New Inreach subscriptions, Post Spine Race catch-up, Suunto Wing Bone conductor headphones and Suunto summer deals

In this month’s podcast

1.   New inReach subscriptions
2.   Spine Race 2025 – post race chat
3.   Suunto Wing bone conduction headphones – first thoughts
4.   What’s hot this month – Suunto Summer deal
5.   Andy’s top tips
6.   New segment - Some of the tech questions asked to the GPS Training AI bot over the past month

1. New inReach Subscriptions


Talking Points:

- What are Garmin inReach products?
- Garmin has simplified all inReach subscriptions — no more Freedom Safety, Recreation, or Expedition
.
- Replaced with four new month-to-month options (30-day minimum, no long contracts):

Enabled – NEW! Emergency-ready, low-cost, pay-as-you-go
Essential – Replaces Freedom Safety
Standard – Replaces Recreation
Premium – Replaces Expedition

No more activation fees or penalties for switching plans or pausing your plan.

Highlight the two big changes:

- Enabled Plan:
- Ideal for keeping your device ready for SOS year-round
- Only pay when you actually send messages, track, or get weather
- Unlimited SOS messaging via Garmin Response
- activation fee if you later upgrade

Suspending Plans Now Free:

- Suspend any plan (excluding annual contracts) for up to 12 months
- No fee to resume later
- Great for seasonal users — hiking in summer, skiing in winter etc.
- During suspension: no SOS, no tracking, no messaging

Quick tip to listeners:
“If you want emergency cover year-round, go for the Enabled Plan. If your unit’s going in the drawer for a few months, just hit suspend – it’s now totally free.”

To find out more about Garmin inReach products – GPSTraining.co.uk > GPS Store > Two-way satellite communication

2. Spine Race 2025 – Post-race chat

Mention these GPS Training customers who took part this year:

- Full Spine
1. Steve Marshall – GPSMap67 + 1-to-1 – retired
2. John Smith – GPSMap67 – Just under 132 hours

- Challenger North
1. Nicola Macdonald – GPSMap67i – 80 hours 39 mins
2. Paul Freeman – GPSMap66sr – retired
3. Paul Yeadon – Fenix 8 – 86 hours 29 minutes
Now flown off to North Africa to take on Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains and all of North Africa.

- Challenger South
1. Liz Tobin – GPSMap67i + Zoom training – 46 hours 26 minutes
2. Rob Watkins – GPSMAP67 and going to buy a Suunto after watching podcast with Paul Grundy – 41 hours 53 minutes
3. Iaan Davies – GPSMAP67 – 47 hours 57 minutes

- Northern Sprint
1. Tom Bowers – Suunto Race + Zoom – 16 hours 46 mins


3. Suunto Wing Bone Conduction Headphones – First Thoughts

- Initial impressions: comfort, sound quality, battery
- Who they suit: trail runners, walkers who want situational awareness
- Are they good for wet/cold conditions?

To find out more about Suunto Headphones – GPSTraining.co.uk > GPS Store > Accessories and Filter By (top right) - Suunto

Also unboxing video - GPSTraining.co.uk > Product reviews

4. What’s Hot This Month – Suunto Summer Deal - finishes 3rd August

- Mention the summer offer – which Suunto models are included
- Suunto Race, Race S, Vertical and Suunto Wing headphones – all options i.e. Steel and titanium
- Reinforce: stock in hand,