Saw the new Garmin InReach devices at the Airman’s gathering, but didn’t see anything from Spot. Their website shows a new “blackberry” type 2-way messenger device. Anyone seen one for real?

Spots webpage is light on actual details, and coverage map looks similar to the Gen 3 I already have. Will the X have the same coverage issues of the Gen 3? I think they are use the same constellation but they don’t say from what I could find on their webpage.

I never used a blackberry and the InReach is smaller and for non-emergency comm’s an app to a smartphone seems like a no brainer to me.

Rod

Wa180 wrote:Spots webpage is light on actual details, and coverage map looks similar to the Gen 3 I already have. Will the X have the same coverage issues of the Gen 3? I think they are use the same constellation but they don’t say from what I could find on their webpage.

There is approximately zero chance they will abandon Globalstar and adopt Iridium. And, if they did, they would be similarly expensive to the InReach because a lot of the fee is because Iridium is simply more expensive.

Want to try to revive this thread. I have purchased a Spot X. Nice looking unit, I like the all in one idea vs the inreach mini simply because if your phone dies you can still just use the unit. One less piece to the puzzle I guess. However Garmin's unit does look neat and is compact.

Functionality, in all honesty I think it is kind of a pain in the rear to text on, feel like I am in 8th grade in that sense. Also, randomly today I noticed something rattling around in the unit. I pulled the back off and out pops a random little screw...where did that come from? Important? Who knows. Seems to work just fine still. Also the software isnt really that user friendly to me. Not all that difficult just not really that seamless.

Anyone else have more opinions to date?

kygreen229 wrote:Want to try to revive this thread. I have purchased a Spot X. Nice looking unit, I like the all in one idea vs the inreach mini simply because if your phone dies you can still just use the unit. One less piece to the puzzle I guess. However Garmin's unit does look neat and is compact.

Functionality, in all honesty I think it is kind of a pain in the rear to text on, feel like I am in 8th grade in that sense. Also, randomly today I noticed something rattling around in the unit. I pulled the back off and out pops a random little screw...where did that come from? Important? Who knows. Seems to work just fine still. Also the software isnt really that user friendly to me. Not all that difficult just not really that seamless.

Anyone else have more opinions to date?

I have an InReach Explorer, but I do feel your pain on the "pain in the rear to text on". For me, I've rationalize it as being ok because it prevents me from texting needlessly and running over the allotted messages in my plan. lol!

Ok, more seriously, if I know I'm gonna have a few messages I want to get out, I get out my phone and use the bluetooth connection to compose the message. If it's just a single message, I suffer through the in-device means to compose.

I'm surprised you think it's hard to text on the Spot X though. Doesn't it have an integrated "blackberry-like" keyboard? I figured that would ease that pain.

rw2 wrote:

kygreen229 wrote:Want to try to revive this thread. I have purchased a Spot X. Nice looking unit, I like the all in one idea vs the inreach mini simply because if your phone dies you can still just use the unit. One less piece to the puzzle I guess. However Garmin's unit does look neat and is compact.

Functionality, in all honesty I think it is kind of a pain in the rear to text on, feel like I am in 8th grade in that sense. Also, randomly today I noticed something rattling around in the unit. I pulled the back off and out pops a random little screw...where did that come from? Important? Who knows. Seems to work just fine still. Also the software isnt really that user friendly to me. Not all that difficult just not really that seamless.

Anyone else have more opinions to date?

I have an InReach Explorer, but I do feel your pain on the "pain in the rear to text on". For me, I've rationalize it as being ok because it prevents me from texting needlessly and running over the allotted messages in my plan. lol!

Ok, more seriously, if I know I'm gonna have a few messages I want to get out, I get out my phone and use the bluetooth connection to compose the message. If it's just a single message, I suffer through the in-device means to compose.

I'm surprised you think it's hard to text on the Spot X though. Doesn't it have an integrated "blackberry-like" keyboard? I figured that would ease that pain.

Makes sense. Not out in the middle of nowhere to txt friends and family anyhow but it is a neat feature. It isnt really a pain as much as not like a modern phone which has just made it to easy. Just takes more focus on inputting each key and scrolling through to hit enter etc. Again, not that big of deal as it isnt the goal to sit around and txt while out in the woods.

I was looking at the reviews on the Spot X on the REI website... not real good reviews about its reception.

I’ve had the SpotX for about a month now and I’ve taken it on one long trip from DFW up to the SC fly-in at Johnson Creek. I never had any reception problems while texting and it only missed one tracking point over the course of a week. I concur that the keyboard is a bit awkward, but I suspect that this was an engineering trade-off to retain water resistance. The keyboard functions fine, but the keys are small and I seem to need the delete key a lot due to missed keys. Since the device is primarily for emergency use, and most of the time I have cell coverage for routine ops, this really doesn’t bother me. The main reasons I chose the SpotX over the inreach were tracking intervals and plan price. My SpotX plan costs exactly the same as my Spot gen 3 plan did, for $199/year I get unlimited 5-minute tracking and 300 custom texts annually (pre-defined texts are unlimited).

Bender wrote:I suspect that this was an engineering trade-off to retain water resistance.

I'm sure you're right. Usability and ruggedness are nearly always polar opposite design goals!

I need some help with my spotx. How do I get my spotx set up so my flight follower can watch my flight (breadcrumbs) in real time? I got to be missing something in my setup.