Hi,

Thanks for your reply.
With the tracker and the places I am going the response would be days not hours for sure so, I will have to support myself the best I can until help arrives.

I'm looking at all options at the moment.

Mike.

Hi Mark,

This is the biggest trip I have ever done and so I'm trying to decide what I am happy with.
Most of my trips to date have almost all been within range of a 3G mobile service so comms hasn't been an issue.

I am leaning towards the happy to go it alone side as I am a very hands on chap and have a fair amount of medical ability and survival skills but, my wife thinks otherwise so it's a balancing game.

If only we had global internet connectivity!

Cheers,

Mike.

Hi,

I've also been travelling for decades, well before 3g Mobile services existed. My wife and I have travelled all over the world without such devices as they didn't exist and handled our breakdowns/problems without issue.

Since we now live in a very connected world and I'll be doing this trip solo I was just looking into the options available and trying to gauge what others are doing.

The price doesn't cover the cost of the actual rescue, you need insurance on top for that, hence my original total price.

Mike.

I strongly suggest to use your smartphone for tracking purpose. With MotionX you can also do liveupdates (when you have coverage).

With a smartphone you get a more "useful" track - which you can share - and others are able to drive the same way.

Livetracking from Satellite-Messenger allows with a "good" plan, to track any two minutes a waypoint - that is really just for showing where you was.. Is not usable for anything else...

With MotionX you can share your tracks in detail, too you can use it for a blog or something. With an GPX Export someone else can use it for navigation.

The Map is done with MotionX (the background is a Screenshot on my iPad):

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iWkAUvx_-_...rica-Flyer.jpg

I have an old Delorme Inreach without the nav screen, used throughout Morocco and the Western Sahara.

I don't bother with the insurance as I don't need it for my useage, I either run on the Safety Plan if I just need to send a few txts and have the reassurance of GEOS support in a life or death situation or the Recreation plan if I need the tracking running.

Since I got the unit the phone coverage in the region has improved considerably so find I use the InReach less than I did as I can use various apps for live tracking function.

If I have a tour group with me in areas without phone reception then I have the tracking running for friends and family back home to see where we are and be able to contact the group in an emergency

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
I think if I'm going to bother with an in reach device I may as well go with the plan that has the tracking so my wife can keep track of me.

Mike.

Hi,

Thanks for the info, not heard of that app before, but there are so many!
Does MotionX work even when there is no 3G signal and you are in the middle of nowhere or does it require a mobile data connection to work?

Thanks,

Mike.

Its one of the main reasons I got the unit so family can follow my progress from home.

All the app's Ive seen that provide tracking need a phone signal or wifi for that track to be seen by anyone at home (its a different function to recording a track log on a navigation app or proper gps unit).

Polarsteps works ok, but the track point frequency is less than the InReach and obviously if you have no phone or wifi nobody at home can see where you are

Many years ago I had a serious crash in Oregon on a minor, infrequently traveled road. I went down the embankment. When I clambered back up to the road I realized that no one would have spotted me down there if I had been incapacitated. Also no one knew that I had spontaneously taken that particular road. When I returned home my partner and I agreed that I would be carrying a locator device for future solo trips.

Whether it's worth it or not is a very personal decision. One which was easy for me to make after what had happened to me.

I first traveled with the SPOT device and then switched to the InReach. The device cost me about CDN $450 and my unlimited tracking package is CDN $55/month. I can suspend the plan anytime and only be charged about $4/month and just reactivate anytime I want for specific trips.

At this point I wouldn't travel without it on solo trips. I've taken it with me to Mexico, all of Central America, British Columbia logging roads, Dominican republic, and it'll come with me to Colombia as well.

At the very least my contacts will know my last location if they end up organizing their own search if local authorities don't respond.

...Michelle

And on another note. Back in the eighties a woman and her SUV disappeared on the highway from Whistler to Vancouver. She was heading home from her condo and just vanished. It was years later that her vehicle, with her inside, was discovered down a slope in the trees and this was on a major highway.

Not trying to be alarmist and it's a personal decision. Just saying that things do happen.

...Michelle

My gran used to have a panic button she kept on a necklace for if she needed help.

I thought it needed a smell-o-meter just in case


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

MotionX can work without 4G/3G Connection! Too you can import tracks, export tracks, download maps for offline use and so on.

I did use the first Delorme Inreach device together (emergency, livetracking, messenger) with an ipad (trackrecording, navigation) for both, transafrica and south america.

- My Friends and family did loves to watch my progress.
- Other travellers did send me Messages about places nearby
- I did feel save, because I know that I am able not just for trigger an SOS,
too for beeing able to to communicate in SMS style.
- I know that my friends are reachable, who look for help at sample - if i have an maintenance breakdown abroad (nothing which should lead to an SOS Call)
- I was able to update my Blog with shortmessages, together with my current coordinates.

I would start the same, if the trip leads to remote ares!

After some years of the trip:

The Map of delorme isnt working anymore, because they did merge with Garmin. The Links in my blog with the coordinates arent working anymore in my transafrica blog. Panamericana is working till now..

The tracked points of the delorem arent usable for anything else:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tx9mgLSDqe...fetracking.jpg

The GPX Track recorded with your smartphone, you can share/store und reuse, sooon you keep it..

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your reply.
I've been discussing it with my wife and I think she would like me to carry a device so that she can ping me via text message every now and then but also to be able to track me whilst away for 6 months.

I'm considering either the Garmin InReach Mini or the Garmin InReach Explorer+ at the moment.

Am I right in saying you can send predefined messages with the devices?
Can you define the messages yourself or are they predefined by Garmin?
According to the documents and mid range satellite package you can send unlimited predefined messages? Do you find this useful or not?

Are you able to update social media from the device directly? I read somewhere that this is possible but cannot find out what exactly it sends out, do you use it for this and if so what does it send out?

Thanks,

Mike.

You can connect with your smartphone to your garmin/inreach device. With the "Earthmate" App you are able so to type any SMS Messages and send/receive it.


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Qc...=w1920-h977-rw

Yup that's correct but the info on the website also talks about being able to send unlimited "Predefined Messages" but nowhere does it detail what the predefined messages are.

Since the satellite package I was looking at only allow 40 text message per month I thought I may be able to utilise the predefined messages for advising location and OK status rather than using up the 40 text allowance.

Mike.