leucadiacruiser
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Spot X 2 way satellite messenger (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter leucadiacruiser
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Interesting. I think in a few years network coverage will be so good, and sat phones so cheap, that Spot wil go the way of the pager.
A note about Spot's business practices. It took me months for them to make good on the device rebate. They want you to sign up for auto-renewal, where they then jack up the supscription rates and tack on "network maintenance fees". You'll not get an invoice....you have to login and check your account to get it or.......watch your credit card statement for the charge....alledgedly. Do not do auto renew, watch for the chicken**** little opt-out box to check that.
A note about Spot's business practices. It took me months for them to make good on the device rebate. They want you to sign up for auto-renewal, where they then jack up the supscription rates and tack on "network maintenance fees". You'll not get an invoice....you have to login and check your account to get it or.......watch your credit card statement for the charge....alledgedly. Do not do auto renew, watch for the chicken**** little opt-out box to check that.
leucadiacruiser
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I've also heard trying to cancel your subscription to SPOT isn't easy, either. I've been happy with my Spot Gen3 for a few years. Would like to be able to communicate two way and will eventually pick something. No doubt the waiting game is in our favor. I posted this one up a couple weeks ago.
From the web site, the Spot X offers roughly the same features as the InReach at a lower price. But I don't like the Spot service plans. I would use it part-time for emergencies, maybe 3 months a year, the Spot would cost me $200 because Spot offers only annual plans. The InReach would cost me $105 with tracking, and only $45 without. The Spot *LOSES* hands down on costs unless you use it all year.
Are we still having this debate? I love my inReach. I have the Freedom plan ($28/yr) so I only pay for the months/services I actually use it ($40 for each mo). It just works and I've never had any issues with customer support.
The Spot X announcement had me re-consider my InReach Mini order... but in the end, I decided the Spot X wasn't for me.
The weight of the Spot X is twice that of the Mini, making the Spot X more comparable with an inReach SE/SE+ than the Mini. Weight was a key factor in me deciding to hold off buying a SE/SE+ ages ago, holding out for something significantly lighter, like the Mini.
I intend to get a yearly plan... as I want it to always active. I don't want to pre-plan my outings/coverage.
For Spot X, a weekender plan would do me fine. The Adventurer plan would only be cheaper in the unlikely event I used over 700 messages in a year. (Weekender includes 300 messages, additional messages are 0.25 each. Adventurer plan costs $100 more.). So with Spot X, the plan would be $200/yr + $20 activation.
For InReach devices, all the plans include unlimited preset messages... which should cover almost all my outgoing messaging needs. So the text message limit, for me, would be for incoming messages. While I possibly could get by with the low end "Safety" plan ($12/mo, $144/yr), I think the "Recreation" plan would best suit my usage. It includes unlimited tracking points and location pings. So here I'm at $25/mo ($300/yr) + $20 activation.
So, basically, I'm prefer the InReach Mini despite it being $100 more upfront and, for a suitable plan for my usage, $100 more per year for service... mainly due to it being half the weight of the Spot X.
The weight of the Spot X is twice that of the Mini, making the Spot X more comparable with an inReach SE/SE+ than the Mini. Weight was a key factor in me deciding to hold off buying a SE/SE+ ages ago, holding out for something significantly lighter, like the Mini.
I intend to get a yearly plan... as I want it to always active. I don't want to pre-plan my outings/coverage.
For Spot X, a weekender plan would do me fine. The Adventurer plan would only be cheaper in the unlikely event I used over 700 messages in a year. (Weekender includes 300 messages, additional messages are 0.25 each. Adventurer plan costs $100 more.). So with Spot X, the plan would be $200/yr + $20 activation.
For InReach devices, all the plans include unlimited preset messages... which should cover almost all my outgoing messaging needs. So the text message limit, for me, would be for incoming messages. While I possibly could get by with the low end "Safety" plan ($12/mo, $144/yr), I think the "Recreation" plan would best suit my usage. It includes unlimited tracking points and location pings. So here I'm at $25/mo ($300/yr) + $20 activation.
So, basically, I'm prefer the InReach Mini despite it being $100 more upfront and, for a suitable plan for my usage, $100 more per year for service... mainly due to it being half the weight of the Spot X.
Living in AK Only about 5% of the land has cell service and many stretches of even our main roads don’t have cell reception (although the main roads are updating every year).
I got a spot about 5-6 years ago for that in case of emergency senario, I never used it (thankfully didn’t need to) and canceling it was 5 calls and 3 emails... Then about a year ago I switched to an InReach Explorer+.
Garmin blows spot out of the water in terms of customer service and quality of product. I keep it active year round and just use the basic plan. I use the pre set messages regularly to let my wife know when the kids and I start and finish various excursions, and for tracking I set the record to 5min and the send to 2 hours, so even at 0.50 a point I use an additional $5-$10 on peak 2-3 months a year.
I like it so much we got a 2nd Explorer+ last month as they were on sale (with the mini coming out?). I debated the mini but don’t want to have carry my phone in areas it won’t work anyway just to to see Topo maps. So for me the mini+phone is a larger package than just the Explorer+
I got a spot about 5-6 years ago for that in case of emergency senario, I never used it (thankfully didn’t need to) and canceling it was 5 calls and 3 emails... Then about a year ago I switched to an InReach Explorer+.
Garmin blows spot out of the water in terms of customer service and quality of product. I keep it active year round and just use the basic plan. I use the pre set messages regularly to let my wife know when the kids and I start and finish various excursions, and for tracking I set the record to 5min and the send to 2 hours, so even at 0.50 a point I use an additional $5-$10 on peak 2-3 months a year.
I like it so much we got a 2nd Explorer+ last month as they were on sale (with the mini coming out?). I debated the mini but don’t want to have carry my phone in areas it won’t work anyway just to to see Topo maps. So for me the mini+phone is a larger package than just the Explorer+
