The wife and I are leaving on the FJR and FJ09 on Saturday, July 14 and heading for Alaska from Kansas City.
 
Considering taking a GPS tracker along the way to people can follow our route but also for emergencies.
 
I was about ready to pull the trigger on the new Spot X two way satellite messenger, but then I saw it had terrible reviews on REI's website so I decided to do more research. The Spot Gen 3 has been out a while and has okay reviews, but for the money it would be nice to have two-way message capability. I'm now considering the Garmin inReach. None of these devices or their service plans are cheap. Anyone got any experience with either product?

I used a Spot gen 3 on my Mexico trip. I really only used the tracker fuction that pinned my location every 5mins. I never had to use any of the assistance modes thankfully. The batteries lasted about 7 weeks of use. You can send a preprogramed text or email to family/friends letting them know all is well.

Go with inReach , better satellite system and you can suspend the service plan when you don't need it and pay only 3 or 4 dollars by month.
and the two way message capability is a must.