DelormePn-60w
Latest
Delorme's inReach two-way GPS Communicator receives txts on mountains, teenage hikers rejoice
Until Delorme's inReach two-way GPS Communicator, sending text messages over satellite signals was mostly a one-way affair. This 4.78 by 2.85 by 1.73-inch battery-powered minibeast pairs with either the company's PN-60w or an Android OS device to send and receive 160-character text messages and real-time GPS data to those tracking you. It can also beam an SOS message at timed intervals then receive confirmation that help is on the way when you ultimately realize that being at home with a fast connection is really all the adventure you needed anyway. Delorme tells us that the inReach will be available in October for $250 and monthly plans start at $9.95 with a one-year contract.
DeLorme PN-60w with Spot connectivity gets official, can track your friends, too
As it turns out yesterday's news from Delorme about the PN-60w wasn't exactly from DeLorme. Now the official news from the source has dropped, and it includes a few tidbits not revealed yesterday. We'll start with the bad news first: the social networking functionality here is outgoing only, meaning you can brag to your friends about making it to the top of Half Dome without plummeting to your death, but you won't be able to receive their jealous responses. For the good news, you will not only be able to send tweets and the like but can also log geocache locations directly from wherever you find them, and interestingly the device can create a sort of local area network, able to display the location of everyone within range and even easily exchange waypoints. That should make not losing your friends in the woods a little easier -- but sometimes that's half the fun of hiking.
