ilovecornfields Posted August 1, 2018 Report Posted August 1, 2018 Guess I’ll be getting the new Garmin product: Hello Subscriber, This email is to inform you of upcoming changes to your SPOT service plan(s): We are continuously making network upgrades to ensure the best possible service for our SPOT customers. To help fund these efforts now and in the future, upon renewal a Network Maintenance Fee will be implemented on all SPOT subscriptions: Monthly $2.49/MO; Annual $24.99/YR; 2 Year $49.99/2YR. If you have any questions please contact Customer Care at 855-769-6954. Thank you for choosing SPOT. SPOT LLC 1
jetdriven Posted August 1, 2018 Report Posted August 1, 2018 Seriously. They don’t have a viable product so they resort to gouging existing customers to fund their operation. Like B/K and Sandel.
gsxrpilot Posted August 1, 2018 Report Posted August 1, 2018 17 minutes ago, jetdriven said: Seriously. They don’t have a viable product so they resort to gouging existing customers to fund their operation. Like B/K and Sandel. I've been a loyal Spot user for quite a few years. And still think it's a very useful product for a lot of different activities where remote locations are the norm. I started using them when I was flying long cross countries in Australia in a Hang glider. I would often land in very remote locations and need a driver to find me. The Spot was very useful. But in our airplanes, there are just so many other options. I haven't used my Spot in some time now, and won't be renewing the service. Why pay for Spot when FlightAware will do it for free? The last time I used it was this summer flying to Churchill Manitoba. I knew I'd be out of radar coverage for hundreds of miles. But even then I was in contact with other pilots, and even ATC most of the time. So I agree, the Spot just doesn't make any sense for the type of flying we do, and the airplanes we fly.
pwnel Posted August 3, 2018 Report Posted August 3, 2018 Yip, down in Southern Africa we use Spider trackers permanently installed. Great product, but expensive. It's a necessity as there's no radar most of the time so you don't have the Flightaware hack. http://spidertracks.webflow.io/en/hardware#spider-6 Similary countries like Botswana mandates 406Mhz ELTs.
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