Review on 🟠 Garmin 010-01879-00 InReach Mini: Lightweight Compact Communicator - Orange by Brett Morrison

Last week I took the inReach Mini on a week-long trip to the BWCA. I usually go to the BWCA without any external means of communication and in 45 years of canoeing there and Quetico I have never had an emergency where communication could help. But a few years ago we took a rented satellite phone on a trip, and this time we took Reach with us, not because we were afraid of an emergency, but because we needed to keep in touch with what was going on back home. So why not rent a satellite phone again? Because inReach enables text messaging, you can own an inexpensive satellite communicator instead of renting one. InReach does not support voice communication, only short text messages. Outgoing and incoming messages are limited to 160 characters and can be sent to any mobile phone or email account. Messages are not sent immediately from the communicator - a satellite connection must be established - and there is often a 10-minute delay between texts being sent from the outside world and being received on inReach. The advantage of inReach is that it only costs $300. and you can subscribe to monthly access to the satellite network for news packages ranging from $20 to $60 per month plus a $25 annual access fee. Monthly plans can last for any number of months in any given year as long as you pay $25 for access. I signed up for a month of BWCA travel for a $60 plan with unlimited messages. In addition to messaging, inReach works with a standard iPhone or Android phone to provide GPS maps and weather reports. The weather reports used the DarkSky reporting system and were basic but sufficient for planning our days at the BWCA. The inReach battery lasted all week and used about 30 minutes a day just for communication. At the end of the week, the battery charge did not drop below 75 percent. The InReach can stay on to passively track your route (and report via satellite), but we didn't need to track the route and didn't want to carry the extra batteries needed to charge the always-on device used for that purpose. Now for usage, specifically in the BWCA. InReach uses Garmin Earthmate GPS mapping software on the phone. This is pretty good software that works great on a phone with or without satellite communications. But for BWCA, as an advanced mapping solution, this isn't enough, as Earthmate maps don't specify BWCA campgrounds, transportation locations, or distances. One message is required for each basic weather report (a pack of 40 messages costs $35 per month). The basic weather report is spread over several days, with a three-hour interval between status reports on the first day and less on each subsequent day. The premium report, available for a fee of $1, covers more days and provides more information for each day. This was useful in the BWCA, particularly in the wind reports which give daily information on wind speed and direction, although no more detail than daily. If you've been to the BWCA, you know that wind conditions are almost as important as temperature or rain conditions. peace of mind. I've never had an emergency in the BWCA (worse than a bear eating some of our supplies), but I did have a friend whose son suffered severe third-degree burns in Quetico before the advent of satellite phones. God provided a team of strong kayakers trained in emergency medicine to take the boy to the hospital overnight. But being able to send an SOS signal is reassuring and one of the reasons I bought the inReach. If you are taking small children or are viewing a trip where you are taking other people's children, I would recommend this communicator. It features a separate SOS button, clearly marked and difficult to press accidentally, which transmits your emergency and location via satellite to the emergency response center, from where help is broadcast. Telephones at key BWCA entry points have been removed, meaning you can no longer call your outfitter from a payphone. Therefore, you must either get off at your outfitter's location or find a home or office to call. Our outfitter didn't notify us of this change so we got off at the Chaika Lake spot we've used in the past, only to find an empty phone booth. We were able to send the outfitter's phone number to family members in Ohio and they called to pick us up. It would be a long road without inReach.