On Friday, February 22, 2013 9:16:32 AM UTC-8, Sean F (F2) wrote:
Ramy,



You got it! :-). DeLorme InReach appears to be night and day better when compared to Spot. I never liked Spot to be honest and suspect that many of you felt the same. It annoyed me how poor and out of date it's website was. The mobile app was poor. As you can see from my sample track, DeLormes website is of very high quality. It runs beautifully on PC, Mac, Android and IOS. I am able to easily access all functions on any device or browser. The software is well thought out and complete.


Thanks Sean - I'm sold.

I did some analysis of what plan to get - including the $30 change plans fee. Assuming I read the rate card and overage charges correctly - and assuming 6 months of flying versus 6 months of off-season - the most economical approach is as follows:

At a 2 min tracking interval the break-even number of tracking hours per month above which it is cheaper to bump up to Aviation 4 during the flying season versus just sticking to Aviation 1 all year is 15.1 hours per month. Total subscription bill for the year: $310.50

At a 5 minute tracking break-even is 37.8 hours per month. Less than that and you save money by sticking to Aviation 1. Total subscription bill for the year: $310.50 - again.

If you burn it up with a 1 minute interval the break-even is 7.5 hours per month. Total subscription bill: $310.50.

I picked Aviation 4 because it has an overage rate that is less than any other rate - base or overage. That's a strange discontinuity in the pricing - it appears they really want to encourage Aviation 4 for some reason. I assumed an identical number of flight hours per month so if your flying has some heavy and light months it'll be slightly different. I also didn't account for the possibility that you might dial back the tracking interval on heavy flight months. If you did that it would make staying on the Aviation 1 plan even more attractive.

Unless you fly a lot at a high tracking rate it seems to make the most sense to go with the minimum plan and just pay the overages on the months when you fly more. Just make sure to watch your data usage or you will get a nasty surprise.

9B