I bought a SpotX satellite device, so many (most) of the remote areas I go into alone have no cell service and help is a long way off. In short it’s very good, but not great it’s an evolving technology. In a nutshell it works although on its own schedule at least with non-emergency texts, most of mine were sent, some did not (my mistakes learning) and I think there are limitations on how soon one text can be sent after another I’m still figuring the little quirks out something with traffic limitations and the system needing to reset...but, don’t ask cause I don’t know.
The service has nine different rates based on 3 different plans, a basic, advanced and an unlimited service ranging from around $14 a month to $40 a month for the unlimited flex plan. The basic plan monthly payments gets you 12 texts a month, the advanced plan get you 100 texts a month plus more frequent satalite access and unlimited is well... the three tiers are repeated except when you pay the year up front you get all your available text limit for the year and they all are good for the entire year plus it’s a couple bucks cheaper, the three levels are again repeated as flex, this has slightly higher rates and no one year commitment you can start/stop as it fits all the plans come with an $20 activation fee. I chose the advanced with 1200 texts for the year. I also added rescue insurance, roadside assistance and replacement insurance for an additional $85, the rescue insurance provides $100K/$50K per occurrencein case they have to send you a helicopter or some other big bucks rescue, roadside 50miles towing free, off road ok and winching service available at the push of a button that also sends the tow service your gps and a map with your location pinpointed, you can also send the gps data and map with a text. All in all The device, tax, fee and service for the year set me back roughly $670, cheap insurance I think.
There are also other tracking and social networking features, it’s actually a great device and gave me some comfort knowing if I needed I could get help and also it was great being able to send my wife a note and let her know everything was good.
Battery life is also good, think it will do 10 days easy with the tracking settings set to 10 minute intervals. They also do online software updates, last one came with an e-mail notice to remind me. So far I’ve used it in the California sierras and in the north Nevada desert and it was extreamly comforting to know if I’d had any problems I wasn’t going to be stuck out in the boonies for days.
The service has nine different rates based on 3 different plans, a basic, advanced and an unlimited service ranging from around $14 a month to $40 a month for the unlimited flex plan. The basic plan monthly payments gets you 12 texts a month, the advanced plan get you 100 texts a month plus more frequent satalite access and unlimited is well... the three tiers are repeated except when you pay the year up front you get all your available text limit for the year and they all are good for the entire year plus it’s a couple bucks cheaper, the three levels are again repeated as flex, this has slightly higher rates and no one year commitment you can start/stop as it fits all the plans come with an $20 activation fee. I chose the advanced with 1200 texts for the year. I also added rescue insurance, roadside assistance and replacement insurance for an additional $85, the rescue insurance provides $100K/$50K per occurrencein case they have to send you a helicopter or some other big bucks rescue, roadside 50miles towing free, off road ok and winching service available at the push of a button that also sends the tow service your gps and a map with your location pinpointed, you can also send the gps data and map with a text. All in all The device, tax, fee and service for the year set me back roughly $670, cheap insurance I think.
There are also other tracking and social networking features, it’s actually a great device and gave me some comfort knowing if I needed I could get help and also it was great being able to send my wife a note and let her know everything was good.
Battery life is also good, think it will do 10 days easy with the tracking settings set to 10 minute intervals. They also do online software updates, last one came with an e-mail notice to remind me. So far I’ve used it in the California sierras and in the north Nevada desert and it was extreamly comforting to know if I’d had any problems I wasn’t going to be stuck out in the boonies for days.