Garmin Inreach, Inreach Explorer or other?

[crich]

I am just now starting research into one of these options and REI has the 66i for $399 with the 67i at the $600 mark.

If you had the choice of a 66i vs mini 2 for the same price, which would you go with?

I also see they extended the battery life on the 67i substantially and it now uses USBC. Does that make it worth the $200 price jump now?

I just ordered a 67i. Had my phone go from 51% to dead instantly while following a track on the Sag river next to the haul road in an inflatable boat loaded with gear. Battery pack was packed deep in the boat. That track was keeping us from scraping bottom and having the fast current spin the boat. Needless to say I wasnt happy and wished I had a backup. Ill be selling my mini once my 67 arrives.

Extra battery life and usbc are worth it to me for the price.

 

[TheM1DoesMyTalking]

I don't feel a need for the 67i since I use my phone with onX and I have an inreach mini 2 for lower battery drain tracking/waypoints, satellite communications and SOS.

My approach for downloading offline maps in onX is that I have my entire state downloaded in 6 low resolution maps and then I download high resolution maps in each area that I am hunting.

 

[Footshooter]

A little late to this conversation, but after our trip to Bethel AK last week I’m also looking for the best options…

We had rented a Sat phone, but couldn’t get it to send text messages, and had no way to get any weather updates. On that hunt we had no idea where we would be, so no good downloads from ONX either so there were some challenges that could have been avoided.

Thinking in-reach mini2, as long as I can get weather updates and send messages. But reading through this thread has me thinking if I’m gonna spend the money why not get the full gps unit with it, even if most of the time it isn’t really needed. The one time it is needed would pay for itself…? The 67i or even the Montana 700 unit (does direct high definition map downloads to the unit).

I am probably overthinking it, but not sure yet which way to go. May have to go and handle all of them if I can find them all locally.