Delorme InReach, anyone? Opinions?
 

I was wondering if anyone has used or is using satellite communicators from Delorme. I got interested when I saw their current model which interfaces with a smartphone, but the company is now coming out with a stand-alone communicator with a screen and virtual keyboard. This allows sending and receiving messages.

I currently have a Spot, but the reliability has been poor. It fails to deliver messages about half the time, just my last trip I sent 5 OK messages over 3 days and only one of them was received. Having the 2-way option would allow for confirmation that messages are received. I feel it would also help in an SOS situation to send info about party size, injuries, conditions, access etc. Not to mention the benefit of being able to send more details about delays that are non life threatening.

Anybody have experience with the company, be it their satellite communicators or GPS units?

Thanks.

B

Hopefully someone will reply.

I see new model is coming this June (SE model). Looks very good. I also would like o have something like this.

I'm also interested but I've actually got to the point where I'm on the waiting list at Valhalla for the new version when it appears so I might be able to give some more useful info fairly soon.

The reason I've gone this far was I was aiming to get one of Spot/McMurdo/DeLorme and asked the head of Pemby SAR what his thoughts were. I had heard of problems with Spot and reception (not saying there are any, only that I've heard this a bit, I should say that others have said they have no problem with theirs). I had also heard/read the McMurdo was very reliable but of course you could give out no info just an SOS signal(though my way of thinking was that this isn't necessarily a problem since I would only use it as a last resort when I REALLY needed help, in all likelihood medically.)

What made me think again was when he told me the government is apparently providing every SAR unit (in Canada? BC?) with 2 DeLorme InReach. As you outlined above he liked the idea of being able to receive more info on medical needs. For him the biggest issue on a call is how urgent it is, what they need to take with them and what goes or fits in the heli, etc.? This can of course be vital info that needs to get out quickly.

Maybe other SAR members could give their input?

I just stumbled upon this post as I am thinking of getting the inReach SE. To me the two-way communication is a huge bonus, and I, too, have been hearing too many stories of the SPOT not sending successfully. I've read everything on the inReach website (http://www.inreachcanada.com), but still have a bunch of questions. If any of you who know more about this unit and/or who have used it could chime in, that would be appreciated.

- Can someone who does not use a cell/smart phone or know how to text message send messages to your inReach? I have family who can only use e-mail/internet (no texting!), so am wondering if they could send me quick messages via the MapShare.

- Been reading about the inReach assigning US numbers to those of us in Canada. Has this issue finally been resolved and does it consistently connect to Canadian numbers now?

- How exactly do you pair this with an iPhone? Do you set up bluetooth through a computer, or can this be enabled on the inReach SE or the Explore Web app?

- Website says that each time a position report is transmitted it counts as one track. So, if I were to set tracking to every 10 minutes (for the sake of recording a more accurate track), does that mean it counts against one track every 10 minutes, or do these ones stay on the device without being transmitted and therefore not count towards your monthly usage?

- If someone pings you through MapShare, does that count as one track?

- Can you see on the inReach SE how much of your monthly usage has been used up? i.e., x tracks out of 100 used?

- Compatibility: I know I'll be getting a new iPhone in the next year. Is it pretty safe to assume that iPhones and the inReach SE will be compatible for at least a few years to come?

- Website says you can post updates to Facebook. Does this also allow you to receive messages from Facebook?

- Are there any penalties when you downgrade your plan in Canada? I don't see anything on the inreachcanada.com website, but the US website (http://www.inreachdelorme.com/produc...tion-plans.php) indicates that there is a $24.95 fee to downgrade your plan.

Thanks,
Barbara

I don't seem to have the problems with Spot that others do. I have had a Spot Connect for 3 years now. It has sent every message I attempted, and stores them in its history, telling me where I sent it to, when it was successfully sent, the time, and the lat/long. I also have a sat phone at work and they are ridiculously affordable nowadays. $49.95 a month for unlimited minutes and voicemail.
What are the advantages of a Delorme?

I still use a SPOT, but the Delorme (SE model) is a great option with true two way communication.

I have had the inReach SE since it came out in July. I'd been waiting on it rather than buying a Spot because it seemed like there were some obvious advantages to the DeLorme.

So far I have had no issues and I'm very impressed with it. To be fair the only person I have texted/emailed (you get a choice of which to send) has been my missus.

I sent her g'night messages from the Chilcotins in August and from the Rockies in September and every one of them got to her and I received all her replies.

It beeps (and shows an icon) when your message has been sent and beeps when one arrives. Very handy. Also shows the recipient where you are on a map when they get the message.

Barbara, I'll answer the questions that I can.

- Canadian numbers have now been sorted. Before that my wife would get charged as if she were sending a text to the US. This is not now the case.

- As far as I am aware you can receive emails as well as text messages so yes, your family can do that (I have only texted so far but I'm pretty sure you can email with it -stand to be corrected though.) You can certainly email to them so I don't see why they can't reply that way.

- You don't need to pair this with a smart phone, that's the old models of inReach. This one is a stand alone unit and doesn't require a phone to send out or receive.

- There are no penalties when you downgrade (or stop) your plan. There was a one-time connection fee and then you can choose your plan and can start and stop it whenever you want (again, this is as far as I know).

- No idea about map share or tracking. I only use mine for occasional "I'm Ok' texts to keep my wife happy.

Also don't know about the Facebook thingy. :-(

Thanks, seboyle. I'll send an e-mail to Delorme to see if I can get the rest answered, but think I've pretty much made up my mind that I'll go with the inReach SE. Been reading lots about satellites, their orbits, heights, wattage of these devices, etc., so feel that currently the inReach SE offers the most flexibility, not to mention the reassurance of two-way communication.

^^^^^^^^^ I think that's a review of the older model inReach not the inReach SE which can send and receive without the use of a smartphone. That's the key feature that (all) the others don't have.

^ Correct, it's the inReach SE that begins to offer the real 2-way communication/tracking and can be used as a standalone unit or paired with a smartphone. I haven't seen the SE on outdoorgearlab.com yet.

I have the SE-

have had no issues emailing or texting my wife from pretty much anywhere.

there is a feature that if you give someone access they can ping your unit and they can track you. this is my fav feature as it gives my wife some piece of mind when im off in the boonies.

texting between units is fee and pretty neat way to communicate if you have a few folks that have them.

costs are higher than the spot (which I had but it never worked consistently)

while we're at it ... has anyone used the new SPOT Gen3 ?

http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=100

reviews indicate much better tracking, longer battery life and other features. Lots of grumbling about their crappy web site but by and large quite positive about the device. It's at London Drugs and MEC for about $169.00.

I've never used a SPOT, just carry a SAR Locator Beacon and licensed VHF radio, with all appendix 6 frequencies. it would be cool for my wife to track me when I scamper out into the boonies on my own.

thoughts?

All SAR teams in BC got three InReach units. They are a "fleet" model which means we can access a web site that shows us where all of the units in our region are.

I'm not impressed by them, but it's not because I think they are any worse than the alternative which is the SPOT, I'm just a technology expert and I am very critical of bad design.

However, I think they are one of the better units out there, so take that how you will.

Some points

They are marketed as two way communication, but it's not very fast. So, far SAR purposes it did not seem to perform as marketed. The messages get sent, but the UI on the receiving end, where I would monitor my "fleet" doesn't alert me of an update, so unless it's going to email it can be overlooked. Sending a message back is similarly slow. We tested this several times when we had a radio link in place; messages would routinely take 15 minutes to go through.

In one occasion, a message queued in one of the units stayed there until it was turned on many weeks later, at which point it was sent. This caused a lot of trouble.

I paired it with Android, and others used iPhone, nobody had any trouble. I got messages from Australia.

What I would like to see
* estimate of error in GPS position. No GPS is 100% accurate, and a position with no error could be out by hundreds of metres.
* better alerting of incoming and outgoing messages on both sender and receiver
* delivery receipts,
* explicit timestamps of when message sent versus when message received. Can't act on hours or days old information.