybe more) on the West Coast and are often in places where even Coast Guard VHF doesn't reach. So much fun going back to basics.

Judging by the model names, I'm sure Garmin has upgraded the InReach and added more capabilities. It looks like they are merging their handheld GPS units with InReach capabilities.

Garmin | Search

Garmin | Select a Location

www.garmin.com

If I was on the West Coast I probably would have made different decisions. Getting back to basics is important, too often we make systems too complicated or are sucked in by the slick advertising. It would be cool to have a Sat phone and Sat download, but it is way more than my needs. The money would be better spent elsewhere on more fun things.

 

[nightowle]

@nightowle - you don't say which units you had two copies of, but based on my experience, you had two Spots, which are useless.

To the OP: check out my thoughts from direct experience (copied from a previous post):

Sorry.......I meant to say both were the Garmin 'mini'.....not a SPOT.

 

[CarlN]

I no longer go offshore - in anyone's boat - without my InReach. I don't even have an SSB radio anymore. With the InReach you can send and receive 160 character messages to/from any cell phone number or any email address for almost free.

- it makes it simple to stay in touch with friends and family in non-emergency situations such as being overdue, medical issues, marina reservations or equipment problems. Mine is always turned on.. If someone sends me a message, it beeps until I read it. My family worries much less because they know they can contact me anytime.

- The bluetooth phone interface makes it as easy to use as messaging on a phone. Spellcheck, contact lists, it's all right there

- It's cheap. I get the $15/month service only when offshore. And I only pay for the months I want it. No contract.

- It always works. Unlike a Satphone that constantly drops connections and you have to sit in the cockpit in the rain to use (unless you install an antenna). I put the InReach under the dodger and then connect with my iPhone from the cabin. The Inreach waits to send or receive until a satellite is overhead (typically 1-2 minutes). It uses the Iridium network which covers the entire globe and is what the US Military uses.

- It is much better than an EPIRB or PLB in a distress situation because you'll get an answer from the CG. This also allows the CG to immediately confirm the nature of distress instead of delaying a rescue for perhaps hours while they call the numbers in the EPIRB database hoping someone is home. I also have an EPIRB as a backup but would only use it if I didn't get an answer on the InReach.

- You can establish a "Watch" with the Garmin distress center before you're in "Mayday" level trouble. They will be happy to then contact you every few hours to make sure you are OK. They'll also inform the CG so they can plan a rescue and be able to launch immediately if you miss a contact.

- It's waterproof and has a four day battery. It can be worn around your neck to take in a life raft or even into the water. But almost all distress situations start while the boat is still afloat. I prefer the regular InReach SE over the Mini because it's hard to take your phone in the life raft with you. On the boat, I always connect my phone by bluetooth to the SE. The Mini makes more sense for hikers who want the smallest possible device and are also carrying a phone. The Explorer model also makes more sense for hikers who don't want to carry a separate map device.

- The InReach weather forecast is very good. $1/forecast five day forecast including wind, wave height and direction. I also sometimes send an InReach message to my son ashore who will pull a more detailed report off the Internet and convert it into a few 160 character text messages. It's amazing how much a 30 year old can pack into 160 characters.