New Garmin inReach - inReach Messenger Plus

[Fishenough]

Do not know if the satellite range of iphone 14 or 16 will increase in coming years, but the utility of a standalone device, one that doesn't get water damaged and a battery that hopefully in the upcoming model lasts far longer than a phone, whereas a great safety factor that's worth the price IMO.

I do know, in 2023, several iphone users did not have satellite signal in very remote areas of the Yukon and Alaska. Myself, I can travel outside of cell coverage several times a week, on day trips and multi day travels to the north. Having that second more um more solid devices is undeniably worth it! Many people I explore with are excited for the abilities of the IMT service; heck just last year 4 of us were hiking a remote part of the coast and were offered cold beer delivery; it was difficult for the experience boat operator to find us with just our GPS tag on the convoluted west coast coastline, requiring many texts via the inreach to describe our location. 1 picture would have taken care of that. This brought about a conversation regarding a search and rescue operation, with precise location details, injuries occurred, and other helpful details.

Just last Friday I was slipping and sliding 2 hours up a remote road with no cell service; done enough travel like this most of my life, knowing exactly how long a rescue could take in the very area pictured 35 years ago (20 hours, a broken ankle, below freezing temperatures overnight to be precise)

 

[Roam.Wild]

Garmin's inability to "read the room" is really quite surprising.
As the StarLink Mini has arrived in Canada, and my purchase of the same, combined with the Apple iPhone now offering satellite communications, I finally (after many years) cancelled all my commitments to the Garmin In-Reach system.
If Garmin had continued to offer the ability to suspend services on the original plan, I'd have kept my subscription to it as a back-up to my back-up (iPhone), but with their subscription rates going way UP, and their service offerings essentially going way DOWN, Garmin no longer factors into my communication system.

I expect that, like many ex-Garmin users - the chances of my ever going back to Garmin In-Reach for anything are absolute zero.
It's really a very poor job on Garmin's part of understanding, and adapting to the ever changing playing field of satellite communications.

Starlink and the Garmin have very, very different use cases. With an InReach, its attached to my backpack where I can easy reach it and with hold a button I can call emergency services. If you get seriously injured and need help, no one wants to dig Starlink out of their back pack, hook it to a battery, turn it on, wait for it to connect and then call 911 or send a text.

The InReach also has the tracking feature, I turn it on when I leave and my parents and wife get my location updates every 15 minutes, Starlink is solely a means to connect a different device to the internet and you need to have a perfectly clear view of the sky anyways.

I have both, my InReach is always on my pack when we leave to go hiking or fishing in case of an emergency. Starlink is used back at camp for fun.