Garmin Inreach maps?

[Elite]

Hello so I am looking at buying a Inreach or a Inreach mini. I can’t decide between the 2 yet, I am wondering if the Garmin maps cost money to download and what kind of maps are they? More like a road map or a satellite imagery?


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[muddydogs]

If your talking the Earthmate app or transferring maps from the Garmin web site to the Inreach Explorer plus they don't cost money. The maps consist of Topo, satellite photo's and a few others.

 

[Elite]

So do the same maps on the earth mate app appear on the Inreach device? Or are they just a standard topo map on the gps?


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[muddydogs]

Which Inreach? The SE+, SE, mini and Explorer don't really have maps. The old Explorer, SE+ and Mini have a grid map with no detail that will show way points, routes and tracks. The Explorer + has topo's and I'm not sure if it will do photo's or not, I don't think so.

I was a very outspoken fan of the Earthmate app until they stopped offering private land boundary's. Here the last couple weeks I have been messing around with Gaia which costs $40 a year for there premium service which covers the US, Canada and other country's. I have to say that Gaia is now the way to go. With Earthmate all you get on the computer is topo and photo maps and to see any other map you have to use the phone app. With Gaia there are a ton of maps that can be viewed on the computer as well as the phone app which makes E scouting a lot easier.

My advice would be to purchase an Inreach, if you want a backup GPS then look at the Explorer + or the SE+ or Mini if just having a track line back to the rig is good enough to get you out if your phone fails. Install the Earthmate app on your phone for using it with the Inreach, might be worth while to download a few basic maps to use with Earthmate if Gaia ever has a problem then install Gaia as your primary GPS app.

If you want a full functioning do it all GPS unit then look at the new Garmin 66i, its a GPS and Inreach all in one with the added benefit of an SD card slot so one can use a GPS chip in it though I don't know if the 66i has photo's out of the box without a GPS chip.

 

[oregonhiker]

I just bought and returned the new Garmin 66i (from REI) thinking that I could eliminate my phone (for mapping) and use the messaging/communication from the GPS. The mapping is pretty disappointing on the 66i (and its touted to be the best). It takes forever to download, the resolution isn't that great, and the user interface is just inferior to a 2019 smartphone. Its much slower to load and pan maps too.
However... the button interface is nice in wet weather (touchscreens always glitch out).
Honestly ONX is just 10x better and its also much easier to quickly calculate distance and area using the basic tools on ONX. My advice? Get a mini in reach, and pay for ONX on your phone and pre download offline maps.