gfunkdave

Im sure that’s the Indian government’s justification. It rings hollow.

GUWonder

Whether it rings hollow or not, it can get otherwise innocent people a hot potato stuffed in the mouth or worse. India doesn’t like Iridium connectivity one iota, when it comes to personal devices in India. They have had a greater tolerance for Inmarsat, but that comes and goes in waves. These Garmin messengers use Iridium.

Either way, if visiting a country that has the death penalty and considering having one of these devices on trips to such country, make sure that the device use and/or mere possession of the device is not illegal. Because even if they don’t prosecute the owner/user of the device for ownership/use of such device, they may engage in some very questionable extrajudicial antics. And being an American isn’t necessarily going to save you from that even in countries that are strategic allies of sort.

And the restrictions applicable to satellite phones don’t necessarily exclude satellite messaging devices of this sort. Just something to consider for those who travel abroad and may have some interest in such communication capabilities.

TGarza

As if terrorist are concerned with the laws and regulations of India. The Mumbai terrorist broke several laws including satellite phones while committing murder.

Loren Pechtel

Making them illegal gives you something to charge the terrorists with if you manage to catch them before they attack. And it also means that if you can home in on the signal you can catch them since you know there aren't innocent users. (Whereas around here the signal from a Garmin probably just means a backcountry hiker, even if you knew terrorists were using them tracing the signals wouldn't do you much good.)

GUWonder

This is going off topic, but I will say that I have no doubt that way more terrorist attacks in India have had a regular internet and ground-based mobile phone or other short/medium wave terrestrial service element than a satellite communication service element. And it seems like the Indian Government must still think much the same as me about communication methods, as they are increasingly huge fans of blocking ground-based internet service and mobile phone service in the country.

Either way, whether it’s going to India or elsewhere, before taking even such simple two-way satellite communication devices, it’s important to know that the way things legally work at home with such devices may not be without its problems in other parts of the world being visited or even transited.

Need

Costco Explorer SE+ is now on sales for $229.

cblaisd

As a backup to cell for for multi-thousand mile road trip. Don't know a lot about these so happy to be educated

Don't want any long term contract

TIA

GUWonder

There may be something useful to find in the following thread:

Satellite texting- Garmin inReach or others

TGarza

Zoleo and Bivy stick are newer products in the market at a lower price point. If Starwave releases the mobile satellite service, I will purchase a unit for our Super C.

Loren Pechtel

I own two:

One is simply a locator beacon--push the button, it sends out a SOS and a homing signal. Mine was about $250, needs refurbishment/replacement every 5 years. (Technically you could just replace the batteries yourself but it's safety gear, you don't cheap out!) I bought this when I was sometimes hiking not as part of a group, but still in areas where there are others passing by. This is basically a miniaturized version of the emergency locator transmitters on aircraft--it gives up something in the way of duration and while it's built tough it's not meant to survive an aircraft going in, but mine is about 4 oz. It could be smaller but I chose the version that's built to float. Note that these are only intended for emergency use.

Second is a Garmin inReach--I bought it last year because of the pandemic I was hiking away from others (at one point I'm pretty sure I was the first person on that route in months, although my objective could be reached another way. The majority of my cool-season hikes I have not seen anybody--there's no way I would go out there alone without some way to call for help!) IIRC ~$450 and it has a monthly service charge. The basic plan gives you 10 texts/month, going over is 50 cents/text. I do not recall the non-contract rate. I'm on the mid-tier contract level, $25/mo (comes out a bit over $26) which gives me 40 texts/month (which I've never needed) and unlimited breadcrumbs at 10 minute intervals (which is why I pay for that plan--even if for some reason I can't call for help the breadcrumbs will get search and rescue very close.) Note that while you are not charged for SOS messages you still have to have a service plan for them to get through at all. You can text any phone, anyone you text can reply (within a certain window whose size I do not know) and you can give people a password to text you through the website. I have no idea how it works for texts between two devices. I also have three presets that must be set up on the computer. They can be used without charge.

Note that the target audience for such devices is people like me--those that head off into the wilderness where we have no cell service and few people around. Since I have the inReach I would take it along as backup comm on a road trip but I certainly wouldn't get it for that purpose. Note that it probably won't work in a car and messages are slow as it only periodically polls the satellite (normal mode is 10 minute intervals.)

Some competitors to the Garmin units have come along in recent years and I believe there have been more entrants recently. At the time I bought mine I considered the Garmin units to be built tougher than the others I had seen and there's not much difference in the service.

lsquare

I was in India in 2011 and security at the Taj Mahalo discovered a Garmin device in my bag. He asked me if it was a satellite phone. I said no and he let me in.

lsquare

What is the fastest interval you can set the Inreach to?

Dread Pirate Jeff

I haven't used one personally, but a good friend of mine has a Mini that he uses when he goes off on his weeks long overland trips out in the SW US. He only activates it for the months he's gone then disables it the rest of the year. He swears by it, as do others I've talked to who do similar things.

I, myself, have gotten myself into enough situations where I would have been very screwed had I actually needed emergency communications (back-woods trails and such where there is no cell service or long-range radio on hand) and the last outing we got into a spot of trouble on a completely iced over forestry trail heading up a mountain that had we NOT managed to (very luckily) get everyone turned around on that trail and very slowly made our way back down the mountain that we would have been in a very bad spot if someone had gone over the side.

So I'm looking at them myself now, both the Mini and the Explorer and I'm leaning to the Explorer just because the mapping would make it more useful to me.

Loren Pechtel

Two minutes. That's on the $50/mo plan. 10 minutes would get search and rescue close enough, I see no need for the more expensive service. That tier also gives you unlimited text messages.

TechnoTourist

The mapping on the explorer is pretty poor, I rely on paper maps and FatMap on my phone. Most of the time I have my phone paired via bluetooth and never look at the screen on the inReach. I'd buy the mini as it's slightly cheaper and much smaller.