Bought a new beacon — inReach

[JRhetts]

I picked up an inReach today, at REI in Phoenix. I am going out into the Kofa Mtns west of Phoenix for about 10 days of very remote solo moto riding; i have not seen anyone out there when I did my recon last week. Somehow and for some reason I gave in to the notion that I needed to be able to signal for help.

[I really am not sure why I did this, as I have been a solo backpacker, sailor, pilot, horse packer, and off-road driver for at least 55 of my 70 yrs. Only the sailing and flying gave any radio contact, so I am well-used to being out of touch and on my own for better or worse. I think probably that just because the equipment is available now that it seems irresistible? Maybe it's aging. I don't know.]

My alternatives are well known: PLB, sat phone, Spot, inReach.

For me:

PLB: very reliable, great form factor, limited to one [SOS] message.

Sat Phone: good coverage with Iridium; expensive to purchase time-limited minutes that I never use up so I loose at the end of the card's life; form factor kind of bulky for single-day moto riding.

Spot: OK; sat system not as good as Iridium; no feedback/confirmation on whether sent message actually rec'd and forwarded by sat system; pricing/plans almost incomprehensibly complicated; customer service horrible.

inReach: better satellite system [Iridium]; confirmation of message being rec'd by sat system [VERY IMPORTANT to me in emergency situation, which is all I want this for — I'm NOT interested in chatting up my family and friends while out in the wild]; can pair with smartphone to allow 2-way text messaging [allowing exchange of vital status info with a rescue team]; reasonable in terms of cost and comprehensible "safety" plan; customer service/support unknown.

Registering the new unit, setting up an account, and pairing my smartphone were straightforward and easy.

I will test the texting [to my wife] from some suitably remote place in the next week, and post the success or lack thereof here at a future date.

Update on 2-way comm in Post #5

 

[fishbum]

I would suggest testing out the messaging now, before you get off the grid... then if there are any problems (unlikely) you can still get help solving them...
Note that the messaging experience is NOT like cell phones - it is NOT instantaneous. The inReach only checks for inbound messages every 20 minutes, or at the tracking interval, whichever is shorter...
No need for the inReach to stay in constant contact with the Iridium sats, otherwise you use up valuable airtime and battery life... so inReach checks-in with the sats every 20 minutes when not tracking.
Send a message to your own cell phone to test out the capability.

 

[dr350jja]

Sounds like a good point. I'm curious to see how well this thing works also.

 

[JRhetts]

...Sat Phone: good coverage with Iridium; expensive to purchase time-limited minutes that I never use up so I loose at the end of the card's life; form factor kind of bulky for single-day moto riding.

I wanted to amplify my Sat Phone characterization in Post #1: separate from the hardware acquisition costs, the cost of having an Iridium Sat Ph available/activated is the cost of purchasing a card with minutes. The best pricing I can find is $250.00 for six months or $500.00 for a year. At the end of those times the card expires whether you have used any or all of the minutes or not and the phone is dead and dumb.

The inReach cost for a year on their minimal/survival plan is $120.00. So even tho I already own a sat phone, it is less expensive to purchase and activate the inReach than to simply activate my Sat Phone.

 

[JRhetts]

UPDATE - re two way comm

I have now had the chance on two occasions to test the inReach. Both of these were in very remote locations; the first was in the bottom of a moderate wash so there was some lateral sky occlusion. However both days were clear and clear overhead view.

I first tried sending one of my pre-programmed messages. My hand held unit showed me that the message had been received right away by the sat. My wife received the message in less than two minutes [perhaps a lot less; our watches were not synchronized.]

A couple of days later I paused in the middle of a solo ride and fired up both the inReach and my Android phone. Back in early January I had followed the startup instructions and had previously paired the two devices; the instructions stated that this would not be necessary again. And indeed it was not. The two devices recognized each other right away; I opened the inReach app on my phone [named "Earthmate"], I typed a message and sent it. I wanted to send it as a text to my wife's mobile rather than as an email so I could get a quick reply; finding the correct 'recipient' in my contacts file was was quite confusing within the Earthmate app, but I eventually got it handled [easliest to just type the # in rather than connect with contacts!] and she rec'd it almost instantly and immediately replied back.

So, it all seems to work. I have not and will not be testing the tracking feature; not of interest to me.

Hope this helps.

 

[El Solis]

I have the Inreach and love it. for me the 2 way communication is critical. little side note, you can't receive new messages unless you have sent that person a message first. example: my wife can't just up and text me when I'm out. so I always text her before I leave, confirm she got it and then she can send me a message any time. I haven't needed it for a life saving situation and hope to never but when I blew a head gasket AAA was there lickety split after I texted my wife. saved me a long hike out, and I knew they were coming so I could sit back and relax.

 

[jeffjeeptj]

little side note, you can't receive new messages unless you have sent that person a message first. example: my wife can't just up and text me when I'm out. so I always text her before I leave, confirm she got it and then she can send me a message any time.

That is excellent information.

 

[agavelvr]

little side note, you can't receive new messages unless you have sent that person a message first. example: my wife can't just up and text me when I'm out. so I always text her before I leave, confirm she got it and then she can send me a message any time.

Pretty sure someone can send you a message from the Mapshare website. This gives the folks at home a way to get in touch with you in the event you did not send them a message first.

 

[El Solis]

I think that is correct but they have to actually do that. my wife just wants to be able to text me like normal if she needs me (only for emergencies) so this is the easiest. But good to know.

 

[graynomad]

you can't receive new messages unless you have sent that person a message first.

Presumably that's a one off, not every time you go out into the boonies?

 

[Matt_OCENS]

However both days were clear and clear overhead view.

Just FYI, weather will have no impact on your Iridium coverage.