Having used a SPOT unit for many years and have been happy with it, I thought I would look at the new inReach unit from Delorme,
From research done in Oz recently, it appears that the inReach unit is
well built and has great maps to ascertain where you are. Its hit rate with the satelites is slightly higher e.g. SPOt's hit rate is around 80% while inReach is around 95%. Of course, these figures will be lower when travelling in heavily vegetated & mountainous areas e.g.
Vic high country.
the inReach's plus is that it has 2 way text messaging - however, one down side is that although the unit can send a text message to a mobile phone, the mobile phone cannot reply to the message from the phone. The receiver would have to log on to the inReach site to send a message back. Still it is better than SPOT which has no message to the unit facility.
The biggest difference between the 2 units is cost. I did a comparsion for our recent CSR trip over 6 weeks. Ignoring the one time inReach activation fee of $49 (there is no activation fee with SPOT), the following would be charged:
inReach - initial unit cost - $369 - annual fee - $240
So in the first year, the minimum cost for an inReach is $609
SPOT - initial unit cost - $199 - annual fee (with auto tracking) US165 = approx $180
So in first year, the minimum cost for SPOT is $379. In addition, if you want to take
the SPOT unit without auto tracking, the first year cost can be reduced to $325.
So at this stage, SPOT is nearly half the price of an inReach unit.
Now let's look at the ongoing costs. With SPOT there are none, but with inReach, you will only get 100 location updates (you can have more if you pay a higher monthly fee). If I compare our recent CSR trip where we sent 1,832 tracking positions, the additional cost (over 2 months) with SPOT would nil. The additional costs with inReach would have been 1,432 x 0.25c) = $408. Now that's a huge cost difference.
OK, SPOT sends it auto positions every 10 minutes - inReach allows you to change the auto setting so you could reduce the amount of tracking positions. However, I personally think SPOT have got it right with 10 minutes intervals.
So, the whole issue comes down to cost. The inReach is a great unit, but for me, the operating costs for most 4WDers will be too high.
Finally, costs for sending text messages with inReach is 75c per message. Gee, my sat phone can send text messages & emails for only 50c. Personally I think a better deal is a SPOT unit with an Inmarsat sat phone. This way, my up front costs & mt running costs are low and very enjoyable.
I am sure some of you may disagree with my comparions, but your comments are most welcome.
So
the SPOT unit at this