Garmin inReach Huge price-hike in UK

[Midnight Son]

Allan Smith:
The poster is grumbling about a ~37% jump in tariff for no good reason, if Garmin is so efficient, how come the price went up. I have minimal instrument requirements, going B&G in the future, or whoever is the least harmful to their customers. I will vote with my wallet. To h*** with the bad actors.

[Rorzech]

I live in Canada my cell phone cost me $80.00 / month for texting 300 minutes & 1 gig data. At home, High speed internet (always less than 1 mb/sec ) also $80.00 , Delorme $40.00/ month for basic plan. Elon Musk can fire up one rocket carrying 60 smaller satellites ready to make a whole new network. He did that a couple months ago. Theres going to be a lot more competition popping up real soon. Just like Delorme popped up out of nowhere. Wouldn't surprise me if Apple or Musk jump on the sat/com band wagon. Who knows what's in the near future.

[Emouchet]

You guys voted for Brexit. The £ exchange rate is now getting bad versus other currencies. Do not blame Garmin for that.


The small increase in InReach subscribtion price is not that hard to swallow, even if we all wanted to it to be lower. $24.95 versus $25.49 is about 2% increase.


You like it or not, Garmin with its agressive strategy is becoming a large (too large?) company with almost monopolistic position in the electronic for outdoor activities. Not only boating. THis is not good for price! but may be you can get Garmin shares?


GRMN Nasdaq is up 24% since september, a 22billions market cap, 22% profit margin...

[AlanR]

Garmin......the new Microsoft!

The "Just business" policy is: Pricing according to what the market will bear.

[gabilo]

Originally Posted by Emouchet

You guys voted for Brexit. The £ exchange rate is now getting bad versus other currencies. Do not blame Garmin for that.


The small increase in InReach subscribtion price is not that hard to swallow, even if we all wanted to it to be lower. $24.95 versus $25.49 is about 2% increase.


You like it or not, Garmin with its agressive strategy is becoming a large (too large?) company with almost monopolistic position in the electronic for outdoor activities. Not only boating. THis is not good for price! but may be you can get Garmin shares?


GRMN Nasdaq is up 24% since september, a 22billions market cap, 22% profit margin...

Correct! Purchases outside of the UK and imported goods will become even more expensive soon due to Brexit...

[cajucito]

My subscriprion for unlimited txts has doubled from 40$ to 79$ per month. Crazy and very disappointing. I will abandon this wonderful device as soon as i have an alternative. Such a pity that greed killed a great concept

[cajucito]

Has any anyone got a good alternative as we all agree we will not be bullied by greedy corporates. I need reliable comms to outside world as i cruise. Whats the best and most afordable way to have internet on board 24/7 without relying on wifi from bars cafes. My crew needs regular access to control kand based business

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by cajucito

Has any anyone got a good alternative as we all agree we will not be bullied by greedy corporates. I need reliable comms to outside world as i cruise. Whats the best and most afordable way to have internet on board 24/7 without relying on wifi from bars cafes. My crew needs regular access to control kand based business

There are two questions there. The first one is easy. In the communications field, you will not be able to avoid large, greedy corporations.

The second one is internally contradictory. You can have fast, reliable 24x7 communications, or you can have affordable communications. Both is not really possible, especially if you're not staying in one place.

If you're travelling near a populated coast, a good cellular MiFi or cell phone with tethering plan will be your least expensive option. Throughput will be good enough for normal stuff in most places. Just don't plan on doing a lot of streaming video.

If you're going farther afield, your only option is satellite comms. That will not be cheap no matter how you slice it. Minimal capability, like the InReach, will still be your cheapest, but that's only text. Even a slow 2-way satellite data link will be pretty costly, and if you want something fast, the sky's the limit.

[redsky49]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

There are two questions there. The first one is easy. In the communications field, you will not be able to avoid large, greedy corporations.

The second one is internally contradictory. You can have fast, reliable 24x7 communications, or you can have affordable communications. Both is not really possible, especially if you're not staying in one place.

If you're travelling near a populated coast, a good cellular MiFi or cell phone with tethering plan will be your least expensive option. Throughput will be good enough for normal stuff in most places. Just don't plan on doing a lot of streaming video.

If you're going farther afield, your only option is satellite comms. That will not be cheap no matter how you slice it. Minimal capability, like the InReach, will still be your cheapest, but that's only text. Even a slow 2-way satellite data link will be pretty costly, and if you want something fast, the sky's the limit.

SSB???

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by redsky49

SSB???

Oh, sorry, I was answering the question about accessing the internet for work-related stuff.

Yeah, SSB is free! And you can get some data, too.

[Pete7]

Well for the outrageous price of $125 a month you can have a data speed of 2.4 Kbits/s.

https://www.predictwind.com/iridium-go/

Pete

[Emouchet]

Starting mid 2018, Iridium NEXT, a new constellation of satellites will allow faster connectivity. The constellation will provide data speeds of up to 128 kbit/s to mobile terminals and up to 1.5*Mbit/s to Iridium Pilot marine terminals.

https://www.iridium.com/network/iridiumnext

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridiu..._constellation

[outlawuk]

Dear Emouchet, with respect and not wishing to appear crirical of you, you have misread my pricing. It is Not a 2% increase. I very carefully compared the US $ pricing, then gave the English £ pricing, and I did the conversion. The increase is near to 40%. On any basis, whether I can be criticised (as I have been) for 'needing' the inReach (though it's marketed to outdoor people generally, and not only Everest climbers and travelelrs to the Pole pulled by dogs!), the price hike is astronomical and not justifiable on any basis. I daresay there are those out there who will seek to justify the unconscionable (for reasons only known to themselves), but I was merely stating facts. You misread them.
I just wish that lowly users could have some clout against corporations behaving badly.
Equally, when Inmarsat halved the validity of the PAYG IsatPhone vouchers (viz: a 100% price increase) I swore not to give in to corporate bad behaviour and I tossed my isatphpone in the trash and advise all that I meet never to touch that service. Though I was always one to cut off my nose to spite my face.
I'm really not a typical Mr Angry at all. Very easy going and very easily pleased. but when I get shafted... I respond appropriately. I might not own a yacht, but I know quite a few who do.

[CaptTom]

outlawuk, your frustration is not unjustified.

Your point that large corporations take advantage of their customers, seemingly with impunity, is spot on.

It doesn't have to be this way, but all it takes is enough people who don't mind being fleeced to make this normal. At that point, your options are limited. You can vote with your wallet, but if you're in the minority, who is going to care?

It's just like the gas (sorry, petrol) stations which charge 10% more than the station right across the street. In a perfect world, they should be out of business. But it seems there are a lot of people who actually feel GOOD about paying more for the exact same product. It would be foolish for businesses not to take advantage of that.

[Alberg30Shill]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

The problem is, there really isn't any other comparable product. Maybe this will spur someone to create one. DeLorme was a great (Maine!) company, and treated it's customers right. They used cutting-edge technology, but only enough to get the job done, so they were able to offer just the needed functionality at a fair price. They didn't abandon their products every 12-18 months in favor of developing new ones.

They obviously didn't understand the way big companies are supposed to be run nowadays. Screw the customers! Screw the employees! It's all about quarterly returns.

Nowadays? Unrestricted capitalism has always screwed their employees and customers. Charles Dicken's London is solid evidence of that.

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Garmin has become the PacMan of the recreational GPS industry, gobbling up everything competitive/complimentary in its business universe, and as such can/and does pretty much as it pleases price wise and with "scheduled" (rather than simply planned) obsolescence to force upgrades/replacements to still functional equipment. We will not buy anything from Garmin any longer.

FWIW...