Heads Up on Your Inreach

[camping1601]

Update and sync fixed mine. I didn't even know I needed Garmin Express till now.
Thanks!

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

Thanks for the heads up. I was out on the weekend, managed to get one message out...

"well, things just got western...looks like I'll be coming home early."

Sent a follow up text a while later clarifying that I had just tagged out and would be home the following day but never heard back. Turns out my girlfriend did receive the first text but not the second and had replied but I never received it. Spent the whole night stressing out and wondering what the hell I meant. I blamed the old growth canopy but something else to look into, thanks again!

 

[Xenophon]

Thank you for the heads up. I'm new to the inreach.

 

[stonewall]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[GotDraw?]

Wow.

That is a HUGE F-up on Garmin's part to kill functionality on prior software when the InReach is a critical piece of gear.

Thank you very much for posting this! I'll update mine every time now.

And what the hell happens if they pull this BS while you're out in the field???

JL

 

[Johnson27]

That explains what happened to me last year. I sent a couple of messages at home before I left. I was on a solo mule deer hunt and the first message home went through. After that there was no communication either way. After 3 days of no communication, I packed back out and found cell service. My wife was going to give me until that evening and then she was calling the local sheriff.
Once back home, I re-synced the device and updated. My next trip it worked perfectly.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

This reliability stuff sucks to keep hearing about. I’ve been carrying an ACR PLB as my primary concern has been having an SOS button over 2 way communication.

Having two small kids has changed that a bit now, and I’d like my wife to be able to get ahold of me in the event that something happens back home.

I’ve been planning on picking up an Inreach mini, but don’t really want to carry both devices. Just can’t build up enough trust in Garmin though.

 

[Antarctica]

That's completely unacceptable for a safety device.

I've had a watch (Camelcamelcamel) for a price drop below $320 for probably 2 years, and coincidentally they just fell to $299 today. I doubt it, but I wonder if there's a link to a drop in public confidence in the system...

It certainly eroded my confidence...

 

[Felix40]

Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry to hear about you losing that wolf! What a bummer.

I may be an idiot, quite possible, but maybe this will help someone in the future.

I have had a mini for a couple years, recently I renewed my subscription prepping for a trip as usual. All systems go, test the device get dropped off in The Frank Church and bam, nothing. I could receive via my email account and receive other inreach addresses but I could not send anything. I could use testinreach and it would come back like it was functional. 7 days and I could not get a message out.

Come to find out I needed to update the software. It never mentioned that on my account, or anywhere else for that matter. The help desk was helpful but they could not tell me where I should have seen a notification of this. So apparently the testinreach function doesnt mean crap. Firmware is 2.80.

 

[Scrappy]

not not trying to defend garmin but we are talking about electronics. We all know since the dawn of time nothing electronic has been even remotely reliable.

 

[mtwarden]

if you're signed up for one of their monthly or annual contracts, they have your email (I get a statement sent to me each month via email), it shouldn't be too much trouble to notify folks there is an update ready to go

 

[Braaap]

After reading this thread I turned my inReach mini on this morning and it updated on its own without me doing anything. Any idea if this is THE update y’all are talking about or something different?

 

[TurboSportTSi]

Thank you for sharing this.

Totally unacceptable to roll out a new version that kills functionality for devices running the old version. Hoping this was an oversight that triggers a change in Garmin's QA process.

I would at least like to be notified when something critical changes...preferably with plenty of lead time.

 

[Rokwiia]

Come to find out I needed to update the software. It never mentioned that on my account, or anywhere else for that matter. The help desk was helpful but they could not tell me where I should have seen a notification of this. So apparently the testinreach function doesnt mean crap. Firmware is 2.80.

I just bought the Mini. My firmware version is 2.70. Is that the version that you had that didn't work?

I didn't want to take a chance so I just updated. Here is a step-by-step video from Garmin that shows you how to do the update through Garmin Express:

 

[groganslayer]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[camping1601]

After reading this thread I turned my inReach mini on this morning and it updated on its own without me doing anything. Any idea if this is THE update y’all are talking about or something different?

The update I did yesterday is 2.8. I was using 2.2 previously.

 

[bvs12]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Elk97]

Really glad you posted this, mine was way out. Really unbelievable that Garmin would not have a built in warning to alert you about a necessary software update in order for your "emergency" device to work. Sheesh.

 

[Rob Patuto]

Sorry I check in on this earlier.

It had like a 2.2 version, I had updated it a week before I left when I re-upped my subscription, it updated to 2.3. When I got assistance from Garmin after the trip it updated to 2.8. That didn't work either so I called back and they walked me through Syncing and now it works. Ya its BS but what can you expect from technology.

 

[Rob Patuto]

Good to know. How was your Frank trip?

It was a typical Frank Trip......an adventure....lol Lost a wolf in the river. The story is on last weeks The Stickbow Chronicles Podcast