satellite communications?
- Thread starter Dances with Drahts
- Start date
X2
I was looking at up-grading to a Garmin or Spot X until I checked out how much it was. Now I am not going to change, I shall stay with my old connect. Work out how much per month etc. Quite pricey I thought.
On a side note, what is it with Garmin and their pricing, its close to obscene. Why so much more than Spot for the same service (or arguably less.)
Candocad.
I've been googling and watching the videos, so far, the only thing I see is that Garmin has more satellites, where Spotx has fewer satellites, higher up, to get the same coverage. Garmin is more expensive both per unit, and per month. Garmin is harder to type in, ( unless you use your phone, then they even out). Both units have quick and slower times sending messages depending on location.
Location for me isn't a problem, I will be staying in Ontario with it ( for a while at least ).
Location for me isn't a problem, I will be staying in Ontario with it ( for a while at least ).
- Location
- West Quebec
Now that is very cool compared to the larger SAT phonesI recently picked up the Garmin InReach Mini sat communicator and I like it.
It is a pretty basic unit but works great. I'm just using it for communication when I'm out of cell range although you can use it for more than that if you want, ie. GPS tracking.
It is very compact and can Bluetooth pair with your cell phone. I like that you can pause the Garmin service contract for a few months if you like.
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
Spot uses Globalstar satellites, InReach uses Iridium. I'll never again own any sat communicator that uses Globalstar. InReach is the way to go.
For anyone who is very familiar with these devices: Are there any of them which do not require a monthly fee in exchange for minimal communication (i.e. "OK", "NOT OK")?
I do some back country camping and do not currently own any device that will let me have any communication when innawoods, as I am long past the point of cell reception.
I do some back country camping and do not currently own any device that will let me have any communication when innawoods, as I am long past the point of cell reception.
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
I don't believe so,but InReach has a $15 plan which allows for 10 texts per month.
You will have a monthly service fee with all of them. I really hate monthly user fees but what can you do? For the protection and peace of mind this gives I will gladly pay the cost.
I got the most basic plan I could get for my Garmin InReach Mini and it is $19.95CAN per month plus GST so you are paying $20.95/month.
The nice thing is you can suspend the service and put it on hold if you want. I think I will leave mine active until the end of hunting season and then pause it over the winter months and save a few bucks.
Okay thank you for the info. Do you know if it's possible to only activate the plan for 1 month a year where I will be in the woods, or is it like motorcycle insurance, where I have to pay for the full year even though I only use it for a short period of time each year?
Sounds good. I will do some more research for this Garmin plan then if suspending the service when not in use is sufficiently easy.
For a lot of people, sat communications are a bit of overkill, but we hunt and fish out of cell range. I looked for one of the old bag phone type phones with the 5 watt output that would work on digital signal and today's networks, but have not been able to find anything. I used to get well over 40 miles out of my old bag phone, which would be fine for anywhere I hunt nowadays. Where I go for deer, it's borderline - I get cell signal in my stand, but not on the ground. I'm sure a 5-watt (even 1 watt) phone would get me enough signal. I'm sure the vast majority of hunters and fishermen are within 40 miles of a cell tower.
Funny but we got rid of our Globalstar satellite phones because you could never depend on them The last straw was when Globalstar sent out a list of the best possible times to try and send a call on any given day.The In-Reach communicators replaced the phones at a fraction of the cost.
Exactly our experience. Even worse, the Globalstar didn't work properly even at the published times. Not much has changed either.
Iridium, on the other hand, always worked all the time. Still does!
Ted
This is one reason why I chose InReach over SPOT. With SPOT, you are paying for the whole year whether you want it or not.
There are many other reasons why the InReach is better.
you do remember the test with the globalstar device on the road? never been able to do a phone call ....
so how does that work , do you just choose the months you want and pay for those?
Or....
do you pay for your yearly subscription and say you use it for 3 months then suspend it...… 9 months of service remain to be activated again when needed?
Actually, it looks like they have changed their plans a lot recently, but the option to suspend is still there on the "Freedom" (monthly) plans. They now offer yearly plans too, which they didn't before, AFAIK.
Anyway, if you sign up for a Freedom plan (which is generally a bit more expensive than the new yearly plans) then... "Service can be suspended a month at a time at no charge. User retains access to inReach data stored on the Garmin Explore™ website while account is suspended. Selected plan auto-renews monthly unless user changes account selections in the Garmin Explore™ website."
So it sounds like you now have to suspend it each month that you don't want it. Kinda sucky, as before you could just suspend it (pay $3/month to maintain account) and forget it until you need it again.
Full info on plans here. https://explore.garmin.com/en-CA/inreach/#subscriptions
I did check out the site earlier but was still confused hehe
will be picking one up before hunting season for sure.
last question..... what about messaging between inreach devices?
say a group of 4 splits up and both 2 man teams have the inreach device and typical radio comms are not working due to terrain or whatever. Can the devices communicate with each other or would you simply text the hunters cell phone and he would get the message via inreach……. is my question making sense? hehehe
will be picking one up before hunting season for sure.
last question..... what about messaging between inreach devices?
say a group of 4 splits up and both 2 man teams have the inreach device and typical radio comms are not working due to terrain or whatever. Can the devices communicate with each other or would you simply text the hunters cell phone and he would get the message via inreach……. is my question making sense? hehehe
Background: Each InReach has an "e-mail" account called an "InReach Address" (hosted on the InReach systems), which can be used to receive messages. If anyone sends e-mail to that account, it is converted to a message and forwarded through the InReach satellites to your device. Also, you can add contacts to your InReach (through the website) so that when you send a message it goes to that contact's e-mail.
So the simple solution is to find out your buddy's InReach address (something@garmin.inreach.com) and then add him as a contact on the InReach website and make sure to enter his InReach address there.
He needs to do the same on his end. Then you can just message back and forth using the InReach satellites and servers exclusively. No cell service required. The only thing it will use your phones for is to BlueTooth to the InReaches to facilitate a convenient/familiar interface (however, the phones aren't necessary, just a lot more convenient to use).
