I would look after it, as an emergency device, who will work out of normal mobile-phone coverage...

The emergency Plan isnt expensiv and can help you out of trouble.. Smartsafety will call for help, if you are not able to do it by yourself.

Trackrecording you can do too on your smartphone, which will do it more exactly than these satellite devices.

If your Friends/Parents like to follow you live - then the livetracking starts to get handy. My Family was very happy to follow my trip through africa and south america, if they was worry they was able to look after my progress.

Two times they did ask why I didnt move. Both times i got stuck abroad, but was able to get out after a day.

I wouldnt start in remote areas without, thats like going for an roadtrip without taking my phone with me.

For my 2 Month europe trip at 2019, I didnt use a satellite-Messenger, because my phone had connection most of the time.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
Looking at the costs of the unit and the satellite monthly charges it will cost me around UK£1200 for 6 months, this doesn't include any search and rescue or repatriation. It would provide basic text messaging and access to the emergency call centre should I get in trouble.

I agree it is very useful for my wife to keep track of me during the trip as there won't be mobile phone signal in most of the places I am visiting but, this is an expensive option just to provide that facility.
In some ways it is very much like an insurance policy, you pay out but may never need it.
Since I am trying not to over spend on the trip I am having to consider the costs as the same funds will buy a lot of petrol!

You are the first person I have come across that has used such a device so I am wondering how everyone else gets on without a tracker device?

Does anyone else on the forum have a thought on this?

Thanks,

Mike.

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http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk

Not sure how you work out that cost. You can get a Germin InReach SE+ on eBay for £280 and the basic subscription is £15/month. For a 6 month trip that's a total of £370 and you still have the device to sell later if you don't want to keep it. For peace of mind in case you have an emergency in the wild places of Mongolia that's priceless.

Well worth having if your in areas without phone reception. The 2 way text messages and tracking functions have proved very useful on mine, not had to use the SOS fortunately.

£15 is the most basic package, which gives yo the SOS functions but no tracking and texts are additional. £35 gives you SOS, a bundle of texts each month and tracking point every 10minutes. The tracking is a lot more accurate than using a smart phone app.

I have no experience traveling in Mongolia so cannot speak to mobile coverage.

I do have experience with a life and death situation which turned out positive thanks only to instant communication with outside help via a sat phone.

It may seem ‘expensive’ now, but don’t kid yourself, if required, it will instantly become ‘priceless’.

IMO do yourself, and your loved ones, the favor and take advantage of technology with the potential to be life saving.

Peace of Mind for everyone.

I am a complete luddite and do not use this type of device and save the money, it is really down to what you are comfortable with rather than what others do.

If these things cost £12 there’s no doubt everyone would take them but at £1200 I personally wouldn’t bother. Yes there’s always the argument that if the worst happened your life might depend on it (and no doubt Riel has a tale to tell about his experience) but if that was a serious concern you might want to reconsider whether you should be doing the trip at all.

Even if you spent the money what would that get you? Actual rescue or just the ability to talk to a rescue centre thousands of miles away? You could buy an awful lot of local rescue for £1200. Of more concern to me would be the need to let family members know how things are going but given the resupply needs - fuel, food, water etc of motorcycle travel it’d be unusual to be out of regular communication reach for more than a few days at a time. I suppose I come to this via years, decades, of travel before these things were available so the accusation that I have a jaundiced eye might be valid but for me it’s ‘nice idea but not at that price’.

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.

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http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk

Hi,

Thanks for your advice.
I had a look at Sat phones but they seem very expensive?
Can you give an idea of how much yours cost and over what period of time?

Thanks,

Mike.

__________________
http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk

I did use such a device, because I dont travel very safe.

Severall times I did try to follow tracks in africa or crossing the andes, after locals told me, that it is not possible to to drive futher.

Severall times I drive without a track many miles for an remote wildcamp spot or to because i did like the landscape, assuming that I`m able to find a track later.

So I was driving on paths without even local traffic, in parts of the the countrys with a very low population.

I like to live in the wilderness, love remote areas, love doing offroad stuff with my well prepared 4x4. I`m able to stay remote for severall days, sleeping in the car.

Locals usually don`t have mud terrain tyres, not so big tyres, not such a ground clearance – when they have to stop I usually are able to drive even without using my winch.



I guess I did calulate more with the help that my family and friends can organizee from switzerland, than the help oft he Rescue-Center which is for real life threatening situations.

For me was «car stuck in the wilderness» the most realistic scenario.

If you drive with a roadbike on tracks with enough traffic, you usually get help from locals if you are in trouble. If you leave well travelled roads, I would use such a device...


Any smartphone will record better tracks. On the most satellite-messenger "plans" you just add any 2 minutes a new waypoint (spot / garmin).

Many offroad tracks are today recorded by smartphone/tablets - and you are able to follow them...

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

Hi,

Thanks for your response.
As per my later message, the £35/month package does seem the best solution however, there is then the recovery insurance on top.

I'm going to hunt around for the insurance and see if I can get it else where.

Which Inreach device are you using and in what countries?

Thanks,

Mike.

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http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk

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.

__________________
http://www.trailsoftheunexpected.co.uk

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