Information pulled from NCXC discussion thread on April 8th, 2014

Main tradeoffs of Inreach (vs SPOT):

++ allows 2-way satellite text messaging
++ allows 1 or 2 minute tracking interval
++ uses AA vs AAA batteries
- plan and tracking is more expensive, but has the option to turn off for part of year, so if you only fly XC seasonally it could be a wash
- Size is a bit larger

More Delorme Pros:

• can download Delorme maps to your phone and then have the phone and InReach talk to each other. the maps are really nice.
• my InReach SE (last year's model) has a rechargeable battery (USB, but it really wants the USB cable that came with it). it says it lasts 100 hours and i believe it based on my experience thus far.
• i seem to recall that while it's bigger/bulkier, it actually weighed less (or at least not significantly more) than the Spot. maybe because of the recharchable battery vs. AA (so that might have changed with the latest version).
• Apparently can show height in tracking co-ordinates which is extremely useful in determining if a pilot has landed or is flying

More Cons:

• while the web interface is clean, you can't save profiles like you can on the Spot. so every time you fly someplace different (or with different people), you need to reconfigure your preset and emergency messages (potentially) manually (i save them all in a text file now to make c&p a little easier). so you go to NCXC event and put in the messages. then before you go to Mission you want to change all the messages (jug doesn't care if you go XC there :-). then before you go to Rat Race you change all the messages. then you go to PoHill with some friends and change all the messages. it does at least have a way to save your contacts.
• it only seems to like the wall wart for the USB cable that came with it, and it's a little loose so i once found that it hadn't been connected when i thought it had. but it still had plenty of battery left (of the 100 hours).
• in looking at the "seasonal" subscription it didn't seem like there was an obvious time to turn it off, except a few months over the winter if you don't plan on going on any trips. so it didn't seem that flexible to me.
• a downside of the 2-way messaging is that anyone who gets a message from you (via email - it's a different message via txt) is _invited_ to go to the website and send a reply. and there are a limited number of those messages so it could start to cost $$. that's why my message (which goes to my mom and uncle who love following my flying) says to NOT reply. a bit confusing.

i did contact the support/customer service people about the automatic invitation to reply and the lack of GPS coordinates in the messages, and they seemed open-minded about requesting those features for the future.

p.s. it always seems to want to update the sync sw or firmware when i plug it in to update my message configuration. today it wanted both and the sync sw needed the entire latest Mono Framework installed on my Mac - 380GB worth. that seemed excessive....