dtc

Hey Experts,

Given the recent fires and blackouts in my region, which also shutdown cell phone service - I thought I'd look into getting a backup satellite phone for emergencies (call to let people know I'm ok, call to request aid from local police/fire/medical - if they still exist.)

I rarely travel or do anything remotely remote. So this is purely for disaster scenarios.

I looked at the inReach mini, but I wasn't quite sure how the Freedom plan would work/cost me since I only need this... well... when a disaster strikes.

Also, I don't live in a particularly rural area - so I'm not sure the SOS / search and rescue service it triggers makes sense. And I'm not sure I can text/email police/fire/medical. (I suppose I could text a friend out of region?)

Any thoughts on a cost effective solution for my scenario?

Loren Pechtel

The SOS capability reaches their own control center but the information gets passed on to where it needs to go--but everything must be relayed, there's no direct connection. They don't have their own S&R, it's working through whatever the local system is. It's text only, no e-mail, no pictures and don't expect it to work indoors. You can use them to text other people but once you go over your free allotment (IIRC 10/month) you pay per text (IIRC 50 cents.) (Higher service levels give more free texts per month.)

I don't see that it would be practical to turn on service only when needed unless you could plan ahead. (For example, turning it on when the hurricane was coming.)

DMSFCA

I also have one and keep it in my work bag for my travels - you never know, right?

I wondered how people did it on the weeks-long hiking because I think it only goes about 50 hours between charges? How do you keep the battery going? I didn't think those little solar panels are as effective as the sellers make it sound.

While I'm sure as someone said, the cruise ships don't want you to use it because they charge ludicrous amounts to people that want to be reachable just in case. I could also see where they don't want someone activating it because they didn't like the buffet and the ship having to deal with the coast guard or equivalent.

They are super cool, though, and mine works well. If I ever had a long adventure, I'd just pay for the unlimited plan ($70?). I find the interface on the iPhone a bit confusing, and due to the lag, you don't know if your message went out. Maybe I just need to spend more time with it. I had hoped they would be able to integrate it into the iPhone's iMessage program the same way SIP applications can use the regular phone dialing app.

747FC

After having the device for a few months, do you have any further observations related to the iPhone interface or other issues?

Thanks.

Need

If you don't mind carrying a bigger inReach, Costco.com (if you are a Costco member) sells the Explorer version for cheaper than the Mini elsewhere. And you could txt on the device I think.. don't have to worry too much about bluetooth pairing with the smartphone.

747FC

Thanks. I just looked at the Costco offerings...

boerne

Mara river crossing, with pings about every 10 minutes

Svalbard tracks, i just turned it on and pinged once at each stop
couple of pictures from my tracked trips, one of Kenya and the Mara river crossing, the other from Svalbard. I put these in our digital albums, along with photos and Mrs boerne likes to scroll through the trips, especially to show the grandkids. That Costco Explorer SE+ is a good deal. that's what my son carries in Northern New Mexico.

747FC

Pinging on cruise stops is a wonderful idea for making maps!

Aside from the Mini's size advantage,and the SE+ price advantage, do you see any benefits for the Mini or SE+. I notice that Garmin no longer sells the SE+, so my thought was that perhaps it is a generation behind in technology.

GUWonder

Battery life is not uniform across the different type of Garmin devices IIRC. But it’s also possible to have your own portable charging (inclusive of even charge-generating) capabilities if you’re really out there and have one or more reason to need such charging capability on the go.

I don’t know if Garmin’s newer devices tend to work at least somewhat better with Iridium than older Garmin devices, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. Iridium hardware and software changes were to have allowed for improvements with at least some client devices too.

boerne

Iridium NEXT finished deployment in Feb. I feel like some of the readers here know a lot more about that than I do. I wonder if the Costco SE is based on the older satellite. hardware model. I did get a firmware update on the mini. Texts were actually about a 5 minute round trip (send to receive reply) in the Arctic. Got a trip to Thailand, and while on the list for do not take, I probably will anyway. Anyone had experience taking one of these to Thailand?

TGarza

Cruise lines charge for ship to land based communication and receives a fee from Cellular at Sea. Both types of communication are satellite based . The ban on satellite phones is not for safety but to maximize on board cruise ship revenue under the theory if you can afford a satellite phone you can pay the cruise ship more $$$.

I wish the cruise ships would ban the FRS/GMRS radios which are prohibited by several countries.

boerne

https://netblocks.org/reports/youtub...tries-xyMk4GAZ

https://netblocks.org/reports/major-...-iran-xyMk4XAZ

more likely servers with backdoors were installed than some innocent outage. Yet another reason to have a satellite based back up.

GUWonder

There is at least one large democratic country — which is a US strategic ally in ways — where even peaceful, ordinary people having a satellite-using comm device in a personal capacity can make such people subject to serious physical abuse (or worse) by law enforcement and other security force types in the employ of government. Just something to consider before taking these kind of devices to some countries that have the death penalty applicable in their national criminal justice systems, as countries that prohibit satellite phones and have a death penalty tend to have lots more extrajudicial encounters too and hold a lot of suspicion against users of (and even mere holders of) sat comm devices.

gfunkdave

Cryptic stuff aside, it appears you are referring to India. I’m not sure why they’d care, but apparently they do.

Loren Pechtel

Terrorists are probably using them for covert communications.