Thread: PLB and GPS or just an inReach?

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

ship it to @gonetropo for a look. he fixed my gps for a very reasonable price!

cheers. was that the one with the corrosion?
honestly i lose track of the things i repair.
i am going to be in and out of hospital etc a few times soon so i cant promise a quick turnover though i will try my best

Originally Posted by imaca

I've found that the magnetic bearing on topo50 to be a bit out, even accounting for magnetic deviation. I've taken the bearing to a land mark on my phone and checked it with a compass and it was a good 20 degrees out.
Any suggestions?

20 degrees is just about what the difference is between magnetic north and true north. Your compass will definitely be pointing at magnetic north, I bet your phone is doing true north

Originally Posted by Mr300WSM

Have you decided what you think you will get yet?

At this point I’m thinking replace the PLB battery as long as it comes with a warranty. And then get a new GPS maybe the 66 that has inreach functions but is primarily a gps, then I can choose whether to pay for and enable the inreach functions by trip.

Interesting discussions, some sensible dudes on here.

If you get the proper authorised person to change the battery, you should get another 7 years of battery life out of it ( unless you have the very old 5 year battery life one).

Inreach txting is an awesome feature to have and I use it a lot. Can’t comment on the SOS yet.
Smartphone as GPS is the beesnees. $5 cost for the likes of MapToasters (iOS) and pretty accurate!

Just thinking about things, how likely is it that Starlink and other satellite based options will make inReach and sat phones redundant within a year or two? Probably won't change my decision, but just thinking about it. Essentially that is what inReach is, just an expensive way of doing it if it pans out like Elon Musk says it will.....

Hope this isn't too much of a thread-jack, but has anyone used the Zoleo sat communicator that Ol' Skippers Mate sells? They look good, are more affordable than anything Garmin, and work with the phone you will most likely have with you anyway, so keen to hear experiences as an alternative to an InReach.

I have an old Gen3 Spot Tracker, and the Zoleo subscription looks to be about the same as Spot, but obvs you are able to communicate via a phone app with Zoleo. Plan for me (when funds allow) is a PLB + Zoleo/phone... in addition to map and compass.

https://skippersmate.co.nz/zoleo-nz-...-communicator/

Originally Posted by Cigar

20 degrees is just about what the difference is between magnetic north and true north. Your compass will definitely be pointing at magnetic north, I bet your phone is doing true north

I think you are correct. With the NZ Topo50 app (and probably most others) you can select between magnetic or true north.

sitting up on ridge last night I pinged my gps so can confirm location on google earth when got home...picked up cellphone and just had to ring RUMPY as had 5 game animals within 250 yards of me ,and evening was rather nice...... the plb sat in daybag but could well have been used later when stepped in hole and smashed shin of other leg into old sticks..... had it been sharp rock instead of rotting wood it could well have broken my leg.

And if ya day pack was away from you when you stepped in the hole and broke ya leg, you might still be there unless you could crawl back to your bag.

Originally Posted by Cigar

20 degrees is just about what the difference is between magnetic north and true north. Your compass will definitely be pointing at magnetic north, I bet your phone is doing true north

Yeah I tried adjusting for magnetic North as it was about 40 degrees off initially.
Given how everyone seems to rave about cell phone GPS I will have a look at my calibration, it'll be worth sorting out

Could pay to check if your phone has a mag compass in it. The old mans one doesn't so when he's not moving the bearings are miles out. Start moving and it's fine as the GPS
can work it out.

Pretty disappointed with Inreach service to be honest I’ve had spot devices for years and they may be slower to get a message out sometimes as a lot of the “spot vs Inreach” reviews on YouTube are quick to point out, but at least they actually get the message out. Inreach has failed to send and recieve messages a few times now, having message conversation with wife about developments on farm while I was away early in week (bloody COVID going round the boys now...) and one message from me never went through despite status saying it had and I also didn’t review one reply from wife. Have had same issue with it in past. Unit is Garmin Apha 200i

sounds like you could do with a sat phone in the boat......presume they are still around,plurry expensive to use last time I looked..but at least they work.

That rings true for me @Ryan_Songhurst I've had a bit of that going on. And the interface to the android app to use with the inreach is pretty flakey too.

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk