SPOT pricing going up again...

Remove your credit card from your online account. Then the renewal will
fail and you can ignore their new-found customer service.

On 5/2/2017 4:22 PM, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
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.

--
Dan, 5J

Well, I thought I'd log in and cancel my account but it seems I can't.
My username/password pair doesn't work and, when I asked to have a reset
link sent, they said it was sent to my email account. It wasn't.
Hopefully I did not update my credit card information last time the
number was changed...

On 4/2/2017 11:51 AM, wrote:
I just got notice from SPOT Tracking that they are increasing fees again for my next annual renewal. A few years ago, they added a "network fee" of $9.99 to my bill. That is now going up to $14.99. It looks like for tracking service, yearly fees will go from around $162 to $199.99. So another $50 per year.

Flying out west in the mountains and Great Basin as we do here in Utah, we have to have GPS tracking devices. With the yearly pricing now around $215 per year for only basic tracking every 10 minutes without altitude reporting, is it time to consider one of the other better featured GPS tracking devices and services?

Don't get me wrong, I have been grateful for having my SPOT with me flying for the last 9+ years.

The snow is finally melting...now if only the rain would stop!
Bruno - B4

--
Dan, 5J

The InReach units seem to be larger than the spot3 units. I need to keep the device in my smack pack on the chute (if the plane and I should become inconveniently separated). Can anyone comment or relative sizes and stuffing the InReach into an emergency pouch on the chute riser?

Thanks,

Matt H

On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 11:51:21 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I just got notice from SPOT Tracking that they are increasing fees again for my next annual renewal. A few years ago, they added a "network fee" of $9.99 to my bill. That is now going up to $14.99. It looks like for tracking service, yearly fees will go from around $162 to $199.99. So another $50 per year.

Flying out west in the mountains and Great Basin as we do here in Utah, we have to have GPS tracking devices. With the yearly pricing now around $215 per year for only basic tracking every 10 minutes without altitude reporting, is it time to consider one of the other better featured GPS tracking devices and services?

Don't get me wrong, I have been grateful for having my SPOT with me flying for the last 9+ years.

The snow is finally melting...now if only the rain would stop!
Bruno - B4

I just went online to my Spot account. I blanked out the card numbers and my name. I then saved the changes. Logged out, then logged back in. Went to my account and all the credit card information was again displayed!!! I now have tried several times to blank the card number out, but it still reappears after I log back on.
If they charge my card, I will notify my card company of the fraud they are attempting. Be careful as you may be getting a charge!
Best. Tom #711.

Turns out you can't cancel your account online - you must call customer
service and wait for your turn. Then it turned out that the account is
in my wife's name and she wasn't home. Now we'll have to go through it
again...

On 5/3/2017 12:50 PM, Tom Kelley #711 wrote:
On Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 11:51:21 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I just got notice from SPOT Tracking that they are increasing fees again for my next annual renewal. A few years ago, they added a "network fee" of $9.99 to my bill. That is now going up to $14.99. It looks like for tracking service, yearly fees will go from around $162 to $199.99. So another $50 per year.

Flying out west in the mountains and Great Basin as we do here in Utah, we have to have GPS tracking devices. With the yearly pricing now around $215 per year for only basic tracking every 10 minutes without altitude reporting, is it time to consider one of the other better featured GPS tracking devices and services?

Don't get me wrong, I have been grateful for having my SPOT with me flying for the last 9+ years.

The snow is finally melting...now if only the rain would stop!
Bruno - B4
I just went online to my Spot account. I blanked out the card numbers and my name. I then saved the changes. Logged out, then logged back in. Went to my account and all the credit card information was again displayed!!! I now have tried several times to blank the card number out, but it still reappears after I log back on.
If they charge my card, I will notify my card company of the fraud they are attempting. Be careful as you may be getting a charge!
Best. Tom #711.

--
Dan, 5J

On Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 11:08:42 AM UTC-7, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
The InReach units seem to be larger than the spot3 units. I need to keep the device in my smack pack on the chute (if the plane and I should become inconveniently separated). Can anyone comment or relative sizes and stuffing the InReach into an emergency pouch on the chute riser?

Thanks,

Matt H

Our parachute rigger has made pouches for the (slightly shorter than the new units) InReach SE and added a hard point on the left parachute riser cover of a couple of chutes for us.
The hard point is (I think) about 3" of 1.5" webbing oriented vertically.
The pouch has 2" velcro on the strap. The velcro is sandwiched pretty tight between the webbing and riser cover so departure from the harness is doubtful. It will not interfere with parachute operation.
InReach functionality is great in that position. Even the old SPOT 1s and 2s worked there.
Jim

Why use SPOT with 10 minute updates when you can use a free service that uses your smart phone and has 1 second updates, including altitude?
For sailplane contests there is a 149 Euro charge for the entire contest if more than 3 days long.
Check it out at https://airtribune.com/articles/sailplane

Because I bought a spot so my crew can find me when I land where there is no cell service

Your wife is changing accounts into her name, and now you find she's not home? Keep the SPOT account running and put the thing in the trunk of her car!

I don't have a data plan on my smart phone.

I'm looking at InReach...

On 5/7/2017 10:23 AM, Soartech wrote:
Why use SPOT with 10 minute updates when you can use a free service that uses your smart phone and has 1 second updates, including altitude?
For sailplane contests there is a 149 Euro charge for the entire contest if more than 3 days long.
Check it out at https://airtribune.com/articles/sailplane

--
Dan, 5J