Has anyone tried this gps unit? I know it just came out, but just curious.

i frequently use and love my SPot trackers. And i read good things about the delorne GPS units on their own. Its an expensive package but seems cool.

sorry I can only speak to the Spot aspect.

I'm quite interested in this too, thinking of using it on the CDT next year. I've never been interested in Spot before, but I reckon cell coverage will be lousy on the CDT regardless of carrier (if anyone has any contrary info I'd be very interested ...). And I reckon on taking a standalone GPS on this trip rather than trying to keep sufficient battery power in my cell phone (which has a true built-in GPS).

I think I read somewhere that you actually pay on a per message basis for the (I think it's 40-character limited) messages you can send (one-way) on this unit; figuring out the true cost of purchase plus use is one thing I'm interested. To include the cost of putting decent (1:25,000) maps on it, assuming that's even possible?

Hopefully there will be more detailed and complete reviews coming out that include these details. Just figuring out the combined weight (with batteries) of both units takes a bit of sleuth work though I think this is find-able.

I was over-hasty in my comments --- looking a bit further just now, all the details I was looking for are in fact already available, here.

In fact, 1:24k maps are included in that $550 price, which makes the cost a bit more bearable. You can send messages at 10 cents per message if you buy $50 worth (500 messages), which will likely be worth while for me next year, or 30 cents per message at 100 message for $30, or "a la carte" they're 50 cents per message. Spot "basic services" are $100 for a year, but they list a separate $50 per year for " track progress". Since a basic checkin includes location, I don't see the point of "track progress", at least not for anything I would do ... ? My normal journaling site (postholer.com) already will accept Spot messages to update my location on google maps via that site.

The PN-60w unit itself weighs 6.7 oz with the recommending Li-Ion batteries. The Spot unit that accompanies it weighs 3.7 oz --- I assume without batteries, so add perhaps another 1.3 oz or so for those to get to about 5 oz (?), so on the order of 11.7 oz for the combination. Ouch.

Still, might be worth carrying for this particular trip.

We bought the regular ol' Earthmate as an "upgrade" a couple of years ago. I hate it. The user interface is NOT easy to get used to.

I have been using the Garmins for years and love them - so maybe I'm biased...

However, I am a computer programmer - mainly web work - and I can't figure out how to use the Earthmate more than half the time...

This is just my opinion! your milage may vary.

Heather