Delorme inReach SE first impressions

I ordered the unit by calling Delorme directly, shipping was free but I had to pay tax, so ordering through them might have been a mistake except for the fact that they gave me a $50 "pro" discount.

The unit took about a week and a half to finally arrive.  It looks nice enough and it weighs 7 ounces on my scale, that is the same weight as my GPS.

I used the explore Delorme website to set up my account.  Since I am living well below the official poverty level this month I went for the basic safety plan with no frills.  Set up was not very intuitive but I still got through it fairly quickly.  Syncing was fairly easy once I had installed the syncing software on my computer.

I can not figure out a way to sent OK message to a cell phone, it seems that I have to us my text messages for that.  Text messages cost ten cents each with the first ten each month being free. 

I found that the only way my spouse can text my Delorme is to reply to a message, that seems strange.  I also found that if my spouse pings me it will cost me twenty cents each time.  I was sure that it was only supposed to cost ten cents.  I told my spouse that he will owe me twenty cents every time he pings me and that started a big argument so I did not bother setting up my map page for pings.  He thought I should pay for it every time he pings me.  I think not!

The only way to ping a Delorme is to go to the map page (if you have set one up) and ping from a box there.  Also when I send a check in message to users it takes them to a map page with a reply box.  I see no way to get rid of the reply box.  Each reply will cost me ten cents, I so would like to find a way to turn off the reply box. 

I might want to put people on my list that I don't totally trust not to go crazy and message me dozens of time.  I have one relative in mind that I want to send okay messages to, but she's a funny one and might suddenly decided to reply over and over and over while I am hiking and that is the last thing I want.

The delorme unit beeps when an okay message has been successfully sent and I like that feature.  Also Delorme uses a better satellite network than it's competitor so I expect that less of my messages will get lost now.

Another thing I like about the Delorme is that the website has a "cancel service" link.  The competitor has no such link and they make it VERY hard to cancel even by phone.

I got my first invoice and the tax was really high.. I'm very disappointed with the tax.. on $21 invoice there was nearly $8.00 in tax!  There was Federal cell tax, Sales tax and Utility users tax.. Sheesh.. what a load of regressive taxes!  So I now owe $44 for one month and one day of service plus the $20 set up fee and a ton of tax. Ouch!!