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Garmin Inreach

tromano

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Curious if anyone has used the Garmin inreach or mini. What are your thoughts on this vs other satelite comms?
 

weatherman

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Curious if anyone has used the Garmin inreach or mini. What are your thoughts on this vs other satelite comms?
I have an inReach. I use it as an emergency backup comms when I go off-roading. I've never actually "needed" it, but it's there as an insurance policy. Instead my wife has transitioned to using it to bother me to ask me when I'll be home for dinner. It always works for that purpose as long as I keep it charged and updated before I leave. Once I had issues with it not working, which is when I started syncing it before going out and have not had a problem since.
 

Andy Mink

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I have a Mini and use it for hunting when I'm out of service areas or just when I'm bumping around the Nevada back country on my quad. It works well. I set it up with several pre-recorded texts that don't go against the monthly bill (back at camp, coming home, all good, etc.) but mostly use it for texts to keep my wife updated. You get a limited number per month and then they're charged, but it's cheaper than her worrying. I like that I can Bluetooth it to my phone and use the phone keypad or do it from the unit the old fashioned way (abc, def, ghi, etc.).

Battery life is very good and you have options to track and send updates on your location automatically, I think. I don't use all the options. It does have an SOS button that sends your location to EMS should you need it. You can sign up by the month and activate/deactivate as needed or go by the year. Overall, I think it's worth it.
 

SBrown

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I have a mini and echo the comments. It's nice to be able to text my mom brief updates when I am out of range (which I am very often, even taking a walk around my road puts me out of cell service once I leave my yard). I haven't needed to use it for SOS, but I have some friends who were hiking last spring in the Utah desert and came across a solo hiker who had broken his patella. They SOS'd, and he was heli-evac'd! So that was kind of cool. Or something.
 

RJS

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I have the mini as well and echo all of the previous comments :). It's great for peace of mind, if nothing else. When I'm doing solo hiking or backpacking, my partner appreciates knowing where I am and getting updates, even if those updates are just the preset messages, i.e., "everything is OK."

One more thing: here in the PNW, multiple people go missing every year, and it's not uncommon for these people to never be found. Even if I fall off a cliff and die, by using the mini I am at least not wasting SAR resources in searching for my body or denying family members closure. A bit morbid, but important.
 

Andy Mink

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I have the mini as well and echo all of the previous comments :). It's great for peace of mind, if nothing else. When I'm doing solo hiking or backpacking, my partner appreciates knowing where I am and getting updates, even if those updates are just the preset messages, i.e., "everything is OK."

One more thing: here in the PNW, multiple people go missing every year, and it's not uncommon for these people to never be found. Even if I fall off a cliff and die, by using the mini I am at least not wasting SAR resources in searching for my body or denying family members closure. A bit morbid, but important.
How well does the Mini work in trees? That's usually not an issue in NV.
 

RJS

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How well does the Mini work in trees? That's usually not an issue in NV.

It takes longer to get a good signal in some treed areas, and not in trees it gets a signal fairly quickly in my experience. In NV you should be good!
 

Andy Mink

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It takes longer to get a good signal in some treed areas, and not in trees it gets a signal fairly quickly in my experience. In NV you should be good!
In NV, mine works great. I was curious as our satellite radio in the truck frequently loses service when driving in the PNW where there are trees along the road, even on highways it the trees on the sides of the highway are tall enough.
 
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VickieH

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Following. Didn't think I really needed something like this, but seem to say "oh, this will be fine" a bit too much when solo hiking. As if I can't possibly run into trouble on marked trails in state parks.
 

Lauren

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I got an Explorer+ this year and used it for the first time for a kayaking trip (5 days). I was back and forth on the Mini or Explorer+...

The Explorer came out on top for a few reasons, battery life was noted to be better for multi-day trips, having a map without connecting to a cell phone, easier texting if I wanted to use that feature, and it was in stock (which ultimately made the decision). The mini was considered because it's smaller, less expensive, and could connect it to my Garmin watch (which I'm not sure if I would do anyways). Both would suffice for the main reason of buying it...SOS in case of emergency.

I was happy with all of the functionality that I used, though I only grazed the surface of what the device is capable of.

I don't have experience with any other satellite communicators.
 
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chris_the_wrench

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Can an inreach work as a spot tracker? Planning on doing a couple events that require a spot tracker.
 

Andy Mink

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Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Its a personal locator beacon with some very minimal check-in message capability.
I believe it can be set up to send your location at set intervals to emails.
 

weatherman

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Absolutely it can do tracking. It's just a matter of which subscription plan you sign up for. How often it records your location is a configurable option which influences battery life.
 

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