Motorcycle Riders?

[BigRed]

Brought home this fun setup yesterday…

View attachment 332009

250cc Honda Reflex Sport as the host; haven’t found info on the sidecar maker yet.
Need to change the fluids, air filter, and plug for peace of mind.

That would be a fun runabout!

 

[t-squared]

 

[paddling_man]

Beautiful sunset on the commute home.

 

[JCSR]

Got in a nice 100+ mile ride today.

 

[melensdad]

Anyone else ride in far flung places without a cell signal?

Do you use a Satellite Communicator when you ride? I've been riding with a SPOT X for years. It's totally needed across rural Canada and many rural areas in our west and plains states.

Over the past couple years I'm actually having a hard time finding dead spots along rural 2 lanes even in Indiana, seems like more and more cell tower coverage is popping up in rural areas. So the satellite communicator is not needed as frequently. Interstates are covered, but its the rural areas where there are still some weak/no signal areas.

Just curious what you all are using when you go out in remote areas and there is no cellphone connectivity?

 

[JCSR]

Anyone else ride in far flung places without a cell signal?

Do you use a Satellite Communicator when you ride? I've been riding with a SPOT X for years. It's totally needed across rural Canada and many rural areas in our west and plains states.

Over the past couple years I'm actually having a hard time finding dead spots along rural 2 lanes even in Indiana, seems like more and more cell tower coverage is popping up in rural areas. So the satellite communicator is not needed as frequently. Interstates are covered, but its the rural areas where there are still some weak/no signal areas.

Just curious what you all are using when you go out in remote areas and there is no cellphone connectivity?

Nothing fancy for me. I use my old Samsung S9 and Google Maps. I download my routes prior to the trip and so far it's been good. Cell service is very spotty in the Smokies and along the BRP but it continues to work for me. Tried WAZE and it sh*t bed on our first route. Your mileage may vary

 

[melensdad]

Nothing fancy for me. I use my old Samsung S9 and Google Maps. I download my routes prior to the trip and so far it's been good. Cell service is very spotty in the Smokies and along the BRP but it continues to work for me. Tried WAZE and it sh*t bed on our first route. Your mileage may vary

I'm NOT referring to MAPPING, I am referring to communications.

​

For mapping I use SCENIC, which has downloaded maps in my cell phone. Works regardless of if there is any cellular connection or not. The maps are sitting in my phone, updated regularly, and when there is a cell connection it gives me turn by turn around accidents. If there is no cellular it gives turn by turn but does not alert you to accidents.​

​

I'm using a satellite communicator for contact with family, other riders, etc when I/we are outside of cellular coverage. Currently I use a SPOT X 2-way satellite communicator. I also have their emergency rescue service that sends out search and rescue to get me if I'm hanging off a cliff or crashed into a tree somewhere.

In rural Canada we rode through vast areas without cell coverage.

We are looking at 2 trip out to the west, not along any interstate, so looking at coverage through the Rockies, Cascades, another trip thru the wilds of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Another ride up toward Edmonton.

Literally zero cell coverage in some of the areas and remote camping. It lets me send SMS messages to anyone in my contact list. Unlimited use of up to 15 pre-programmed (I program them before a trip) messages so I can "check in" or report on things or ask for aid or whatever from the top of a mountain, deep in the woods, anywhere in North America that there is no cell coverage.

 

[paddling_man]

Pretty much just smile when the cell coverage has dropped for me in parts of Canada and US. Work can't reach me and that's a good thing occasionally. GPS still works. I'm solo maybe 40% of the time on far flung rides.

Just curious what you all are using when you go out in remote areas and there is no cellphone connectivity?

 

[melensdad]

Pretty much just smile when the cell coverage has dropped for me in parts of Canada and US. Work can't reach me and that's a good thing occasionally. GPS still works. I'm solo maybe 40% of the time on far flung rides.

I do get that, but my wife & family appreciate when I do a daily check in, no matter where I am. And I retired 14 years ago so I don't much worry about work getting in touch with me.

I also use it when I hike. Lots of remote areas without cell coverage and a lot harder to find someone without some sort of SOS beacon.

My satellite communicator is not a phone, it sends/receives SMS messages and has an SOS call. Only very select people have access to the dedicated phone number to send me a SMS message and I don't have it set to automatically receive messages, so even if someone sends me a message, I have my unit set so I have to hit the send/receive option to get an inbound message. So far I think I've gotten no more than a handful of those in the many years I've been using it.

 

[JCSR]

I'm NOT referring to MAPPING, I am referring to communications.

​

For mapping I use SCENIC, which has downloaded maps in my cell phone. Works regardless of if there is any cellular connection or not. The maps are sitting in my phone, updated regularly, and when there is a cell connection it gives me turn by turn around accidents. If there is no cellular it gives turn by turn but does not alert you to accidents.​

​

I'm using a satellite communicator for contact with family, other riders, etc when I/we are outside of cellular coverage. Currently I use a SPOT X 2-way satellite communicator. I also have their emergency rescue service that sends out search and rescue to get me if I'm hanging off a cliff or crashed into a tree somewhere.

In rural Canada we rode through vast areas without cell coverage.

We are looking at 2 trip out to the west, not along any interstate, so looking at coverage through the Rockies, Cascades, another trip thru the wilds of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Another ride up toward Edmonton.

Literally zero cell coverage in some of the areas and remote camping. It lets me send SMS messages to anyone in my contact list. Unlimited use of up to 15 pre-programmed (I program them before a trip) messages so I can "check in" or report on things or ask for aid or whatever from the top of a mountain, deep in the woods, anywhere in North America that there is no cell coverage.

I don't think I could enjoy my ride if I had to worry about saying "nighty nite" to misses every night.

 

[melensdad]

I don't think I could enjoy my ride if I had to worry about saying "nighty nite" to misses every night.

Half the time when I am riding the misses is riding her own bike and we are checking in with the kids.

 

[melensdad]

So I gather, based on my Satellite Communicator question, that very few people actually ride out into the wilds where there is no cell service?

 

[JCSR]

So I gather, based on my Satellite Communicator question, that very few people actually ride out into the wilds where there is no cell service?

I know I don't but now I'm curious. It seems you have it covered pretty well. Are you thinking there is something new out there that is better ?

 

[JCSR]

Big thanks to melonsdad for sending me down this rabbit hole.

I found this interesting story while researching Sat Coms. If you already have this capability I think you're covered.

Garmin inReach bought my loyalty this summer when it saved my bacon (or vastly simplified the saving of my bacon) when I broke my knee out in the woods. Held down the button, in about 5 minutes I had reliable bidirectional comms going from the road bank where I had managed to slump. I was back in civilization via an extremely bumpy ambulance ride in 2 hours.

I was able to keep my wife updated in realtime. In fact I contacted her via the inReach first to tell her "Look I hurt my knee, I'm ok, but I can't ride out. I'm going to hit the emergency button. Don't panic." Otherwise the first thing she would have known is some operator calling her to say I was "hurt". That was the best part really.
Oh and I will add that thanks to the tracking, my wife just forwarded the inReach notification to my friends who used the map to follow my track into the woods and recover my motorcycle. They were enroute while I was still being hauled to the hospital. (Un)fortunately the people who helped stand the bike up and drive it to a safe spot hid it a little too well and my friends had to come back again the next day with better directions but that wasn't the inReach's fault. If I had left it in a heap where I dropped it, they would have gone right to it. As it turned out the bike was stashed about 15 feet off the road but my friends drove right by it the first time.

 

[melensdad]

I know I don't but now I'm curious. It seems you have it covered pretty well. Are you thinking there is something new out there that is better ?

There is always something "better" but not necessarily better for me.

Right now the 'state of the art' is probably the Garmin Messenger on the Iridium satellite system. Several different brands use the Iridium satellites. Service plans are generally NOT featured filled at the basic level, so service costs can add up. Iridium is generally considered a 'fast' satellite service, it also covers 100% of the globe.

I use a SPOT X on the GlobalStar satellite system. Globalstar has fewer satellites, transmission times are often a bit slower, but not always. GlobalStar does not cover Arctic & Antarctic polar regions, does not cover much of the Pacific Ocean, Southern Atlantic, parts of China, etc. But if you are in North, Central or South America you have 100% coverage, ditto Europe and most of Africa and most of Asia.

GlobalStar is considered to be about 95% reliable, Iridium is considered to be 99% reliable. That said, if you wait 15-20 minutes and try again, pretty much any signal will transmit. FWIW, Spot has roughly 9300 confirmed rescues, Garmin has roughly 10,000 confirmed rescues but also has far more units sold than Spot.

There are a few other brands, including Zoleo, BivyStick, Somewhere, and Motorola Defy. Each has its strengths/weaknesses.

My priorities:

1) remote rescue in North America and Europe
2) remote communications in North America and Europe
3) 'breadcrumb' tracking on an electronic map​

Everyone has different needs, so priorities may be different.

I have a real problem with EVERY single one of "BEST" review articles that you can find on the interwebs, and I think I've honestly read every one that I can find. The problem is they don't dig into the actual costs of service plans. The plans are not similar, the functionality is not similar.

The various reviews also typically leave out the number of "pre-set" messages you are allowed to store on your device, each of which gives you unlimited use of those "pre-set" messages. In every case, you write your own "pre-set" messages, save them, and upload them to the device so they are stored on the device itself.

FOR EXAMPLE:

• Zoleo gives you UNLIMITED use of 1 pre-set check in message
• Garmin gives you UNLIMITED use of 1 pre-set check in message + 3 additional pre-set messages
• SPOT X gives you UNLIMITED use of 1 pre-set check in message + 14 additional pre-set messages

I point this out because it is a major differential between communication functionality between all these plans.

• With Zoleo your message will read something like "Checking in, all good" and it will include your coordinates
• With Garmin you will have 4 of those messages so you can have the above "Checking in..." plus you can have "Weather great, travel is progressing as planned" plus you can have "Weather not cooperating, slow progress" plus you can have "Having some issues" or "Having a great time" or whatever.
• With SPOT X you get 14 of those messages so you can have the same as Garmin plus, things like "Spending an extra day in this spot to explore" -AND- "having some issues with equipment, but I'm good, might be delayed" -AND- "found a Titty Bar and settling in" -AND- . . . a bunch of other stuff for a total of 14 messages

Another major functional difference is Breadcrumb Tracking on a map with the "basic" plan.

• With SPOT X you get unlimited tracking in the "basic" plan
• With Garmin if you use tracking with the basic plan you are going to get charged 10-cents per ping. If you hike, ride, drive, for 6 hours a day, at 60-cents per hour, that is $3.60/day. Assume a 10 day trip and you just spent $36 additional dollars on breadcrumb tracking alone.
• Zoleo charges a flat fee of $6/month for 'location sharing'
• BivyStick uses a "credit" for every breadcrumb dropped, and those credits are deducted from your 20/credits per month fee, which are shared with communications. You can literally run out of credits at lunchtime on day 1 of your trip if you drop a breadcrumb every 10 minutes.

It should be noted that SPOT X does NOT have weather reporting. Garmin, Zoleo, Somewhere and BivyStick all have a weather service. Basic plans typically provide free use of very basic weather service and optional advanced weather reporting.

Garmin and SPOT both offer an $11.95 plan, the plans offer much different functionality. Zoleo's basic plan is more expensive out the door, but cheaper than Garmin's mid-level plan. BivyStick is $14.95 for the basic plan + $0.75 for each additional credit, which would put it as the most expensive if dropping a breadcrumb trail. If I was primarily using the unit for navigation then the best option is Garmin. Zoleo has a cheap up front cost but monthly cost will be roughly $26. BivyStick offers some group functionality the others don't.

My guess is that MOST casual users can easily get by with an $11.95/month plan while using a SPOT X, especially if you pay on an annual contract because all of your "monthly" messages are rolled over to the FIRST MONTH, so if you have a trip in month 3, 4 or 5 and just occasionally use it in the earlier or later months, you can splurge on the trip and never run out of "custom" messages, especially when combined with the UNLIMITED use of 14 "predefined messages" and the UNLIMITED 1 'check in message' and the UNLIMITED 'breadcrumb tracking' at 10 min intervals. If your travels are in the lower 48 or southern 1/2 of Canada, South or Central America, most of the European nations, and your focus is on tracking and communication then SPOT X is a compelling choice.

My guess is that MOST casual users with a Garmin InReach Messenger or InReach Mini2 will need the mid-level plan at $24.95/month on an annual contract, which is slightly more than DOUBLE the annual cost of the SPOT X plan. Now that said, if I had a boat that went FAR off shore of either the East or West coasts, I'd grab the Garmin and pay the fee happily. If I was in the far NORTHERN Canada or Greenland, then the Garmin would also be the easy choice. If navigation was an important consideration then a Garmin would be an easy choice. Iridium's network is sometimes faster than the SPOT network and clearly has greater coverage, so that as a factor swings a choice to Garmin.

 

[tmschuller]

I know I don't but now I'm curious. It seems you have it covered pretty well. Are you thinking there is something new out there that is better ?

Not sure with other phones but newer iPhones have an emergency feature that links you up to a satellite.. as I understand it. I could be not informed and I’m sure I will be soon
As far as looking at a screen when riding is only when I stop. The road I travel goes somewhere.. and I find where I am going. Most days..

 

[melensdad]

Not sure with other phones but newer iPhones have an emergency feature that links you up to a satellite.. as I understand it. I could be not informed and I’m sure I will be soon
As far as looking at a screen when riding is only when I stop. The road I travel goes somewhere.. and I find where I am going. Most days..

iPhone does allow for emergency rescue. None of the other features.

I ride the same way, but I ride in some very remote regions without cell phone coverages, often without electricity. Use of a sat-com is not something I do while riding.

 

[melensdad]

FWIW Many people enjoy the luxury of good cell coverage and do not realize some of us live in rural areas. According to the coverage maps I have cell signal coverage.

Try to get a call out with ‘1 bar’ and you will end up walking to the nearest hilltop and contorting your body to attempt it where I live. If WiFi assist is not working we can’t make calls from our home. Many places I ride are similar. I’m literally an hour drive from one of the larger US metro areas. But we have little to no cell coverage (despite what the coverage maps say)



But my Spot gets thru. Below is a satellite image of my home/pool/workshop. The dots and lines are Spot X tracking as I walk around my patio.

Pretty sure SAR will be able to find me if I’m off grid, which is where I frequently ride.

 

[k12lts]

I rode from Southern Indiana to the Arctic Circle about 250 miles north of Fairbanks in 2018. Most of the time without cell service. I didn't take a SPOT type system with me but I was riding with a friend so we felt like one of us could go for help if something bad happened. Fortunately, we had no problems on the trip. If I was doing the trip alone I would consider one necessary.

 

[melensdad]

I rode from Southern Indiana to the Arctic Circle about 250 miles north of Fairbanks in 2018. Most of the time without cell service. I didn't take a SPOT type system with me but I was riding with a friend so we felt like one of us could go for help if something bad happened. Fortunately, we had no problems on the trip. If I was doing the trip alone I would consider one necessary.

I ride alone most of the time. When I ride with someone, it is with my wife and she rides her own bike.

Your logic is pretty sound about being able to send the other rider for help. I considered that before the wife and I set off on a 4000 mile trip (our first big trip together) and opted against it for one simple reason… if one of us went down the other could hit the SOS to call in SAR and remain to provide first aid, etc. Clearly riding with anyone, especially back country, forest areas, gravel roads or remote areas is going to give an added layer of protection.