I am planning on thru-hiking the Sierra High Route solo this summer. In order for this to be safe, I feel the need to carry a PLB, SPOT, or something similar.
I liked the tracking feature and messaging on the SPOT, but they just seem so unreliable. Reliability is key for this type of device.
Stumbled upon the DeLorme inReach today. Wow. Seems perfect. Just a little bit heavier and more expensive than the SPOT, but seems more reliable with a solid company behind it. Service costs more too, but it's worth it if this works better and for the extra features. It works in a similar way to the SPOT Connect and pairs via Bluetooth with your smartphone, but it uses the Iridium sat network and seems to have stronger signal capabilities.
It also can do TWO-WAY text messaging including an LED flash to confirm that your message was actually sent successfully! Pre-canned messages and track progress (bread-crumb trail online for friends/family to view of your loactions) can all be done without the smartphone, so if the phone dies or you have a pairing issue, you aren't SOL like with the SPOT which is a worry for me.
SOS feature is also two-way and includes the tracking so you can communicate back and forth with responders and they can track your location should you be able to continue to move.
Sounds like you can even use some nice free topo map software on your phone with locally downloaded offline maps with the inReach app.
Does anyone have any experience with this new device? Is it as reliable as it looks to be?
Almost seems too good to be true.
http://shop.delorme.com/OA_HTML/DELibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10820&beginIndex=
