Garmin has finally "Garmin'd" Delorme InReach plans

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
For the last several years, I've suspended my basic Delorme plan for the winter at no charge. There was no charge to activate it in the spring. I thought, "It's nice to do business with a company that isn't always trying to nickle-and-dime me to death.". I pay about $12.00 per month for service and pay extra for texts #11 and up.

When Garmin bought Delorme my first thought was, "Ah hell! There goes the neighborhood."

It took a while, but Garmin has finally started to implement their infamous profiteering methods in the InReach division. Today I went to their site to suspend my InReach and found that I have to change to a "Freedom Plan" if I want to be able to suspend, that the monthly cost of the "Freedom Plan" is roughly double what I'm paying now, that Garmin will charge me a fee to change my plan, and Garmin will charge me a cancellation fee if I suspend.

Not exactly sure about the price changes though...because it's very hard to determine exactly what will change and how much it will cost. Of course, this obfuscation is intentional. Typical Garmin behavior.

It sounds like our good friend Garmin is happy to help me by charging twice as much for my monthly service and magnanimously allowing me to turn it off for half of the year. Oh, and there will be a couple of $25.00 fees for the privilege.

No.

Garmin is the most despicable and irritating company that I have ever dealt with. Everything they touch turns to crapola. There is a reason why I get my maps through "creative" sources for my Garmin GPS units. After purchasing maps from Garmin exactly one time, they later told me that these maps couldn't be transferred to a new device (because of the specific type of download that I used initially) and that I had to pay for these maps again if I want to use them on a different device.

No.

Oh, I have maps on all my Garmin devices these days. Don't worry your pretty little head about how it happened Mr. Garmin. ;)

Anyway, what a shame. /EndRant

Who offers a comparable service to the InReach? All I need is two-way text communication while out of cell service. Anything that has not been poopied by Garmin would probably be a better choice.
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
Typical. It was a good value for the occasional emergency service. I would bet a competitor raised their prices...
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
Typical. It was a good value for the occasional emergency service. I would bet a competitor raised their prices...

Could be. The reason I bought a Delorme was because it wasn't Garmin.

Oh well, I suppose that until I find something better, I'm stuck paying $12.00 each month all year. I will not make any changes that allow them to charge me more money for the same service.

I signed a contract and I intend to receive that $12.00 per month service forever. Or, until either Garmin or I die. :)

However, Garmin will certainly find a way to stick it to me given enough time.
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Truely sucks.....I also started to worry when Garmin bought Delorme. And our worries have been justified.
All I can say is give feedback through Garmin social media, customer service is worthless but we do live in a world where social matters more everyday.
 

crazysccrmd

Observer
The Freedom Safety (most basic plan) is $14.95 for the months you have it active, not double what you pay. There is a $25 annual fee on the Freedom plans. If you leave your Inreach activated all year it’s not a good deal obviously. Having your Inreach deactivated for four months is the break even point on using the Freedom plan vs annual plan.

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jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
The Freedom Safety (most basic plan) is $14.95 for the months you have it active, not double what you pay. There is a $25 annual fee on the Freedom plans. If you leave your Inreach activated all year it’s not a good deal obviously. Having your Inreach deactivated for four months is the break even point on using the Freedom plan vs annual plan.

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Hmmmm. They aren't showing me the same prices and options that they are showing you. No option to suspend here.

nope.jpeg

And when I click on "Learn more"....

nope2.jpeg

I see that they are hitting you harder than me for pricing. And, I don't see any pricing for the magical "Freedom" plan. They are holding your ability to suspend (that I had for years) hostage. You need to pay more per month in order to use it. In short, they will get the money no matter what.

What the hell is that about the early cancellation fee? If it's $24.94 per year (paid up front), then what is there to cancel. Do they mean cancel my current plan? Or suspending the Freedom plan? Or if I don't pay for next years' $24.94 (which will be more than that. Bet your life on it) I will get a cancellation fee?

Shady. Sneaky. Dishonest. High-handed. Garmin.
 

crazysccrmd

Observer
If you cancel the annual plan outright it looks like they’ll charge you the $23.90, or maybe even if you cancel it and change to the Freedom plan. A few years ago I had the annual plan and when I switched to the Freedom it was just the $24.95 and no cancellation charge. If you change to the Freedom plan it’s a $24.95 annual charge plus an increase of $3 monthly (for the base plan) but you can suspend at no charge on those plans.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I don't think they've made it any harder. Garmin's pricing has always struck me as a bit confusing but the competition is Globalstar/SPOT, which I already have. I only do one-way and have had it several years so I can't speak at all to the two-way SPOT X service options but just to be clear, the customer service and support isn't really any better with SPOT. It just acceptable enough that I deal with it but not quite bad enough to give up for good.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
I was pretty hot earlier today. It's not the end of the world or anything.

I do think it's a sign of things to come from Garmin. The easy answer (for me) is to just leave it on all year at $12.00 each month. Sounds like it costs the same either way give or take, and WHO KNOWS what else you are agreeing to if you change your plan with this company. They prefer to explain implications after the fact. So, why on Earth would I pay the same money and not be able to use the device for four months?

You know that sound that grumpy old men make when they are angry and mumbling? That's the sound I make every time I think about Garmin. :) If a functional alternative becomes available I will be switching.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
I don't think they've made it any harder. Garmin's pricing has always struck me as a bit confusing but the competition is Globalstar/SPOT, which I already have. I only do one-way and have had it several years so I can't speak at all to the two-way SPOT X service options but just to be clear, the customer service and support isn't really any better with SPOT. It just acceptable enough that I deal with it but not quite bad enough to give up for good.

Spot is one-way...right? I've never tried one.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Spot is one-way...right? I've never tried one.
SPOT Gen 3 Trackers are one-way. They beacon position and can send 3 canned messages and an SOS but you don't get a reply.

There's also a SPOT X, which is a two-way device with a keyboard that can send and receive text messages like the InReach.

I have the one-way device, no experience with the SPOT X (nor InReach) in terms of usability. I've had the Gen 3 Tracker for several years, though.
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
SPOT Gen 3 Trackers are one-way. They beacon position and can send 3 canned messages and an SOS but you don't get a reply.

There's also a SPOT X, which is a two-way device with a keyboard that can send and receive text messages like the InReach.

I have the one-way device, no experience with the SPOT X (nor InReach) in terms of usability. I've had the Gen 3 Tracker for several years, though.

Oh really?! I'm going to do some reading about the X.

Edit: Just did some reading. $12.00 per month for SpotX with 20 messages (Garmin gives me 10) and $.25 per message beyond that (Garmin charges me $.50 per). Qwerty keyboard. Sounds good so far.

Anyone have a SpotX. Even better...can anyone compare the Delorme & SpotX? I'll do some other Googling as well.
 
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dstock

Explorer
I had the original Spot and service was...well, spotty.

That's when I bought an Inreach and have never looked back. When it comes to an emergency situation, I need to know its going to work.

I'm not sure if the Spot has upgraded their network but I do know the Iridium network used by Garmin (and others) has great coverage.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

jacobconroy

Hillbilly of Leisure
I had the original Spot and service was...well, spotty.

That's when I bought an Inreach and have never looked back. When it comes to an emergency situation, I need to know its going to work.

I'm not sure if the Spot has upgraded their network but I do know the Iridium network used by Garmin (and others) has great coverage.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Good to know. There are an awful lot of "not-so-good" reviews of the SpotX online.

I will say that the InReach works. On rare occasions it seemed like messages came in and out slowly....but it did work.
 

shade

Well-known member
I'll have to check my rates for exact numbers, but as of last month, the Freedom Plan for me looked like what @crazysccrmd described.

I wonder if what's in play is Garmin putting the hurt on DeLorme device owners, which I expected to see eventually. If that's the case, I can also see them eventually turning off service to DeLorme customers to force migration to Garmin devices.
 
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