SPOT vs In-Reach

[Two-Wheeled Explorer]

Ever since I survived a (non-cycling related) traumatic brain injury about 3 years ago, my wife and daughters (one of whom is an RN) insist on my carrying a SPOT Tracker on every solo excursion. My SPOT is a first generation, original unit and it works fairly well. Not perfect in tracking mode, but well enough. Anyhow, I am considering an upgrade to either the SPOT Bluetooth model or the DeLorme In-Reach Explorer. Anybody have any experiences good or bad with either? Opinions? If it were totally up to me, I would just keep on keeping on.

Open to suggestions.

Ride safe,
Hans

 

[crismateski]

I had the spot 2, and never had any problems with it, but just upgraded to the inreach se. The 2 way communication is nice. I go out solo a lot as well and it is nice to know that if something happens at home, my wife can get in touch with me. I have been using the inreach for about 2 months, and did a trip from SoCal to Oregon and back and it performed very well.

 

[Flagster]

Don't the messaging features require you to have an operating cell phone...
I wouldn't mind sending a simple "OK" message to my GF when out by myself but I don't really want to be texting sweet nothings every night and dragging my cell phone along that usually won't hold a charge longer than 4-5 hours...

 

[kpredator]

inreach

has anyone had any experience using an inreach in southern,eastern africa and texting back to the states
thanks
kp

 

[crismateski]

Don't the messaging features require you to have an operating cell phone...
I wouldn't mind sending a simple "OK" message to my GF when out by myself but I don't really want to be texting sweet nothings every night and dragging my cell phone along that usually won't hold a charge longer than 4-5 hours...

The new inreach will still pair with a phone, and is easier to send a message that way, but it also will send and receive messages in a stand alone mode. Just not as easy to type the message

 

[Christophe Noel]

I just spent the last three weeks in Iceland using the inReach Explorer as my primary communicator. Worked flawlessly, and allowed me to travel solo with confidence. More importantly, the multiple check-in chats....two way chats....with my wife at home made here feel more relaxed about me traveling in a rugged landscape by myself. It never missed a beat. Every message went through quickly, with a couple exceptions whereby the signal may have taken a few minutes to get sent/recieved due to my position in canyons, etc.

With regard to the Explorer vs the SE, that's a no brainer. The "navigation" features on the Explorer are worthless. And...with regard to the paired inReach to the stand alone SE, that too is a no brainer. Maintaining one battery is hard enough. Maintaining juice to the inReach AND a smartphone is just not necessary. The Explorer I was using, when set to 4 hour tracking intervals, held a charge for 4 days in a row. I then recharged it in 25 minutes with a 14000mAh Anker charger three more times. That's 16 days of juice with the extra Anker charger. Plenty. And I sent about five messages per day.

Having used, and still using, the Spot Gen 2 unit, the inReach is a whole nuther deal. A much better deal.