[Closed] Spot X, Garmin inreach....?

I have a spot gen3, for which I haven't renewed the subscription this year (it's about £170)

You can be tracked, and you can send a couple of pre-programmed messages. I have: "I'm ok" and "Staying here for the night" + it has two levels of emergency - to pre-programmed friends, "I need help" and to the rescue services - "I need rescuing".

Never had to press the rescue button, but from reading up, they will phone your contacts to find out where you are / what you are doing then invoke the relevant rescue services.

It's sometimes slow, and works better with a LOS to the sky, but generally works ok.

If you want anything more complicated messaging wise, you should get an in-reach.

Aye, It looks like the inreach subscription can be used month by month, which is probably handier.

Never had to press the rescue button, but from reading up, they will phone your contacts to find out where you are / what you are doing then invoke the relevant rescue services.

I think that's fair enough tbh, takes a shit load of mobilising to get a rescue started, it's never gonna be quick.

There's a monthly plan for Spot too.

I renewed my annual Spot sub again as they had a half-price offer on in December.

It's a Gen 3 I have. Any questions, fire away.

I've been tempted by Inreach but battery life is an issue.

Big fan of the guys at Shaven Raspberry and this is what they use. Subscription free as well to boot:

https://shavenraspberry.com/shop/safety-survival/mcmurdo-ranger-plb-free-accessories-the-outdoors-version-of-fast-find-220-personal-locator-beacon/

Interesting Colin, never knew battery life was short on inreach, I'll have to read up a bit more. Tbh I'll have a couple of anker units with me if worst came to the worst.

Danny, I'd prefer one that I can message the missus each evening tbh just to say we're fine/at camp, and for her to use when she goes Munro bagging with her hill pals. I'd ruled out the McMurdo on that basis.

I think the Garmin InReach Mini has better hardware than the Spot, and it's much easier to use your phone for messaging via the InReach.

Be wary of the subscription - they claim that you can pause it but the penalty for doing so means that it's nearly always cheaper to keep paying the subscription.

I take it by that you mean you have to pay the initial fee every time you restart?

I believe the way both work is that you pay a small annual fee, and then an additional fee for each month it's activated. Whether or not that works out cheaper than an annual subscription will come down to how many months you're likely to use it.

I had a Spot Gen 3 for a few years but they continually gouge you each year to re-subscribe - you can negotiate a discount if you phone them/ threaten to cancel.

If buying today I would go for one of the newer devices like InReach mini that integrate with your phone so you can have 2-way messaging - can't do that with a Spot Gen3.

I believe the way both work is that you pay a small annual fee, and then an additional fee for each month it’s activated. Whether or not that works out cheaper than an annual subscription will come down to how many months you’re likely to use it

Aye, in reality it's gonna be most months. Thanks all, further reading required.

Just a point on the inReach. Looking at the Amazon reviews it is highly rated as a messaging device however some question its suitability for use in the UK as it does not give OS grid coordinates. This may or may not be of importance to you but there's some excellent advice / comments in the reviews from people who have used it in anger.

As to the two way bit - for how long realistically are you likely to be out of mobile range? If you're relying on a phone link like the inReach sometimes does for 2 way messaging then you may as well just use the phone perhaps?

I've looked into these a bit and ultimately I'd just want it to be able to summon help if the shit hits the fan and not for me to worry about whether the sub is up to date etc. I doubt I will ever be more than a few hours out of mobile reception otherwise to be able to update Mrs D at at least once a day anyway.

Yeah, I'm not fussed about the 2-way comma thing. I do like the Tracking ability of the Spot thought..

On longer trips I'll upload my planned route to Spotwalla so my Missus can see any deviations.

My 4 buttons are set up as;

OK - everything is according to plan.

Things are fine but I'm off plan.

I have a problem - standby for me to contact you

SOS.

My 4 buttons are set up as;

OK – everything is according to plan.

Things are fine but I’m off plan.

I have a problem – standby for me to contact you

SOS.

I have:-

1- All is fine, love you - to wife

2 - Something is up but I'm self managing - please keep an eye on my tracking - to wife

3 - I'm needing some help - to wife....and then actually useful ****ing people who might be able to ****ing help and look at their ****ing phone when it ****ing pings unlike my ****ing wife.

4- SOS

Can you work out the weak link where this system might have let me down in the past?

As to the two way bit – for how long realistically are you likely to be out of mobile range? If you’re relying on a phone link like the inReach sometimes does for 2 way messaging then you may as well just use the phone perhaps?

I'm gonna be walking 100 miles over 5 days in the Cairngorms, the likes of Lairig Ghru and an Laiogh are pretty much without signal IIRC, and I'm not planning on going anywhere near any towns. Ultimately I've other plans in the North West etc, so aye, pretty much out of signal range lots of the time.

SR, tbh that's about all I'd need message wise, if the Gen3 does that and tracks well, then that sounds like a goer.

Just a point on the inReach. Looking at the Amazon reviews it is highly rated as a messaging device however some question its suitability for use in the UK as it does not give OS grid coordinates.

If you need to hit the SOS button in anger than it doesn't matter whether you have a grid reference or not, everything is coordinated through GEOS. If it's not that urgent, any time you send a message your location is added via the Garmin Explore online map.

Grid reference is nice to have, but if you're buying this thinking that you might navigate with it then your priorities are very wrong. The tracking page is publicly accessible (with optional password protection), so if you needed non-urgent help then a friend or relative could send the link to the appropriate people.

To be honest though, GEOS make the point quite clearly that if you need help they'd prefer you to hit the SOS button and once in contact with you they'll moderate their response appropriately. They'll also let you practice in the field provided you coordinate with them beforehand.

I concede that it's quite annoying that Garmin won't make the tiny update to have the device show a grid reference instead of lat-long, but unless you have it on the battery sapping full-time tracking mode you're going to have to wait for a GPS fix every time you look at it anyway.

Looks like Amazon have the Spot gen3 on for £110 currently (with prime).

Seems about the cheapest choice at present (if device cost is an issue)...