Chris71
Member
I would like for my children to be able to track me on my journey from home, in case of incapacitating emergencies. I will be all over the Bahamas. What is the least expensive, simplest system to allow that?
I would like for my children to be able to track me on my journey from home, in case of incapacitating emergencies. I will be all over the Bahamas. What is the least expensive, simplest system to allow that?
Until more reviews are in, I'd question the reliability of the Spot X tracking. It was quite unreliable on the original Spot, and quite reliable on the inReach. Recent changes: inReach has been bought by Garmin, which always seems to make things less reliable, and the Spot X is supposed to have verified position reporting which they lacked before (reports were sent in the blind). Initial reviews on Spot X not encouraging.
I've used an inReach all over the US, up into Canada, and down to the Exumas, with perfect reliability.
Be aware that nothing is absolutely guaranteed to work 100% of the time. Position fixes may be missed now and then. Your children need to understand this, and not panic if you miss one or two fixes. Nor should they call out SAR just because of one or two missed fixes. When you are overdue at your next destination by a meaningful amount, THAT'S when they should call out SAR!
If you have AIS on they can track you here:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/
https://www.vesselfinder.com/
I would like for my children to be able to track me on my journey from home, in case of incapacitating emergencies. I will be all over the Bahamas. What is the least expensive, simplest system to allow that?
I would like for my children to be able to track me on my journey from home, in case of incapacitating emergencies. I will be all over the Bahamas. What is the least expensive, simplest system to allow that?
I wouldn't call the inReach hardware completely reliable, it is a consumer electronics device and they do fail. However the position reporting between Spot and inReach are different animals. The inReach uses the Iridium constellation of satellites, global coverage and proven reliable (this is the system that is used and paid for by the US military). Spot uses the Globalstar constellation which has been unreliable (in fact, it's failure as a voice system is what gave birth to Spot). The inReach sends a position report and asks the satellite for confirmation of receipt. The original Spot sent it a few times and hoped it was received. Often it was not. More recently, Globalstar had launched some new satellites and the Spot X is supposed to close the loop on position transmissions. Early reviews suggest is it still lacking in reliability, must have a completely clear sky view, etc. I typically run my inReach inside, under the carbon fiber dodger or if in the glider, inside the carbon fuselage and it still has no trouble reporting reliably.
Garmin has a history of not supporting their own products (I've thrown out 3 Garmin GPS units now due to dropping support), also a history of acquiring companies and ruining them. Their most recent acquisitions (Navionics, inReach, and Active Captain) are already suffering. For that reason I hope the Spot X is successful.
I use these in Alaska where I know there are no land stations and they seem to agree with my AIS plotting and visually.This system is not really real-time and it is based on "volunteer" land-side stations to pick up their AIS signal. That leave a lot of holes in the coverage when AIS is out of range. There is a paid version that uses satellite coverage, but I have personally not looked into it.
Neglecting the actual passages; get Life360. free. You already prolly have international data roaming plan?
I've had ALL of the above over the years and Garmin is clearly the best support.
Yes, they do screw things up at times.