Spot Gen3?

Q - How much does Spot charge for truly reliable service?

A - Sorry, not available.

InReach is the better solution, though more expensive.

I have the original InReach (smartphone version). When Delorme came out with the newer, smaller InReach SE with LCD screen (the one Eric says they are not shipping yet), I considered upgrading. However, the SE uses an internal lithium battery while my older InReach uses 2 AA batteries (lithium, alkaline, or NiMH). I prefer the ability to swap batteries on longer trips, as I use the InReach in power planes, including week long camping trips in the Idaho back country, where the ability to send and recieve text messages via the InReach is appreciated by wife and family.

Note: My original InReach was defective. It would shut down and/or lock-up for no apparent reason. The replacement works flawlessly, even after dropping it and sending it flying even higher and into the concrete after my attempt to catch it only made matters worse (I had my hands full).

bumper

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 8:36:10 PM UTC-6, bumper wrote:
Q - How much does Spot charge for truly reliable service?



A - Sorry, not available.



InReach is the better solution, though more expensive.



I have the original InReach (smartphone version). When Delorme came out with the newer, smaller InReach SE with LCD screen (the one Eric says they are not shipping yet), I considered upgrading. However, the SE uses an internal lithium battery while my older InReach uses 2 AA batteries (lithium, alkaline, or NiMH). I prefer the ability to swap batteries on longer trips, as I use the InReach in power planes, including week long camping trips in the Idaho back country, where the ability to send and recieve text messages via the InReach is appreciated by wife and family.



Note: My original InReach was defective. It would shut down and/or lock-up for no apparent reason. The replacement works flawlessly, even after dropping it and sending it flying even higher and into the concrete after my attempt to catch it only made matters worse (I had my hands full).



bumper

Was watching F2's InReach today on the 18M task, highlighted in red rather than yellow for SPOT. Having the altitude in the data was interesting. Plus lots more fixes.

Frank Whiteley

On 5/8/2013 7:36 PM, bumper wrote:

Q - How much does Spot charge for truly reliable service?

A - Sorry, not available.

InReach is the better solution, though more expensive.

I have the original InReach (smartphone version). When Delorme came
out with the newer, smaller InReach SE with LCD screen (the one Eric
says they are not shipping yet), I considered upgrading. However, the
SE uses an internal lithium battery while my older InReach uses 2 AA
batteries (lithium, alkaline, or NiMH). I prefer the ability to swap
batteries on longer trips, as I use the InReach in power planes,
including week long camping trips in the Idaho back country, where
the ability to send and recieve text messages via the InReach is
appreciated by wife and family.

Note: My original InReach was defective. It would shut down and/or
lock-up for no apparent reason. The replacement works flawlessly,
even after dropping it and sending it flying even higher and into the
concrete after my attempt to catch it only made matters worse (I had
my hands full).

Paul Remde told me the inReach SE units were to ship to him Monday, so
expects to begin deliveries to his customers next week. I'm looking
forward to testing it.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

I would like to encourage everyone to evaluate the tracking difference between SPOT and InReach. There is not better comparison than to watch the SSA Sailplane Contest Tracker at SSA.org. The 18 meter nationals are occurring this week and the action is live as well as archived at SSA.org. Go to "race results" and you will find the tracker archive in a column beside each day. Only on the race page will you also find the task defined (not to be confused with the general tracking map).

The current day is "live" and the past results are "archived" for ever and ever. There is also visible satellite imagery archived every thirty minutes. Swipe the timeline at the bottom to march the pilots around the course. Sean's InReach is much more reliable, consistent and shows altitude in the info block.

Lane
XF

On Thursday, May 9, 2013 8:01:40 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I would like to encourage everyone to evaluate the tracking difference between SPOT and InReach. There is not better comparison than to watch the SSA Sailplane Contest Tracker at SSA.org. The 18 meter nationals are occurring this week and the action is live as well as archived at SSA.org. Go to "race results" and you will find the tracker archive in a column beside each day. Only on the race page will you also find the task defined (not to be confused with the general tracking map).



The current day is "live" and the past results are "archived" for ever and ever. There is also visible satellite imagery archived every thirty minutes. Swipe the timeline at the bottom to march the pilots around the course. Sean's InReach is much more reliable, consistent and shows altitude in the info block.



Lane

XF

As I was watching the race today I came up with a great idea Lane, could you link up the live tracking with Condor so us at home could fly along with the pack!!
Glennnnnn

Link to my Delorme tracking page: https://share.delorme.com/SeanFidler

This is my personal tracking page with Delorme InReach aviation data plan.

Delorme provides:

1 minute update cycles vs. 10 for spot :-(
Airspeed - spot nada
Altitude - spot nada
Heading - spot nada

Spot is really designed for people on hikes moving slowly along in remote area's.

Delorme is better suited for aviation. They have numerous plans based on the number of hours you plan to fly. You can also change to 10 min tracking if you want to save $$$ but still get altitude, etc.

The experience of following a flight with 1 minute updates, heading, altitude and airspeed is far more enjoyable, meaningful and FUN that watching spot. My experience is that very few people even bother watching spot tracking flights because it is so boring. If we all had InReach it would be much more fun to follow along.

Just sayin...

Sean

In flight tracking is just gravy for me. The only reason I got a satellite tracking device if any type is so the Leah can find me when I land out.

If you crash the spot may break and the last "Spot" tracking point may be 20-30 minutes old. Unreliable. Delorme is far ahead.

On Thursday, May 9, 2013 7:54:05 PM UTC-4, glen wrote:

As I was watching the race today I came up with a great idea Lane, could you link up the live tracking with Condor so us at home could fly along with the pack!!

Condor could model the same terrain, but the Condor weather would not match the actual conditions. But you could set your Condor conditions extremely favorable so that you keep up with the pack. It would be nice to have a "super glider" in Condor that has a flat polar.

Bumper how much does the Inreach cost per year for all the services? (alt, speed, location)