GoTenna – Free Texting without cell service

These operate on 2 watts, and on Line-of-Sight.
In dense hilly woods you might get 1/2 to 3 miles. In the open alpine, maybe 10.

Yup, they are pretty honest on the site about the range being just 1-6 miles.
So it's a text-based walkie-talkie radio to chat with people in your hiking group who are nearby.
It could catch on if they can make it to retail at around $30.
I just don't see the $150 price point working.

"It connects to your smart phone via bluetooth and lets you text over radio waves, like a dummies version of HAM radio. SO NO MONTHLY CHARGES."

Technically true, but not really. Since you need a device (smartphone/tablet/etc) to actually send/read the messages, which come with cell plans, there is an inherent monthly charge. This just doesn't, for all intents and purposes, increase that monthly charge.

Doug, I think what he's saying is that most other backpacking communication devices charge you monthly, yearly, per txt, etc to use, ie, SPoT or DeLorne. And technically you can have a phone that is doesn't have a plan connected since this is a point to point device (Ad-hoc). It doesnt use a cell provider to send messages, so yes, you can use this with 'no monthly fees' if you have an extra cell phone with no plan attached to it..

Interesting. Not a bad idea, but my first impression is that FRS/GMRS walkie talkies would be as useful and simple. You can use those to communicate with others outside your group too, which is handier in an emergency I think. I often find them for cheap at thrift stores.

The benefits I see of this technology over FRS/GMRS walkie talkies are:

1. GPS location is also transmitted
2. Much lighter weight
3. Audio is often difficult to understand over walkie talkies.

I expect the range will be similar.

Drew,

All good points!