Hello inReach! - Good Riddance To SPOT

I was an early adopter of the SPOT satellite messenger service (2008) because I wanted a lifeline in case one of my solo adventures went sideways. I used the first two generations of my SPOT devices over an 11 year span. During that time I watched SPOT's customer facing teams become less concerned about me as a customer than they were about capturing dollars from my wallet. SPOT has a lame policy where they force you to keep an active credit card on your account (even after you have paid) and when you are approaching contract renewal they will hit you with charges without invoicing you first. That's right. They charge your credit card FIRST then the next month they send you an invoice of what they charged you but never clearly explain why the total has increased. You lose your chance to proactively avoid excess charges, make feature changes or cancel the account. I've tried calling and asking for the invoice before I was charged or a detailed explanation of the charges but always got stonewalled. In 2008 my SPOT service was $100 but by 2013 it had already increased to $163! In 2016 customers were forced to pay for tracking whether they used it or not, again raising the costs of service. In 2019 they piled on another $25 non-optional charge cleverly labeled as "Network Maintenance".  My 2020 "renewal" would have been $192.93.  Really? You SPOT folks remind me of big cellular company's wireless billing practices. 

Based on the urgings of my friends in the Underground Explorers I took a long look at Garmin's inReach service and pricing. The biggest negative to switching from SPOT would be having to purchase a new InReach device. I knew before too long SPOT was going to be forcing me to give up my then current device with excuses about network compatibility. Then I would have to purchase whatever their next generation device was. 

The initial list of positives to switching to InReach was very attractive:

1. True 2-way messaging
2. Faster message throughput
3. Positive confirmation of message transmission
4. Better global coverage via the Iridium satellite constellation
5. Lower cost, about $145/year (they have pay-as-you-go-plans too)
6. Ability to leave the device in the vehicle and connect via Bluetooth while in camp

One potential negative that is a concern is the inReach does not use commonly available batteries and must be charged like a cellphone. I've not yet researched battery replacement costs or if I could perform the swap on my own.

Here is how I have mounted and powered the inReach device while it is in my 4Runner

Of course, long after I told SPOT good bye they sent me an email offering to discount service in 2020 by $80 and in the future they'd remove the "Network Maintenance" fee.  What they didn't discuss was that I would pay $20 more a month for poor customer service, poor network performance and one way messaging.

No thanks SPOT!

In the last few months I have been really happy with the technical performance of the inReach device and system. Time will tell if they have better customer service.

Anyone want to buy a used SPOT device?