SPOT pricing going up again...

You also get (with Delorme/Garmin) altitude, speed and heading as part of the tracking for those following you. With Spot, those following don't know if you are circling at 500 ft. AGL or cruising at 17.5 MSL. You also have the option of increasing your tracking interval to 5,2, or even 1 minute with InReach/Garmin. Finally there are enterprise pricing plans that allow for much more data and less texting, encouraging 1 minute tracking in the main flying months. This can be rolled down to $5 per month maintenance plans when not flying.

Sean

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 6:12:56 AM UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
You also get (with Delorme/Garmin) altitude, speed and heading as part of the tracking for those following you. With Spot, those following don't know if you are circling at 500 ft. AGL or cruising at 17.5 MSL. You also have the option of increasing your tracking interval to 5,2, or even 1 minute with InReach/Garmin. Finally there are enterprise pricing plans that allow for much more data and less texting, encouraging 1 minute tracking in the main flying months. This can be rolled down to $5 per month maintenance plans when not flying.

Sean

First....what Sean said....

Also, over the years I have found that the tracking with the inReach has been more reliable than with the SPOT. I flew with both units for a season and often noticed that it was not uncommon for the SPOT to miss a 10 minute update and sometimes it missed tracking hits for as long as 20 or 30 minutes before a "hit" registered. I am sure that it is possible, but I do not believe I have ever seen the inReach miss a 10 min tracking hit. At the end of the day it all depends on "what" you really want a device to "do," what level of reliability is acceptable and of course, how much you want to spend.

Whatever you decide to do, always be sure you carry your device and turn it on. A few years ago we had a missing pilot (this was a different incident than Mark's earlier post) and we had no hits from SPOT or inReach or any other device. It turns out he had bailed out in a remote area (with no cell service) and fortunately, although injured, was able to walk to a road and was found. The reason we could not track him......his SPOT had been left in the hangar...

Now, be safe out there and ALWAYS carry your "device" of choice, your survival kit, a cell phone, etc, etc, etc. Thx - Renny

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:12:56 AM UTC-7, Sean Fidler wrote:
You also get (with Delorme/Garmin) altitude, speed and heading as part of the tracking for those following you. With Spot, those following don't know if you are circling at 500 ft. AGL or cruising at 17.5 MSL. You also have the option of increasing your tracking interval to 5,2, or even 1 minute with InReach/Garmin. Finally there are enterprise pricing plans that allow for much more data and less texting, encouraging 1 minute tracking in the main flying months. This can be rolled down to $5 per month maintenance plans when not flying.

Sean

The value of altitude information is over-rated, IMO. I tell my ground crew (wife) all you need to know is if I am moving or not (the faster the better); if I stay in a small area for awhile (30 min or 3 fixes) I am having problems and to stay alert. If two or more fixes are in the same spot I have landed and you should start a retrieve.

I know of one crew that did have altitude data; the pilot was very low and struggling (more than once). The pilot saved himself every time and made it back, but the crew was worrying the entire time.

Tom

So Sean, exactly what do you pay a year with going to the 5.95/mo for 5 months a year? I'm still not convinced and believe that the "perceived" value is not worth it. Not trying to convince any one else to switch back. I just know it (spot) works for me. We also have a spot Trace, in our 170b. My partner bought that and it automatically starts tracking when moved. Sends a text to him every time I fly And no one is following my flights, they will look when I'm late or missing. In the 10 years or so I have been using it if it has missed a track I would be able to count them on one hand, also I have had to use the help (not sos) to initiate ground retrieve when flying out of Ely and landing out in remote areas once. Every other land out (about 3 year) I have been able to make contact before landing or after. Ive still sent a help msg just to insure they have my exact location.

A bit of creep, but it is related to 'stuff you can buy to manage adverse contingencies' and InReach.

I was planning to fly gliders outside of North America and shopping for Travel Insurance. I read the fine print of several policies and found that the Medical Evacuation Benefit (and other medical benefits) are EXCLUDED if the accident occurs in a non-commercial aircraft.

Then I found that the policy offered by GEOS (related to the InReach SOS button) INCLUDES incidents that occur in 'licensed aircraft'. That includes sailplanes (but probably excludes paragliders etc.). The price seemed reasonable, (as it also includes medical care to stabilize patient prior to evacuation), and it runs for 12 months (unlike most travel policies), and the benefit is also usable in the USA whenever the incident occurs more than 100 miles from your home.

http://www.geosalliance.com/geos-ser...al-evacuation/

The exclusion for non-commercial aircraft is spelled out in the catch all 'Adventure Sports' exclusion. I found one other Travel Insurance policy that included 'Adventure Sports' (the insurance industry term of art), but it was pricey and only good for 90 days.

YMMV. Heed the fine print. I'm not an 'insurance professional'.

The Cumulus Soaring charts omit the plans that charge for every tracking point, but for those who fly less often, these are the least expensive plans, and can be less than $250 per year.

I use the InReach plan with the lowest monthly fee. With taxes added in, it is $12.20 each month plus $0.10 per tracking point.

5 hours of tracking costs $3, if the tracking interval is 10 minutes. If I could fly 30 weeks a year and had tracking turned on 5 hours each week, the total bill would be $237. That is slightly less than any of the plans with free tracking.

With this plan, the monthly fees can't be turned off, but even if you could, it would only save $6 per month. My actual charges for the last 12 months were $215, which includes some non-soaring tracking fees (winter hiking). The high month was July (R1 contest) at $27.

...david 8D

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 1:52:27 PM UTC-4, Renny wrote:
On Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 11:18:49 AM UTC-6, Renny wrote:
On Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 10:09:05 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I have the recreation plan and that costs me $24.95/mo. That provides unlimited tracking and 40 texts a month.

Last year I upgraded to the SE from the older unit, so I also have the safety plan ($11.95/mo) on the older unit for my wife to use on retrieves.. That allows 10 texts a month and will be invaluable if we're both in the boonies trying to get connected.

Renny, you might want to update your plan because that extra $14/mo might not be getting you anything. :-)

-Tom

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 6:32:25 AM UTC-7, Renny wrote:
Delorme Plan 3 (unlimited tracking every 10 minutes) the cost including taxes and fees = $38.72/month

Tom,
I will definitely take a good look!
Thanks for the heads-up!
Renny

OK..As we continue to beat this wonderful subject to death, let me recommend this URL from Cumulus Soaring whichcontains a lot of plan info...

http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/garmin.htm

Here is another URL from Paul Rende with contract info...

http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/delor...tractPlans.pdf

Now, one clarification regarding the plan I have been using...I do not actually have unlimited tracking with the Delorme 3 "Plan," but based on 10 minute tracking I would have to fly more than 102.6 hours in one month before I would go over my 8,000 bytes/mo that I am allowed (before having to pay extra), so at least for me, it is essentially unlimited. For those who fly more hours each month, or want a more frequent tracking interval, a different plan might be more appropriate.

Again, Paul's excellent charts at Cumulus Soaring have all of the details..
Thx - Renny

Spot's business practices do leave a little to be desired! My service renewed 4/27, I still haven't been billed, there is absolutely no indication anywhere I can find on my Spot Account page that tells me what the bill will be for 2017.

So I called the customer support number and this is what they told me: Gen 2 Spot users can expect 12 month renewal with tracking to be $164.98, a $5 increase over 2016 prices. Gen 3 users get socked with a much larger increase discussed at the beginning of the thread.

Grudgingly, I will allow the renewal to proceed, but I think this is my last season on Spot. The *only* things I like about it is that the Gen 2 unit fits perfectly on a parachute cross strap (my rigger approves) and it works where cell service doesn't (and that's quite a lot of my XC flying).

Evan Ludeman / T8

Does SPOT provide duplex text messaging with preset or newly composed messages?
Does the latest SPOT device provide altitude information?
Does SPOT offer Adverse Condition Alerting Service? (for a current flight plan)
Does SPOT offer Flight Aware flight tracking? (with or without a flight plan)
Will SPOT report on the operational status of their system? For example:
https://status.inreach.garmin.com/
Time to shop?
Jim

On Monday, May 1, 2017 at 12:36:37 PM UTC-4, JS wrote:
Does SPOT provide duplex text messaging with preset or newly composed messages?
Does the latest SPOT device provide altitude information?
Does SPOT offer Adverse Condition Alerting Service? (for a current flight plan)
Does SPOT offer Flight Aware flight tracking? (with or without a flight plan)
Will SPOT report on the operational status of their system? For example:
https://status.inreach.garmin.com/
Time to shop?
Jim
Half an hour on hold trying to cancel the upcoming renewal. What a terrible service. Still waiting.

I didn't have any trouble canceling over the phone, but I took the insurance route also- I changed my CC info to something invalid.

Looking forward to InReach tracking and text messaging this year, along with altitude and Iridium coverage.