On Friday, July 5, 2013 5:16:20 PM UTC+2, Sean F (F2) wrote:
I guess my hope was, gentleman, that our sport (specifically the SSA) would see the value in stronger adoption of an impressive GPS system (Delorme InReach and Iridium network vs Spot and its poor, unreliable network) that transforms watching our sport (contests, cross country, record flying) into an interesting realtime viewing experience for our valued spectators.



The SSA has invested a lot of time into the sailplane tracking page which they have recently developed. Thus far, unfortunately, t's a massive flop because the content (SPOT with its awful 10 minute, no telemetry location info) is WATCHING GRASS GROWING BORING! DeLorme in contrast offers 1 minute updates combined with altitude, heading and airspeed. It is simply not comparable. If all pilots had DeLorme the silane tracking page would be massively popular and similar to watching the live tracking of Grand Prix soaring.



Also, the idea that 10 minute updates is somehow safe in a crash is flawed. If the crash is severe (pilot alive but uncounsious or the Spot is broken) you could be as far as 20 miles away from your last known location. DeLorme's IRIDIUM NETWORK allows for 1 min tracking. So a mile or two is as far as you would be away from the last known location. That is the whole point of their aviation level service. Safety. Crashes which require rescue are usually severe. Minutes count if you are to survive.... Spot is not designed to track aircraft. It's designed to track 3 mph hikers!!!!



Delorme = Safer, far better functionality both in the unit and on their website. Altitude, heading and airspeed. Actually interesting to watch.



Spot and DeLorme are far, far apart. DeLorme is far superior to Spot. It's worth a few extra buck a month if you value VALUE. It's not worth it if you do not value VALUE or you are cheap. We fly gliders worth many tens of thousands of dollars with significant inherent risks. Especially in contests and cross country flying.



Get a DeLorme. You will not be disappointed. Don't be cheap. Your worth higher levels of safety!



Sean

F2

Well, I am cheap, no doubt about it. And while I hope your vision of Soaring becoming a spectator sport comes true, I'm not holding my breath about it. The problem (as I see it) is that not enough people know anything about gliders (including most power pilots), so have a hard time getting excited about it - and lets face it, flying is pretty boring to watch unless something blows up! This isn't like America's cup racing with mega-million boats dueling it out - everybody kinda understands how a boat works, and watching the crews work the boats is interesting - and once and awhile something breaks! If we had head to head competition between huge Concordias on a closed course with live TV, and occasional mid-airs, then people would watch. Not sure if that would be good for the sport, though...

Back to the Delorme - You make some good arguments - I see I have to do some more research. I was looking at getting a 406 PLB as a backup, maybe an Inreach would be a better choice.

Is the SSA website setup to show Inreach tracks?

Kirk
66

Useful discussion, thanks.