I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I am not finding the thread. Looking to get a PLB (personal locator beacon). I don't need anything special just the ability to let contacts know I have arrived and SOS if needed. Spot seems to have many unhappy customers due to the cost of the subscription and support. Garmin in reach mini seems to be a popular option. Thoughts? Thanks.

We picked up the Garmin mini just before we left on our Annual Idaho trip in the last week in June. I had one night to play with it and get it set up before we left in the morning With a little help from my son (rob W56) gave me some pointers and I got it halfway set up. it’s nice to see the altitude’s and the airspeed every 10 minutes on his trip. I Heard from Rob they made it in to JC and we were clear down at Owyhee reservoir in Oregon without any cell phone service. I like that we can communicate with each other from a remote locations That’s worth it right there even though the service is kind of spend he per month

I have a Garmin inreach unit and love it. I had a spot for years and never like that I didn't know if the SOS message was ever received. I know they have 2 way communication service now but they didn't at the time so I went with the Garmin unit. The subscription costs about 12 dollars and some change per month for the emergency services - 10 text messages/month. There is a search and rescue insurance premium that adds less than 2 dollars to the total cost per month. I keep it charged at all times and tested. It is actually useful sending messages to friends and family when there is no cell coverage in remote areas. I keep it mounted on the pilot side and and it can activate in the air.


Josh

I went with the SpotX with keyboard last spring. Haven’t been disappointed with its performance and love the ability to send/receive texts, which gives the wife and family great peace of mind. It is also easy for passengers to understand how to activate the SOS button in case things go south and I’m incapacitated. The only thing that is annoying is the small key size, but I find I’m not typing lengthy messages anyway, and for its overall compactness key size is a minor trade off for me(it will fit in a shirt pocket). I went with the yearly subscription and don’t find the $150/yr outlandish, especially with the price of Avgas these days.

IdahoWilly wrote: I went with the yearly subscription and don’t find the $150/yr outlandish, especially with the price of Avgas these days.

Interesting, I have the regular SPOT and my subscription was $200 last year. For me the SPOT is fine, I like the small size and simplicity, but it is getting spendy for such limited ability. I mount it on the dash and put it in track mode in the plane and hang it from my pack when hunting or hiking alone. That way if I don't show up and can't get a message out my wife can see where the last "ping" was. For now I will keep it, although I will probably look at other options when I need to replace it. We did get our daughter a in reach when she and her boyfriend were traveling through Mexico & Central America and it worked flawlessly.

Pete

Wasn't the spot having interference issues with Garmin GPS's?

Perhaps the most significant difference between the Garmin In Reach and Spot devices is the satellite systems they utilize.

In Reach uses the Iridium satellite system, a very robust polar orbiting communications system. Iridium works pretty much anywhere in the world if you have a clear view of the sky.

SPOT uses the Globalstar satellite system, which has more limited coverage. Also, in my experience, the Globalstar system seems to drop more calls.

If you’re ever planning to go very far north, I’d definitely stick with the In Reach. How far north? Sorry I can’t tell you. That said, in northern MN my SPOT would not record tack points when the airplane was headed north. Unit mounted forward on glareshield. Replaced it with In Reach and never had that issue again.

If you wind up in an east/west oriented canyon, SPOT may not be able to connect. Unless you’re fairly far south.

I realize this is fuzzy, but the point is, if you are buying a unit that could potentially save your bacon, I’d buy the one with the best, most reliable coverage, and with a satellite system that is being maintained and improved.

MTV

First point - a PLB is not the same animal as a Spot or Inreach. A PLB is an emergency beacon without any capability to communicate with anyone other than SAR. No subscription charges but it must be registered to have any value. I have one that's five years old but the battery still tests okay. I'll use it 'till it dies and then will stick with my Inreach.

As far as I know, Inreach will work anywhere on the planet, right to the poles. I'm at 68N and my Inreach Mini works great. I got rid of my sat 'phone and now I can afford the subscription with unlimited text messages for the seven months of the year that I need it.

I have the Spot2, I have a few programmed massages that I have never used. The best feature is the breadcrumbs. It leaves a point every 10 minutes, which will greatly reduce the search area. It also allows my family to see my what I'm up too. I've discussed what a bad situation would look like - if I'm moving its good, especially if the crumbs are 10 miles apart. If the crumbs stack up in a treed area or mountain top its not good. If the crumbs stop updating then chill out and wait.

I personally prefer not to have two way communication all the time. The joy of the backcountry is at least partly the silence and self reliance.

I just replaced my Spot Gen 3 with a Garmin In Reach. I wanted the ability to text from a remote location.
If you want to buy a Spot Gen 3 in excellent shape with the box, I'll sell you mine for $40 + shipping. Still good peace of mind in the bush.
Randy

Back in the good old days we were given permission to use a deprecated NOAA GOES 3 geosynchronous satellite for voice and 9600 baud modems in the central/eastern pacific islands. The satellite WX camera was broken so NOAA gave it to UH and we figured out how to relay a sendmail daemon on SPARC 10s from Samoa to Palau. Good for emails and the CERN WWW homepage. Also, I spent many hours listening to WWV for hazardous weather and time. That was back when GPS was experimental with (9) satellites.

The dawn of a new era, mankind is enlightened...

...onboard to Iridium .... it was the only true (easy to use) global communication system and I personally could not use SPOT or others in the Pacific, Indian or Southern Oceans etc...

I now use Iridium for both voice (9555 handset) and text (InReach, old unit) and really like the value. The modem function via USB on the 9555 definitely needs work. Takes way too long for a WX FAX etc.

Caveat: My sh#+y little Garmin InReach unit failed and they sent a refurbished for $200, a (1) week turn around. Garmin is NOT Iridium, just a customer.

Example of fishing vest in Hawaii I’m leaving to Molokai tomorrow if the channel calms down:

I have a SPOT Gen3, like the size, never misses a report, most important is 2-minute tracking combined with my flight following, runs off aircraft power most of the time saving batteries. Low orbit Globestar means low power, smaller antenna, smaller batteries, lighter. Only needs to work where you fly, it worked fine in Tuk, 70N. $150/year unlimited use, and I use it year round.

I really would like an inReach for the two-way (hey, can somebody bring me a tire?) in the backcountry, but the cheap SOB in me can't make the numbers work over what I pay for the SPOT. If the SPOT was spotty, then maybe, but it has been ultra reliable. I can live without the two-way - nobody confirms they have received your 406 ELT, or your PLB either, and it makes no difference to you waiting for the SAR effort except for the thumb-sucking comfort.

But I just can't get 2-minute tracking year round out of an inReach for even double the cost, so we're comparing apples and oranges. More money always buys you more - you could go whole hog with something hardwired like the BlueSky or Skytrack we did with our helicopters and have two way satellite voice built in, along with the tracking and HUMS, for maybe 30K. There's no end to things in aviation to spend more money on to be "safer": helmets, BRS parachute, ADS-B, 406 ELT, life rafts, axe, flare pistol (sorry GCBC, had to throw that in )

I have on experience the the Garmin. I have a Spot gen III for one reason. My wife. She can just click a link on her browser and see my track or if I landed. The breadcrumb feature is what I find important for her. My unit was free if I subscribed, got it through REI. The unit is very small and I put it on the dash on the 208 or tucked above the vent in the 206. It accepts power through a micro USB, so I ran one up and it comes out near the top of the vent. My biggest issue is my damaged brain, it seems to forget to turn it off at the end of the day, so the unit goes on happily reporting from the hanger or ramp until I notice the green flashes reflecting off the windshield in the hanger. I am a special kind of idiot, but it does prove that having opposable thumbs qualifies you to fly.

If you wanted or found important, a feature like the breadcrumbs, then Spot would work fine for you. If you wanted to be noticed on an ice floe in the Bering straight, then the Garmin would be more useful. Don't laugh, a bud of mine kind of balled up a UH-1 on a floe there once. Took 3 days to find him, the older PLB's signal was not being picked up on the correct location of the mangled helicopter. Technology has improved greatly since then. Cost, we are talking a couple of Lattes difference here between units. Things do add up. I am surprised how costs are seeming to escalate. I went to buy some new gloves. "oh these seem nice...$170! F, a quarter's tuition at UCLA was only $186."

I have a SpotX with the keyboard and I'm very unhappy with it. The keys aren't responsive. I have to mash and mash and mash to get tracking started and it's almost impossible to send a coherent text to my wife when I've landed because some keys just ignore all of my mashing. I tried customer assistance at Spot and got no helpe. I'm shopping for an InReach mini now. I might buy it through the RAF bundle.

For $80 per month (Canadian) I get unlimited text messages and weather and also two-minute tracking. I like the reliability and wide coverage area of the Inreach. My Mini has amazing battery life and can be recharged from any USB supply.

Up to a couple of years ago, my home airport was within an ADIZ, so I had to file a DVFR flight plan and could only close it by 'phone. So I was obliged to carry a sat 'phone, which was costing $60 per month with a crazy-expensive fee to suspend and reconnect. They moved the ADIZ boundary farther north and I'm out of it now, so I'll be using a Flight Itinerary (used to be called a Flight Notification) filed with a "responsible person". I can close that via text message to the cell 'phone of my "responsible person", and they get to follow my tracking points. Much handier for me all 'round. I can suspend the service during the harshest winter months at $0 per month.

The Inreach linked to a cell 'phone gives you a reasonable keyboard.

No comparison. Inreach. Much better than the spot connect I had. Switched three years ago and no regrets.

I wholeheartedly agree that the inreach is a better device.
I have had the older Inreach SE for 5 years and has worked extremely well.
One thing to keep in mind is that you can connect your cell phone to the Inreach and use its keypad to type making it easy to compose texts.

Inreach if you want a device that works all the time!

On the inreach, if its wired to a switched power supply, will it turn on and start tracking automatically? If so, that would be a huge advantage for me.