Delorme Inreach feedback?

[Get_Bent]

USed the Delorme on a recent run through Canadia and back. It worked well. I get about 50 hours of riding time with Lithium batteries (Updating points ever 10 minutes) 20 hours with Regular Alk or Nickle batteries.

I switched mid trip from 10 minute marks to 30 minute which extended battery life. Despite the fixes in firmware I still tend to run the device in stand-alone mode, just easier than having to run my android phone with full GPS and bluetooth active.

I think the delorme is better than the spot simply because it uses a better Satellite network. But the spot is cheaper. YMMV

[Lurch II]

Just bought an InReach for my Android Atrix today. $199 with the 20% discount that EMS is offering. The new seasonal data plans make the InReach a lot more attractive (to me). 4 months of tracking and 40 Iridium messages/month for $39.00 per month. The I can go month to month at $39 or suspend at no cost for the rest of the year and then start over with 4 months at my anniversary date.

No issues at all pairing and connecting with my phone. I have used some test messages and abit of tracking - no issues. I am a very happy camper. Will report back in a week since I am headed out for a week on the road on Saturday but so far I am pleasantly surprised - none of the problems with pairing and connecting for me. I have also downloaded most of the east cost and Canada maps to my phone. Nice quality TOPO comes "free" as part of my subscription.

[Lurch II]

When you exit the Earthmate application on an Android device, use the menu - exit command to close the application rather than just backing out of it. I have had 100% reliability with BT connectivity using this method. It is more hit or miss if I just back out of the application because Earthmate does leave things running in the background. Moral of the story for me - if I turn off the InReach and use menu - exit I have no problems reconnecting later.

[Lurch II]

Just finished 1200 miles with the InReach and I am very pleased with it in all respects. Tracking and the map application worked well for the family to follow my progress. Battery life is excellent - over a week and still going strong on the original batteries. Messaging with my Motorola Atrix (Droid) has been flawless. Prerecorded messages are also excellent. Every message sent and received has gotten through within a minute or two - from here to satellite and back again.

The unit got wet and no issues - it seems quite rugged. Works very well in a RAM mount I use for my two way radio when I am cruising with the SO. Since I was solo this trip I didn't need the radio.

Just another data point.

[OneEffinName]

I had high hopes for the inreach, but was let down.

* The subscription costs in Canada are way more expensive that the US
* Bluetooth pairing did not work reliably with any of my three devices - I was told to purchase a new phone
* text messages sent to an inreach are subject to a delay, anywhere from a few minutes to a day!

In the end, *reliable* two way messaging was just not there.

I returned the InReach and bought a Spot II. Although spot does not guarantee messages sent, and this was a little worrying to me, especially in the dense forests up north, it has worked out just fine. A couple of messages lost, but not critical. However I do not rely upon the spot system, it is only used as supplimentary information in case a rescue is needed. I do carry a PLB and a sat phone for the real emergencies.

[Giddy Up]

Interested in purchasing the Inreach. . . Does anyone know if it works with an Itouch? I know they have an IOS version which I assume works with an Itouch???

[Giddy Up]

Originally Posted by Giddy Up

Interested in purchasing the Inreach. . . Does anyone know if it works with an Itouch? I know they have an IOS version which I assume works with an Itouch???

Found it:
http://www.inreachdelorme.com/produc...smartphone.php

It works with an Itouch.

[LexLeroy]

Just purchased the inReach that pairs with the PN60w GPS. I went w/ the $9.95/mo. safety plan since, after much thought and discussion with the SO, I decided that I only need:

• SOS capability
• Messaging capability to her cell phone
• "Locate" ability from the DeLorme web application in the event that I'm a couple of days late to dinner.

The SOS capability isn't testable but I tested the messaging and "Locate" function today and both work fine. Both of us now feel better about my solo riding, which increases the probability that I'll go out more often.


Edit 8/31/2012

While the "Locate" function works from the main explore.Delorme page as well as the MapShare page, the MapShare page will not display any locate points or messages to the user. I haven't heard back from DeLorme Tech Support in over a week so I've pretty well given up on MapShare. The master web function displays everything, however, so I'll be giving my SO access to that page rather than the MapShare page.

One observation - when running the InReach paired to the GPS the GPS battery lasts about 1/2 as long as it normally does when run solo. Good excuse to upgrade the regulator/rectifier on the XR650L to a Mosfet unit and to install an Eastern Beaver power distribution solution in order to run the GPS off of the bike's electrical system.

Edit 9/10/12

DeLorme Tech Support was able to replicate the MapShare issue that I described - Woo Hoo! It's an honest-to-gosh bug! Hope that they get a fix into a subsequent MapShare release sometime soon 'cause MapShare is actually kinda' neat.

Another interesting "feature" is that if someone is using MapShare or the main web app to locate you via the "Locate" feature and your GPS is paired to the inReach, you must reply to the "Locate" request through your GPS. Your reply isn't necessary if the inReach is on but your GPS is off or un-paired. That means that if you're dead or unconcious or can't operate your GPS to reply then you can't be located, unless of course the battery on your GPS runs out, the GPS shuts itself off and the inReach still has adequate battery life. I'm not sure how I feel about this particular feature....

[Nesurfer99]

So this may be a bit thick, but if I pair the inreach with my android will I get GPS coverage via the inreach? Specifically, I'm going to Baja in October and I know that when I go out of the country the GPS on my phone basically doesn't work. Will the inreach fix that?

[Thebes]

The delorme droid ap uses the inreach unit's gps. It might be able to use the phone's too, I haven't tried. I haven't looked at the Mx delorme maps, but the local ones are as good as anything else I've seen. There's a base map which is more detailed than Garmin's, and there are detailed maps you can select and download (via wifi is recommended)- I think New Mexico was about 800mb and in around 5 regional chunks, roughly, to give you an idea of its data needs.

I've had my inReach for a few days, its tracked well in the cage for testing. I've not had any signal problems during testing with sending or receiving messages. Looks very well built. Seems to work equally well on its back or upright. Its chunkier than it looks in pictures. It's the blue text version and syncs ok with my Vz Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but I have to turn off bluetooth on the phone and turn it back on each time I want to sync or the app won't find the inReach, so long as I do that no problems at all.

I DID have some issues activating it, and customer service was slow, poor via email but when I waited in queue for 20 minutes on the phone I eventually got a very helpful native English speaker. It seems the blue text droid/iphone models need a firmware update... shame it took two people and an hour of my time to learn that, but once I did it was pretty straightforward- firmware update requires (included) usb cable and Mac or Windows, they emailed a link with excellent instructions and a download.

[Sutherngintelmen]

TTT

I need to cary one of these or a SPOT.

I like the idea of two way messaging, be very handy feature. Does it work well for those who have used it?

Anyone own both units able to compare pros / cons?

[cbig]

Tool. Works well when we camp in isolation. I turn the plan up for more messages when out long. It's not as easy to use.It does work well. What I haven't done is txt to another inreach. I imagine we would have to synch up call back numbers while in cell area to get the dynamically allocated phone number to txt to.

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by cbig

Tool. Works well when we camp in isolation. I turn the plan up for more messages when out long. It's not as easy to use.It does work well. What I haven't done is txt to another inreach. I imagine we would have to synch up call back numbers while in cell area to get the dynamically allocated phone number to txt to.

The inReach-to-inReach SMS messages do not use land-based Cellular services. The message is sent to your name@inreach.delorme.com address you set when you activated the inReach. You just need to share your address with other inReach users so that they can put it in their contacts list. The message will come to your Smartphone via the inReach Bluetooth pairing - no cellular connection required.

Cheers,

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by Sutherngintelmen

TTT

I need to cary one of these or a SPOT.

I like the idea of two way messaging, be very handy feature. Does it work well for those who have used it?

Anyone own both units able to compare pros / cons?

I've used/have all of the SPOT devices. The only reasonable comparison would be between the SPOT Connect and the inReach Smartphone.

I would go through the specifics but I'll get to the point. There is no comparison, the inReach actually works and that goes double for the Smartphone app [Earthmate]. If you compare equivalent services (subscriptions), the inReach is only slightly more costly/yr. But, you get two-way messaging AND true world-wide service.

DeLorme currently has a $75 Rebate on the inReach until 31 Dec 2012. That make the inReach cost a wash in my book.

I just rode 1350mi with Tracking set to every 10min and there were NO missed location points - and I hit some really bad weather going from my home to Los Angeles, CA, which I thought might disrupt the satellite connectivity.

The only nit I have with the Messaging Service is that when I send a SMS message (uplink) to someone it only takes about 20sec to hit the addressee's phone. But, it seems to take (limited testing so far) about 20min to receive a reply after they hit the send button on their phone.

Cheers,

[sumwon]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

DeLorme currently has a $75 Rebate on the inReach until 31 Dec 2012. That make the inReach cost a wash in my book.

How do you get the rebate, I don't see it on the website?