Delorme In Reach for Offshore.

[svseawitch]

Anyone have any opinion about Inreach? We used Spot for a 6 month trip to Mexico. It was wonderful for keeping the kids, siblings and my mother from worrying. e are going to head south touch this fall and would like to have some 2 way capability. And we decided to join some friends on the Ha Ha. It looks like th Haha will be requiring the inreach.

Device seems easy to understand. The hardest part might be figuring out which plan to choose...

[roverhi]

Bought one used for a recent delivery from SF to SoCal. Easy to set up and sent out position reports for my wife to follow the sail. Gave it to my crew to carry on his person just in case he went overboard. Messaging is okay if you use the canned scripts but a pain to write your own message with the cramped keyboard. The monthly costs are fairly expensive, the medium plan I had was over $30 a month which would add up over a lengthy cruise I cancelled the subscription once I got to my destination and felt the cost was well worth it for my wife's piece of mind and the SOS function, if needed.

Had a SPOT when I did a solo TransPac a few years back. Once again, allowed my wife to follow the sail but ran out of coverage about 200 miles out of Hilo. If you go with a spot, be sure its coverage will blanket your route. The coverage map seemed dead on accurate for my sail.

[StuM]

I wouldn't do a passage without mine.

Originally Posted by roverhi

Bought one used for a recent delivery from SF to SoCal. Easy to set up and sent out position reports for my wife to follow the sail. Gave it to my crew to carry on his person just in case he went overboard. Messaging is okay if you use the canned scripts but a pain to write your own message with the cramped keyboard.

You can pair it with a Bluetooth smartphone and use the smartphone to write your messages.

The monthly costs are fairly expensive, the medium plan I had was over $30 a month which would add up over a lengthy cruise I cancelled the subscription once I got to my destination and felt the cost was well worth it for my wife's piece of mind and the SOS function, if needed.

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$30 a month isn't much when you consider what you're actually getting for that.

I just activate mine for a month at a time when required for passages, the rest of the time it's only a few bucks a month for it to be on standby.

[2Wind]

Like STU says, its very cheap to "park" when not in use - $5/mth.
Easy to activate and upgrade for month by month higher service level use when needed.
Even then, in my view, it is cheap compared to the alternatives like a satellite phone or even HF radio. $60-90/month is really cheap for a safety item that will actually get used as opposed to be a cost but rarely ever get used.
Its tracking function is excellent.
I have found its off shore weather forecast data to be excellent,
The ability to send and receive SMS via satellite seamlessly from the smart phone a very useful and reassuring facility.
I used mine both offshore (Tasman sea) and regularly when coastal where cell coverage will be inadequate of unavailable. I get family or my secretary to SMS the daily weather to suppliment the InReach Offshore Weather download.
I have VHF, a Satellite phone and Cellular booster options but the InReach is best.
It also has a Emergency function to suppliment the EPIRB as required.
I would thoroughly recommend it.

[Dulcesuenos]

Ours was fantastic for a transatlantic a d the weather feature was and continues to be great. We used ours for messaging family etc in at least 24 countries.

[Cotemar]

We used the Delorme InReach for our Atlantic crossing last year and it worked perfectly.

We have a friend that is doing there crossing right now and we are watching them everyday, so it's fun for us to watch also.
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[terah]

I'm planning to get one for our trip next year. Is there any benefit to the new SE+?

[Cotemar]

Here is a good write-up on the New Garmin inReach SE+ and Explorer+

Preview: New Garmin inReach SE+ and Explorer+
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[John Holbrook]

I used an InReach paired to my IPad last month for a transatlantic. Worked great. Stayed in touched with family, kept the gf happy, arranged air flights prior to arriving in St Martin, made the occasional post on FB, friends could track me and got the news and weather. Sometime text is better than voice.

One thing make sure those who aren't so computer savvy (parents) know they can only respond via the browser.

I have the base model. I think the screen is too small to work as a chart plotter.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by terah

I'm planning to get one for our trip next year. Is there any benefit to the new SE+?

Maps, I was real surprised to find that it had Marine maps available, now I have maybe 7 or 8 sources of electronic charts?
I do not expect to ever use the maps, only reason I got it was I paid the Employee price as we are a dealer, and there was maybe $25 difference.
Garmin is real real strict about their employee pricing, only can buy 2 I think, has to be shipped to employee, paid by listed employee's credit card and the serial number is tracked forever.
I think there may be some Delorme units still out there for a whole lot less money than the Garmin ones

[terah]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Maps, I was real surprised to find that it had Marine maps available, now I have maybe 7 or 8 sources of electronic charts?
I do not expect to ever use the maps, only reason I got it was I paid the Employee price as we are a dealer, and there was maybe $25 difference.
Garmin is real real strict about their employee pricing, only can buy 2 I think, has to be shipped to employee, paid by listed employee's credit card and the serial number is tracked forever.
I think there may be some Delorme units still out there for a whole lot less money than the Garmin ones

Hmm.. Not sure I need another map device. Ebay has the SE @ £250 and the SE+ @ £400 so quite a difference.

[a64pilot]

If I had to pay full price, I would not have gotten the +.
Yes you could use the maps I guess when driving around in a car, but my phone has a larger screen and with Garmin Blue Chart, better maps.

I bought the thing partially as a tracking device should my boat go walkabout, I have read a few threads here of boats being lost from dragging anchors, having to be abandoned etc, and I know that could happen to me, and I'd like to be able to get the boat back if it did.

[Capt.Don]

Originally Posted by StuM

I wouldn't do a passage without mine.



You can pair it with a Bluetooth smartphone and use the smartphone to write your messages.

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$30 a month isn't much when you consider what you're actually getting for that.

I just activate mine for a month at a time when required for passages, the rest of the time it's only a few bucks a month for it to be on standby.

The InReach Explorer that you can pair with your smartphone. This makes the additional cost for the Explorer worthwhile.

You can opt for the less-expensive plan at $15/month and $.10/data point. Setting the update tracking interval to 1 hour (or more), you can get by for 10 days before needing the $35/month plan.

[barnakiel]

My clients have one. It is a good device and works as advertised. They have the pre-Garmin model (DeLorme).

My other clients have various kits: YBs, CLS, Spot, Iridium (phone), Inmarsat (phone), IrGo, etc. etc.

The only one that ever gave us trouble was Spot that tended to miss pings in areas closer to ocean centers. Look up Spot range chart for more insight.

Cheers,
b.

[kelbylinn]

I have had a Pre-garmin Delorme In Reach for about 3 or 4 years now. It is paired with my Iphone for easier messaging. We have used it on our Gulf Coast Travels including from Dauphin Island, AL (Mobile) to Key West. Perfect satellite coverage all the way. It also gives us piece of mind as another emergency piece of equipment with its SOS function. While not an Epirb, it would sure be with us in a life raft type of emergency, that's for sure!