Should you buy it? Honda Extended Warranty Specifics - deep dive, contract wordage, and whether you should get it or not. Reason #7 will surprise you!

[dmonkey]

The very expensive Garmins have their inReach functionality integrated into them like the Garmin Montana 700i. Not a very user friendly GPS in my opinion, but for boonies riding you get an SOS button for when you need rescue. I've carried SPOT and inReach devices a lot backpacking, they hold up well and are a "peace of mind" that I'm happy to pay for.

I used two Sawyer squeezes for the water I drank during most of 2017 which I spent traveling. Two because I carelessly let one freeze (which ruins the filtration) during a May snow in the Smokies. Pro-tip: put the filter in a zip-lock bag and sleep with it in your sleeping bag or quilt to prevent that from happening. Rigging up two bottles or a bottle and a bag for a gravity feed system worked out great for me even though it was slow. The Sawyer filters are tough to drink through directly like a straw unless you regularly flush/backwash them. For filtering as I drink I've been happier with the Katadyn BeFree. Have never tried a LifeStraw as they never came up as a serious contender for regular use vs emergency use at the time I was comparing products, but I think they've added some products like the LifeStraw Flex since then to change that. You can also YOLO it and just drink water you find straight up, but I'm personally not a fan of giardia.

 

[SneakyDingo]

The very expensive Garmins have their inReach functionality integrated into them like the Garmin Montana 700i. Not a very user friendly GPS in my opinion, but for boonies riding you get an SOS button for when you need rescue. I've carried SPOT and inReach devices a lot backpacking, they hold up well and are a "peace of mind" that I'm happy to pay for.

Garmin is like Honda in some ways. They do some things really well. But there's these other things, like the CT125 seat, that just... **wrings hands** What were they thinking.

Good pro tip on the Sawyer Squeeze and the ziplock bag being in the sleeping bag. I usually do the ziplock bag thing anyway, and I've never tried to drink from one directly - I've always squeezed it into a bottle and drunk from that. I've liked most of the Katadyne products I've used. The MSR filter I use is probably the worst in class and is kinda like the Sawyers - requires regular servicing, but it is generally considered a very reliable option, which is sometimes better than having something fast or small.

 

[Kev250R]

If I had to take a single, solitary piece of gear to get me out of sh*t beyond glorified water bottles... SPOT device. Especially the ones that have a more flexible interface (I think it uses an app).

I agree. The SPOT device I carry can only send pre-programmed Check-in or Help messages and alert Search and Rescue if things really get interesting. I thought that would be good enough, but last October when my friend and I were stuck deep in the Dixie Forest in Utah with no cell service I started to see the value of having two-way communications.

That said when my contract is up on my current SPOT device I'm going to look into the Garmin version as it offers two-way communications for not much more money.

My single piece of gear to get me out of a bad situation would be a lighter. A person can do a lot with fire.

 

[STUBBORN]

So it's theft coverage and a battery plan? How much does it cost?
The theft protection is likely a few stickers they slap on the bike, you'd really need to read the fine print on how it works if your bike is actually stolen and what needs to be done to prove it for payout.
The simple answer would be that if your bike isn't stolen and you don't have battery issues, it's just some peace of mind and wouldn't yield a return on investment.

Naults charges $169.00 on every motorcycle for the ADDENDUM. 5 years added Addendum coverage costs $230. Pays up to $4000 over what insurance pays to replace bike after a theft. Insurance for theft pays only for what insurance thinks the bike is worth minus depreciation. $46 per year to make up what insurance won't pay. Considering it took 2 years to get the bike, I wonder if this is OK?

I lock the bike with both an alarm disk brake lock plus a 12 pound

ABUS Granit Extreme Plus 59 Chain Lock (12mm X 140cm)​

Inside my Ford Van that has 2 alarm systems on 2 batteries, dashcam plus LO Jack and a hidden kill switch.

 

[Kev250R]

Naults charges $169.00 on every motorcycle for the ADDENDUM. 5 years added Addendum coverage costs $230. Pays up to $4000 over what insurance pays to replace bike after a theft. Insurance for theft pays only for what insurance thinks the bike is worth minus depreciation. $46 per year to make up what insurance won't pay. Considering it took 2 years to get the bike, I wonder if this is OK?

I lock the bike with both an alarm disk brake lock plus a 12 pound

ABUS Granit Extreme Plus 59 Chain Lock (12mm X 140cm)​

View attachment 2804
Inside my Ford Van that has 2 alarm systems on 2 batteries, dashcam plus LO Jack and a hidden kill switch.

This reminds of me when I bought my Grom. The Salesman said since I'd bought a bike from them he'd give me 10% off any parts or accessories I wanted. I told him to sell me the best lock/chain combo they have for my new bike. He told me he'd be happy to but most of the time Grom's just get picked-up and tossed into the back of a van or a truck and hauled away. I did buy the lock/chain combo but rarely used it. When I'm home my bikes live in a secure garage with it's own alarm and camera system. When I'm out on a ride and stop for a meal I try to park where I can keep an eye on my bike. If I'm staying someplace overnight then I'll lock it down at night. I also carry good insurance just in case.

 

[AZ7000']

SPOT devices are definitely worth their weight in gold too,

But later you stated you would look at others when your contract is up with spot. I have 3 in a box in the shed, they can track and send a generic text ok but my $150/year isn’t going to send out the Mexican military when I’m in Baja as they say will happen. In the US I’m not sure either but many many better options Exist.

 

[SneakyDingo]

But later you stated you would look at others when your contract is up with spot. I have 3 in a box in the shed, they can track and send a generic text ok but my $150/year isn’t going to send out the Mexican military when I’m in Baja as they say will happen. In the US I’m not sure either but many many better options Exist.

That was @Kev250R.

Any reasonable person should understand you should be tailoring your equipment and services to the area of travel you're in. A personal locator beacon is not infallible, but it's pretty good. It won't work very well inside a canyon and it needs clear line of sight to the sky to work best. It's also worth thinking about it as sometimes you don't think a life vest is about saving your life, sometimes it's so they can recover the body. In outback Australia, you pack excess water and expect to be stranded for a few days before rescue, with a focus on dehydration, burns, cuts and stings. In the Pacific Northwest, it's almost the opposite. Gear and services match the situation.

Also the $150 a year is one option; IIRC you can pause the SPOT subscription on some of their plans, which is really nice if you're the seasonal road warrior like I am. SPOT devices are only really useful to me for about 2 months a year.

So what's best for the Baja region? Dunno, that sounds more like an ADVRider question than a Honda Trail question. I've known at least three stories from Microsoft of people being rescued in Baja, only one personally, and all three used SPOT devices to activate their "custom recovery" networks (aka a friend with a truck) to get them out of trouble over being airlifted out - probably because that means having to go back and find your motorcycle or what's left of it later. Friends from Salesforce would use SPOT devices when riding out there fairly confidently, but again would probably activate their custom networks over the generalized SPOT services. If you don't have a custom recovery network like me, you make alternative plans, or take the risk of "who knows what happens when I push the SOS button".

Regardless of which PLB service is best, I bet that the Honda extended warranty services would be far inferior than anything SPOT can rustle up.

 

[Kev250R]

But later you stated you would look at others when your contract is up with spot. I have 3 in a box in the shed, they can track and send a generic text ok but my $150/year isn’t going to send out the Mexican military when I’m in Baja as they say will happen. In the US I’m not sure either but many many better options Exist.

I think that was me you're thinking of.

I've been a SPOT user for 10+ years and have always been happy with it, though ocassionally one of my messages won't go through. The main reason I'm going to switch is so I can communicate in real-time. That has more appeal to me now that I've been in a situation where my pre-programmed messages 1) Wern't applicable to the situation I was in 2) Would have been sent to the circle of friends who were traveling with me. Summoning SAR would have been way over-kill for the situation I was in (we had a fairly serious vehicle break-down but no injuries or danger other then running-out of cookies).

Thankfully in my situation we had a second vehicle we used to drive to where we had cell service to call for help. That worked okay, though there was no way to communicate once we returned to where I'd broken-down at, which would have been bad had the help we called been unable to reach us or needed clarification on where we were at. After the fact I rembered that we could have used the 2 Meter HAM radio I have installed in my car to communicate back to the rest of our group in-town (my truck and two of my friends trucks have HAM radios in them) but that's far from turn-key or fool proof.

As far as SPOT working outside of the country, I can't speak to that as I've never taken one outside of the Lower 48.

My next PLB will likely be a Garmin in-reach.

Not Honda Trail related (sorry) but this is a pic of my off-road car which broke-down, deep in the Dixie Forest last fall. I snapped a Spindle crossing a dry stream bed.

 

[Shoot870p]

used spot on Alaska trip. It tracked me and my wife could see where we were. Peace of mind for her even with the sometimes “quiet periods “ when it did not update my location.
no complaints with it.