Got a new SPOT Gen 3

The first step is to admit you have a problem… ;^)

I'm almost positive the main benefit of these sat communicators is to let our SO's/family know we're okay. I don't even get crap from my family any more when I head out. I just let them know "here's my web page for tracking me, and I will send you an OK every night.". I have the delorme so it's not faith-based that the communication got through. But it's seriously useful. Also, the delorme, being 2-way, has someone who set up an email that you could send a message to with your coordinates, and it will look up the next week of weather from the NWS and text it back to you. This paid off rather nicely last week when the weather forecast went from "1/2 inch of rain and cool" to "snow is coming". I knew to cut that leg of the trip short and didn't have to spend a miserable night in the snow with equipment that wouldn't have cut it.

http://wx2inreach.weebly.com/details.html To use this service, send a message from your InReach to wx2inreach@gmail.com in one of the following formats. You have to send your request from an InReach. You won’t get a forecast if you try to use a regular email account. To get an immediate forecast: Send the message “wx now”. Leave out the quotation marks. It doesn’t matter if it’s upper or lower case. You should get a response if you wait about 15-20 minutes and then check for messages. The forecast will be based on your current GPS location. If it’s a US location, the forecast will come from the US National Weather Service. Here’s an example and a translation. Td PtSun 8% 46 Tn Clr 6% 27 Tm Brz 50 TmN Brz 28 Mo Brz 51 MoN Brz 28 Tu SlChTstm 17% 43 TuN SlChTstm 21% 22 We ChSnoShw 26% 36 Today: Partly sunny, PoP 8%, high 46°F Tonight: Clear, PoP 6%, low 27°F Tomorrow: Breezy, high 50°F Tomorrow night: Breezy, low 28°F Monday: Breezy, high 51°F Monday night: Breezy, low 28°F Tuesday: Slight chance thunderstorms, PoP 17%, high 43°F Tuesday night: Slight chance thunderstorms, PoP 21%, low 22°F Wednesday: Chance snow showers, PoP 26%, high 36°F

I bought a Delorme for the sole purpose of letting my wife know I am ok and so she can let me know if something happens back home that would cause me to have to bail on my trip and get back asap. I still haven't tried the weather thing out but that is a really cool feature

"I bought a Delorme for the sole purpose of letting my wife know I am ok and so she can let me know if something happens back home" How much does that weigh, cost to buy, and cost per year? This is what I need

Some folks WANT the 2-way functionality, and some folks don't… I LOVED the ability receive messages from home, weather reports, etc. on my DeLorme. On the other hand, one guy I met said he preferred his SPOT because if he could receive messages, he was afraid that his wife would "bother him" with "every little crisis". Sigh. I think that guy and his wife need a marriage counselor, not a SPOT… (a little humour here, folks!) I'll keep my DeLorme, thank you! ;^)

I acquired a SPOT 3 this year, but only for solo off-trail travel in remote places, otherwise I will leave it at home. On the test hike I found that it worked very well, and only gave me a fail-to-send message once. I do not use tracking. FYI for the other messages I composed the following: Check In/OK: I am OK and am enjoying my hike! Custom: I am experiencing some difficulties and may be delayed exiting. NON-URGENT. Help/SPOT Assist: I am experiencing NON-URGENT NON-LIFE THREATENING difficulties, but need assistance to exit the trail. S.O.S.: Gender, height, weight, age, blood type, no special medical concerns or allergies, CA drivers license #, Anthem #, mobile #, "experienced and fit hiker with wilderness first aid training" I am sure that I have not thought out all situations and will probably micro-adjust messages #2 and #3. If I employed tracking it could largely supplant message #1 and allow for more nuanced messages across #1 #2 and #3.

"he was afraid that his wife would "bother him" with "every little crisis". " hmmm??? I am concerned both with message to wife saying I'm okay, and message from her saying everything there is okay. I can do a trip anytime so it doesn't make much difference if I came home a day or several early. My plan was pretty arbitrary in the first place.

I went hiking with my neighbor, a great guy. On the drive up, he received three phone calls from his wife. In the first hour of the hike, we were informed that his daughter had some new pictures of their child. We stopped and admired those pictures. In the second hour, we were informed that said child had sat up for the first time. This involved a long phone call. In the third hour, he responded to a phone call inquiring if he was all right. Etc. My neighbor said that he wanted to get into hiking; I realized that he really wanted to be a grandfather. Nothing wrong with that. This was in Desolation Wilderness, which has great phone reception.

Does anyone know when (or if) they are coming out with an updated version of the inReach? I would like to have one that is a better GPS unit. I have never used a GPS, but if I am going to get that type of unit, it makes since to me that it should do double duty as a GPS as their are times a GPS would would probably be useful. The Spot in my mind is of limited usefulness as in my mind two way communications is a huge asset in a SOS type situation. I have been in two situations where outside assistance was needed, one in the southern Appalachians where my hiking partners and I ran across another hiker that was having a chest pains and a heart arrhythmia. One of my hiking partners had a SPOT and a Cell Phone. He hated to activate his SPOT as he was afraid his family would think he was the one hurt. His cell phone didn't have service but we knew the area had intermittent areas of service. I hiked to the to of Mt Gyout and was able to get a signal there and call in a helicopter evacuation. I had thought that if we had activated the SPOT they probably would have sent a ranger hiking in who would then have to radio out for the evacuation, adding hours to his wait before evacuation. Using the phone we were able to tell the 911 operator exactly what the situation was. In the other situation we were in the backcountry in Alaska and we had a individual get lost and we were able to call the bush pilot and have him do a flyover and locate that individual. On remote and off trail trips I have usually rented a satellite phone but an inReach would probably do the same thing. It would give me the ability to contact emergency reponders if I was to get injured and have some contact with my family if needed.

I bought the SPOT instead of the DeLorme PLB because: 1. It was smaller and lighter than the DeLorme (If I had to carry the d@mned thing then it had to be as light as possible.) 2. SPOT technology has advanced and is proven. A new satellite reportedly is now in use. 3. I had everything i needed. (I back pack to get away, not to swap messages.) 4. Battery saving sensor that turns SPOT off when you are not moving. 5. DeLorme wants an additional 10 cents PER TRACK report. WHINE: I just wish my Garmin GPS ran on AAA batteries instead of AA. Now I'm carrying 3 different battery spares. Gadgets are progress? GAK!

Eric – "A new satellite … is now in use." Where can I read about this "new satellite"?

Globalstar started adding satellites in 2013 and were also upgrading their ground network. I'm guess new satellites are these coming online ?

Greg, Very good question. I'm repeating what an REI store clerk told me that he was told a few days prior by a SPOT rep. It may be the rep. was referring to the GEOS International Emergency Rescue Coordination Center having a new satellite, I dunno. Lemme GOOGLE that.

I just wish my Garmin GPS ran on AAA batteries instead of AA Unless you need the GPS for actual navigation, you can set the SPOT up with 5-minute tracking and get a pretty decent record of your route that can be downloaded after your trip in both gpx and kml formats for Caltopo, Google Earth, etc.

"Does anyone know when (or if) they are coming out with an updated version of the inReach? I would like to have one that is a better GPS unit. I have never used a GPS, but if I am going to get that type of unit, it makes since to me that it should do double duty as a GPS as their are times a GPS would would probably be useful. " You have two options here. 1. The normal InReach will bluetooth to your cell phone and you can use the Earthmate software to get GPS coords. This might be useful if you have a smartphone without a GPS receiver. Otherwise it's redundant. 1a. The normal InReach will display GPS coords in it's status screen. I have it set to UTM and just cross-reference on a map 95% of the time. 2. For 100 dollars more you can get an InReach that functions as a GPS handheld. HOWEVER. You're stuck with the same like 1.25" screen and it is basically useless for real navigating. I wasn't impressed with it at all when I played with it at the store. I'd go with option 1a and if my phone supported it rely on that as a GPS nav unit with something like GaiaGPS or something similar (I subbed to a year of alltrails and get NatGeo maps that I can download, that's pretty good).

"I bought the SPOT instead of the DeLorme PLB because: 1. It was smaller and lighter than the DeLorme (If I had to carry the d@mned thing then it had to be as light as possible.) 2. SPOT technology has advanced and is proven. A new satellite reportedly is now in use. 3. I had everything i needed. (I back pack to get away, not to swap messages.) 4. Battery saving sensor that turns SPOT off when you are not moving. 5. DeLorme wants an additional 10 cents PER TRACK report." Answering points: 1. No argument there, the DeLorme is 3oz heavier (7oz to the spot's 4oz) and smaller. 2. SPOT coverage has advanced, it's better now, but saying it's proven intones that the Iridium sat network isn't "proven". It is, and they're upgrading that one too (eventually with the right radio they're promising like 1mbps transfer speed instead of the 1kbps, yes 1kbps, transfer speed). However, the SPOT is "best effort" and can't actually confirm that you've successfully sent a message. The DeLorme receives communication back from the system that the message was successful. I've had missed messages the SPOT happily said were successful. 3. No argument there. 4. A lot of those 3oz is additional battery capacity, and is rechargable at that, which means you can use battery vaults and not have to worry about batteries. I had 15 minute tracking on for 8 hours a day and used maybe 6-7% battery life per day. I'd say it's a draw in this case 5. At the cheapest level, yes it's 10 cents per track report. Kick it up to the next level and tracking is free. But more importantly for me, Delorme lets you do monthly subscriptions and turn the damn thing off when you don't need it. So in my case, I never hit the back country during the summer because it's 110 and bone dry. So I just suspend the subscription and save money. And I can pick and choose the subscription for the month to dial in what I want. Pretty nice. Edit: Apparently with the latest firmware if I just want to track my trail for review later (or on my phone during the trip) I can set the polling time to 15 minutes and the broadcast time to 0 and it will just queue up the tracking waypoints until I perform a sync with my account later. Honestly though both are good choices. Delorme is a little more pricey but that verification that your sos was received is awful nice. If I trip it I can pull my phone out and use it to text the dispatchers on my exact location, my status, etc…

I picked up the ACR ResQLink PLB and figured that would be enough and that I would not need a subscription service for sending out the "okay" text messages or other communicative capabilities. Just simple and reliable to get the job to get an SAR team to me should I need it. That plus I have my last name and blood type on duct tape on my boots and helmet.

"I picked up the ACR ResQLink PLB and figured that would be enough" If I didn't have family that bordered on the paranoid it'd be enough for me too. PLB is more reliable than either the delorme or the spot. But I have family that needs to know I'm okay every couple of days even if I haven't hit the emergency button and I'm not overdue.

I have a Garmin GPS and a SPOT Gen 3. I never turn the SPOT unless I want to send a message so never need to carry spare batteries. For both I use Lithium batteries. For comparison…. 2 AAs Energizer Rechargable — 54 gm Duracell Alkaline — 49 gm Energizer Lithium — 29 gm

"1. The normal InReach will bluetooth to your cell phone and you can use the Earthmate software to get GPS coords. This might be useful if you have a smartphone without a GPS receiver. Otherwise it's redundant. 1a. The normal InReach will display GPS coords in it's status screen. I have it set to UTM and just cross-reference on a map 95% of the time. 2. For 100 dollars more you can get an InReach that functions as a GPS handheld. HOWEVER. You're stuck with the same like 1.25" screen and it is basically useless for real navigating. I wasn't impressed with it at all when I played with it at the store." I don't bring my phone hiking and that would add another 5oz and electronic device. I know some people do bring thier phone, and for them it probably makes since as your phone probably has a better screen than any GPS. I know the current version is lacking in areas and that is one reason I would like to see a new version with more memory (or micro SD slot) and perhaps a bigger screen if they could keep the battery life the same. That would make it a better substitute for a GPS unit. And to the OP – nothing wrong with the SPOT. I just think the ability to communicate with SAR is a huge asset. Otherwise they don't really know what they are getting into until they get to you. Also, I don't go into the backcountry to text, but with a wife and two children under the age of 10 at home it makes them feel more comfortable about be being gone, and that piece of mind (on their end more-so than mine) is priceless.

Given your extra obligations, you made the right call then! Eric