Hey friends, I was disappointed to learn that my old Spot device (that paired with my DeLorme GPS) is no longer supported by Spot. Spot has two current devices: Spot X and Gen4. Neither one is all that well reviewed. And their plans with various fees aren’t cheap.

Anyone using a sat device, and if so, what do you recommend?

The sat phone is a good option.

I've been shopping and leaning toward Zoleo.

The wild card in this is the promise of cell phone connectivity everywhere via Space link et al.

I use the Garmin InReach Mini.  It is small, it pairs up with my cell phone, and it does the job I need it to do. It's reasonably priced and the annual fees aren't that bad, either. Primarily, I use it to send messages to home or to other paddlers I'm travelling with in the park. I have also found its weather forecasting to be far more reliable than the CBC reports I can get on the radio. As far as the GPS function itself, well, I guess I use Gaia as much or more than InReach mapping... and you don't even need a separate GPS device for it to work.  Gaia operates nicely on the GPS function built into most cell phones. In any case, for mapping, I prefer working off of a Fisher or McKenzie map.  I generally only refer to an electronic device when there is some doubt about my exact location.  Also, there is less "glare" on an actual map.  Morning sunshine can quickly obscure the face of your electronic device.  That doesn't happen with an actual map.

That's the short version re: how I handle it, anyhow.

Jimbo   

P.S. If you're travelling on the north side of Quetico, there's at least a decent chance you might actually have cell service due to the recently erected tower near Nym Lake.  I spent 9 days on Batchewaung this past Spring and had cell service on most days.  I generally don't appreciate that sort of "progress" but it proved to be invaluable this year when we needed an airlift out due to injury.

I picked up a Zoleo for my June Quetico trip with my son.  First time using such a device, but it worked well enough. The Zoleo has no screen, so you have to pair it with your phone, but that worked well for typing.  Messages take a while to send an receive, so it's not exactly like texting.  It was nice to check in with the wife each night and make sure things were in order at home. I'm still undecided on the weather feature, if it is more or less accurate than my 10 day printed wunderground report I prepare the day we leave. 

For navigation I take a map and use my Lowrance Hook 4 with a custom made digital bathymetry map with sat imagery.  I actually left my Garmin at home this year as I did not plan on doing any bushwhacking and was more interested in where I was on the water and looking for fish.  That reminds me, I need to upload my sonar logs to CMAP, now that their website is back online(was down since June due to a hack.)

Solus wrote on Aug 12^th, 2023 at 12:51pm:


  I use Weather Underground to check before I go on a trip. I print out their long term forecast and it's pretty close all the time. Don't know if you could get that on your device?

   WU comes out of Lac La Croix First Nation.

    (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)