Originally Posted By: John Sims
Originally Posted By: bruce
Delorme Inreach is about as affordable as Spot, but with two way texting. And unlike Spot, you can choose to pay for only the months you use it.


This two way texting is also available when using "SOS", so Search and Rescue can get clarification as to the nature of the emergency. This two way messaging might have saved the S&R guys an unnecessary mission, but given the guy's incompetence to even send a per-programmed message I'm not sure.

As Steve pointed out the message was equivalent to SOS, but not sent directly to Search and Rescue. Difficult to understand the reason behind this per-programmed message. While not all senders of "false" SOS messages should be fined or pay the cost of the mission it seems to me that this one would be a candidate.


Yes, and that gives the Inreach a huge advantage. Can you imagine the false alarms if people could just push a button instead of dailing 911? And at least the police only have to drive a short distance in order to find out it's a false alarm. SAR have to go to remote areas under often risky conditions and huge expense. Hopefully all SOS devices soon be 2-way enabled. I think that the false alarms saved by two-way will more than offset the increased popularity and use of the devices.