InReach Explorer Review

[chuckeglenn]

I would love for someone that has been using an inReach Explorer to give a good review. I watched the gritty bowman podcast on communication devices, so I understand the texting aspect of it. They didn't talk about its GPS and mapping capabilities though. I'm a little confused as to how it works with onxmaps. Do you have to have a chip or can it work with onxmaps on your phone? There was also a post about this last year on rokslide that said onxmaps crashed a lot with the explorer. Any updates with that? Thanks in advance.

 

[TroyCA]

This YouTube channel has quite a bit about inReach
Jim Cyr
- YouTube


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mtwarden]

Subscribed. I'd also be interested in some first hand experience. I'm currently carrying a SPOT and using Gaiagps on my phone. SPOT works well, but you are very limited on the messages you can send and you can't receive any.

This year we got split up with one of our team members (he made a daring river crossing we weren't comfortable with) on an adventure race; he met up with another team that was using an Inreach- that team sent a message to one of the wives back home to look up where we were headed (we had posted a public link so folks could see our progress). She sent a message back letting them know what drainage we had headed up and armed with this he knew that we were not headed his way so he didn't have to wait for us. Pretty space age stuff considering we were in the middle of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Anyways, I'm thinking very hard to going to Inreach- that it's also a functioning gps makes it even more attractive.

 

[muddydogs]

There has been 3 or 4 posts in the last month or so on here about the InReach so there's lots of info floating around.

The InReach does not work with ONX maps, there is no place for a card on the Explorer. Earthmate app that you download to your phone is a stand alone mapping program that has land owner maps and does most things that ONX does for a lot less money. If you want to run the ONX on your phone as its own app then you can. You might be able to pull GPS files from the ONX chip and save them into the earthmate app as overlays but I would think that would not be good business for ONX.

You also need to realize that the Explorer is a stand alone GPS unit that can send text messages and your phone with the Earthmate app or any other mapping program is also a stand alone GPS unit that works as a GPS without the InReach. When you bluetooth your phone to the InReach you are using both units for text communication and the InReach then takes over for the phone's GPS location function.

 

[AggieOutlaw]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for. My Garmin InReach was defective and never turned on. So, I returned it. I have an Delorme Inreach thanks to a member here. It works really great as a communicator. I'm very impressed. It's not a real GPS unit though. The iPhone app is surprisingly decent. You can download really good base maps that even show private land. I wasn't expecting much of anything but I was pleasantly surprised.

Can't speak to the Garmin InReach...my experience was that it never turned on. I assume, if it worked, it'd be as good or better than the Delorme.

That said, if I have to carry a phone anyway to use the InReach efficiently, then I'll just use the phone as a GPS too. OnX, Gaia, Earthmate, TopoMaps...etc.

 

[mtwarden]

do they still make just a "plain" in-reach, sans gps? I'm happy with iphone (gaigps) as a mappable gps and it would go along regardless as it's my camera too

I've recently read several not so glowing reviews of the new Garmin In-Reach Explorer

 

[stumpy waters]

Not sure if they still make them but I just picked up a 'plain' InReach off Amazon.

 

[AggieOutlaw]

Like I said, my experience with Garmin InReach was (putting it charitably) 'not good'. Unit was DOA.

The Delorme is so-far so-good. For the most part, it is a "plain" unit. You want it to have GPS so you can have it do tracking and geotagging. But it's not a useful stand alone GPS unit. Mine doesn't even have a base map and the screen is 1998 cell phone size. It's a nice companion to a modern GPS-equipped cellphone loaded with Gaia. I've only had it out once, but it was 100% reliable and very useful.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Like I said, my experience with Garmin InReach was (putting it charitably) 'not good'. Unit was DOA.

The Delorme is so-far so-good. For the most part, it is a "plain" unit. You want it to have GPS so you can have it do tracking and geotagging. But it's not a useful stand alone GPS unit. Mine doesn't even have a base map and the screen is 1998 cell phone size. It's a nice companion to a modern GPS-equipped cellphone loaded with Gaia. I've only had it out once, but it was 100% reliable and very useful.

Its good at showing you where you came from. Grant it a $30 backtrack will do same thing.

 

[muddydogs]

Like I said, my experience with Garmin InReach was (putting it charitably) 'not good'. Unit was DOA.

The Delorme is so-far so-good. For the most part, it is a "plain" unit. You want it to have GPS so you can have it do tracking and geotagging. But it's not a useful stand alone GPS unit. Mine doesn't even have a base map and the screen is 1998 cell phone size. It's a nice companion to a modern GPS-equipped cellphone loaded with Gaia. I've only had it out once, but it was 100% reliable and very useful.

Not sure what your talking about here?

There are four InReach units available still. The Delorme SE which is just a communicator no GPS function with the unit except it will send your phone via Bluetooth the location data, the Delorme Explorer which is a communicator and stand alone GPS unit, Both of these units are available but have been replaced by the Garmin units. The Garmin units are basically the same as the Delorme units with a few little improvements and a different case and button layout. The Garmin SE+ is just a comunicator like the Delorme SE and the Garmin Explorer+ is a communicator and GPS unit.
Personally I run the Delorme SE and have for 4 years now, this unit and the Garmin Earthmate app on my phone takes care of all my needs, I do think the Explorer+ would be a good unit to have since its a stand alone GPS unit and would make a good backup GPS unit if anything happened to my phone while out and about but I do try and take good care of my phone.

 

[GregB]

I have the pre-Garmin Delorme SE and run a Garmin GPS. I've used it for 3 or 4 years now and really like it.It can be a little slow with messages if the timber is thick or it's really cloudy. Other than that I haven't had any issues. It's great for two way communication and peace of mind for the wife. The battery will also last 7-10 days if you turn it off between messages.

 

[Paulyester]

I just got back from a 5 day backcountry hunt with the Garmin InReach SE. Here's my quick take on it. For me it was invaluable. I had to teenagers at home and it made it nice to get in touch with them when I needed. I also had a friend a few mountain ranges over with an InReach and we were able to communicate and send intel back and forth. I see no reason for the + model, I use my phone and Gaiagps for mapping, although the topo and mapping features on the InReach SE were very good.

The bad: you get used to communicating like a cell phone real quick and you forget that its satellite communications, not a cell phone. If you're in deep timber it could sometimes take awhile to get messages out. I had a lot of problems with it disconnecting from my iPhone, but I blame the iPhone because I hate iPhones

That being said, it worked well enough to have a conversation with my teen on how to setup the Xbox and create an Xbox Live account when i was deep inside the Eagle Cap Wilderness. By the way, I bough the unlimited text plan, and ended up sending about 300 text messages over the 5 day trip.

For somebody in my situation, I consider in invaluable, but it is pricey

 

[mtwarden]

can you text with Garmin alone or does it have to be paired to a phone?

 

[Schism]

can you text with Garmin alone or does it have to be paired to a phone?

It does not need to be paired with a phone to text. You are able to save contacts to the Inreach and text them, albeit extremely slow due to typing, just as you would with your phone. There are also several preset messages that you can send that you can have saved on the Inreach. Pairing a phone makes typing the message and quickly entering in your contacts as recipients much easier.

Most nights I simply use a preset message from the Inreach to let the wife know I'm safely back at camp. If I need to have a more in depth conversation I will pair my phone to the Inreach as I hate typing on the Inreach.

 

[mtwarden]

^ gottcha- thanks!

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

So you can have the inreach connected to the Iphone without having the inreach GPS take over the Iphone map? I thought I heard that once they are connected the inreach maps show up on the phone.

Is that not the case?

 

[muddydogs]

So you can have the inreach connected to the Iphone without having the inreach GPS take over the Iphone map? I thought I heard that once they are connected the inreach maps show up on the phone.

Is that not the case?

What map are you running on the Iphone? If its the Earthmate app and maps then that is what you will see. Not sure if you have another mapping program what happens. Only thing that takes over my phone when running the Earthmate app and bluetoothed to the InReach is the InReach tracking which sends track points at 10 minute intervals which is fine for walking but if I want a good track while ATVing I like to use my phones GPS as the track interval is short and give a good track while moving fast.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I will be using Gaia maps. I might be way off base with what I had heard.

 

[muddydogs]

I don't know if you are or not. I found the Earthmate app to be as good as any mapping program I have tried so that is what I use. I'd test it out for you but I use Android phones and I'm not sure if that would make a difference.

 

[Mischief209]

you can still use gaia, it doesnt take over anything but your bluetooth. you can change apps all you want. I use the same combination. inreach for communication and gaia for my maps. i also load up the earthmate maps because why not i guess. i have to d/l earthmate anyways. Also the earthmates newest update has the satellite images looking pretty clear. much better then gaia. with that said gaia is my primary, but i open up earthmate to compare images sometimes. I just dont track with it.