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The cellphone or smart device, as we refer to them now, has been both a blessing and a curse. They are so useful much of the time. However, when all circumstances aren’t aligned, they can quickly become useless. Anyone with an iPhone has to have noticed that every time you need the camera to work quickly and accurately, it craps the bed as if it knows the dire needs of the moment. Don’t let that happen to your emergency communication plan in the wild. Instead, reach for the Garmin inReach Messenger Plus.
The Garmin inReach Messenger Plus
Everything is web-based and service-dependent now. So, the right combination of being in the wrong place at the wrong time quickly turns into boredom as you realize just how dependent you’ve become on the invisible signal. Watch the people on a plane who are too cheap to buy WiFi service. They quickly turn to ridding their device of unnecessary photos and files. What fun!
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We all know that having a phone with you is essential when traveling. Is it necessary? Still no. But if something goes wrong—some unforeseen event rears its head—you’ll quickly wish you had the old boat anchor.
I’m lucky enough to travel to places where you can still be too far from anything to find a cell phone useful. However, in these times, I hate the pucker factor associated with the “what ifs” of the adventure. That’s why I’m very intrigued by Garmin’s inReach Messenger Plus device.
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Think of it as that peace of mind you can have should you choose to venture off the beaten path, alone or even with friends. You’ll always have a reliable way to send and receive messages, share your adventure, or get help inbound with this unit in hand.
What is the Garmin inReach?
InReach is a small, very portable communications unit that you keep on your person. Think of it as a very small smart device. It is capable of sending two-way text messages, photo messages, and voice messages when paired with the corresponding Garmin app. Although your smart device works in tandem with the unit, certain features can be accessed without it.
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Whenever you trek out to a beautiful location, you typically realize that you’d like to share it with someone in the moment or as close to it as possible. No cell coverage means no-go for this moment of euphoria. It is a go with the inReach, though.
Click away on your smartphone, then use the Garmin Messenger app to share. You can share up to 1600 characters at a time directly from the inReach device. I’m not sure how many words that is, but it’s likely enough. You can, of course, also send messages through your smartphone with the Messenger app.
Communicating with the Outside World
While you can’t carry on a conversation, you can send 30-second voice messages through the same connected app. I like this feature, and it’s one that I’d use frequently, as I often send my spouse short voice messages, especially in the morning when I’m traveling.
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Sharing the adventure is high on anyone’s list, but my first thoughts are safety and contingencies in an emergency. The inReach shines here, thanks to a couple of key features.
The first is the Live Track feature. This lets you share your movements in mostly real time. Based on the subscription you choose (yes, you need a coverage plan from Garmin), you can share your new location every two minutes or every ten minutes as you move. Everyone involved feels better with this feature, whether you’re the one in the mountains or back home on the couch.
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Should things go unfortunately south, the big hammer in the inReach is the interactive SOS feature. This is a message sent with your GPS coordinates. Messages are received by a 24-hour, employee-manned Garmin Response facility. This is the assurance I want for myself or a loved one when deep in the environment. Although nothing is faultless, Garmin utilizes a 100% global Iridium satellite network, ensuring high reliability.
Suppose you like to be organized and know where you’re going and when, you can use the Garmin Explore app to plan your next steps. You can also get a look at how far you’ve traveled and see the distance to your next planned location. This could be invaluable, especially if you’re relying on or trying to beat lighting conditions.
This is as close to controlling the variables as you can get, and helps you worry less, if at all.
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Other Features
While it’s not likely you’ll completely dump the smartphone, nor should you, you can be less reliant on it. However, should your phone battery die, you’ll be happy to know you can charge it from the inReach unit. The unit itself features an internal lithium battery, and it will last up to 25 days with 10 10-minute Live Track active. If you can’t get out in 25 days—well….
As mentioned before, you need a messaging plan. However, you can send check-in messages that don’t count against your plan, just to let people know you’re fine. You can group message as well, and your contacts sync up with the Messenger app and are easy to find.
The device will work on the WiFi and network service of your phone when available and automatically switch to satellite service when not available.
Other helpful features include Tracback routing, which is exactly as it sounds. This helps you navigate back to where you started using the same original path instead of looping you an entirely different way. And with inReach weather, you can get weather forecasts for your specific area or destination.
There are 4 levels of plans available, that run on a 30-day subscription, each with a $39 activation fee. The lowest plan comes in at just $7.99. All plans include emergency SOS messaging, and you can upgrade or downgrade as desired and suspend your subscription as well.
The inReach In Action
I enjoy going ATVing, and sometimes I find myself wanting to venture deeper and further into the desert than might be wise when I’m alone. It’s adventurous but sometimes borders on stupid as there is some knarliness out there. I’ve been in situations that have made me wish I were back at home and not being so juvenile.
While that will always be a struggle, a unit like the inReach helps me to be less hard on myself when things get dicey. I’m sure Garmin doesn’t condone sheer stupidity, but they likely don’t mind a little extra fun here and there. This product gives you a little more leeway and lets your loved ones rest a little easier, too.
I used it on one of my ATV outings to send messages to my spouse, and the device works as advertised. Looks to be a test unit that they won’t be getting back.
The post Always Found: The Garmin inReach Messenger Plus Keeps You Connected appeared first on Athlon Outdoors Exclusive Firearm Updates, Reviews & News.
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