InReach To InReach communication?

[gerardoxg]

My brother and I are considering a pair of InReach Minis. In addition to the safety and communication back home, I’m thinking it could be used to communicate when we split up on the mountain. When we get an animal down and need to start packing.

We’ve used 2-way radios in the past but I’m always worried about the sound and disturbing a hunt in progress.

Anyone use it for this?


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[MtGomer]

I’ve done it. You have to send your message to the person’s @inreach.garmin address, NOT the phone number that shows up when that inreach messages you on your cell phone with their inreach.

 

[gerardoxg]

I’ve done it. You have to send your message to the person’s @inreach.garmin address, NOT the phone number that shows up when that inreach messages you on your cell phone with their inreach.

Thanks for sharing! How well did it work for you?


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[204guy]

Gomer is correct. It works fine, just don't expect anything close to real time communication.

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[Dexter Grayson]

It works awesome but like 204 said, not super fast. One cool thing about it is that it sends your location to the other person. This past September I was on a float hunt and dropped a caribou 3 miles off the river. We sent a text to my wife and best friend to come help us pack it out. They were able to hike right to us with ease due to that feature.

 

[gerardoxg]

It works awesome but like 204 said, not super fast. One cool thing about it is that it sends your location to the other person. This past September I was on a float hunt and dropped a caribou 3 miles off the river. We sent a text to my wife and best friend to come help us pack it out. They were able to hike right to us with ease due to that feature.

Awesome, thanks.


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[TBARR]

The inreach is NOT something that will replace your 2way radio. I've had my inreach take over an hour just to send/receive a message to a another inreach. It can be the same for sending to a regular cellphone. When it's all you have it's a peace of mind knowing I do have a way to communicate, but super frustrating waiting for the message to send/receive. I've sent my wife a text saying, I will be home in an hour and I've been home before she even received the message. I was totally disappointed to find out how long it takes to send receive messages. Sometimes it is quick 1-2 minutes, but it all depends on where the satellite is over head. I would say the normal is longer than 20 min.


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[gerardoxg]

I've had my inreach take over an hour just to send/receive a message to a another inreach. It can be the same for sending to a regular cellphone

Oh wow. I was thinking the latency would be in minutes not an hour. Have others also had hour long delays for messages to go through?



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[BeardandMane]

I just got one and was testing it before heading to the back country, my test messages took better part of a half hour to send.
I was also wondering if the in reach to in reach messages counted against your allowed number of messages depending on the plan selected.

 

[FlyGuy]

Yeah, it varies on the time to go thru, but it works excellent for me and my team. No, it’s not real time, do you really want to chit-chat? I don’t constantly check for new messages... because I’m hunting. I look at my phone all the time at home, that’s one of the main reasons I go hunting is to get unconnected and away from that phone. You are not going to use the garmin to guide someone into a bedded deer. But it works great for letting someone know you are on elk, have one down, will be late back to camp, etc, etc.


You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[ohoopee]

Very slow sometimes. Backcountry in the Appalachians I have had mine take
30 to 45 min in storms. Waited all night once for their weather report during a bad storm. May just work where you are going with open sky's but I definitely wouldn't suggest it in deep thick forests.

 

[204guy]

I've had it take over 3hrs for a message to be recieved. 30min- 1.5 hrs isn't uncommon.

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[gerardoxg]

But it works great for letting someone know you are on elk, have one down, will be late back to camp, etc, etc.

This is what I was thinking of using it for.


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[cnelk]

I dont know about the mini's and if you can set the 'listen' interval, I know I can on my full size unit to listen more or less frequent, or push 'Listen now'

That seems to help when I want faster communication

 

[robie]

I dont know about the mini's and if you can set the 'listen' interval, I know I can on my full size unit to listen more or less frequent, or push 'Listen now'

That seems to help when I want faster communication

This is what I was going to suggest. You can change it on the mini as well.

It will drain you battery quicker but you can have it constantly check or every hour or more.

 

[Terrancethelonghorn]

My mini sends and receives fairly quickly (~10-20 min), but like others have mentioned you need to either change the settings or manually have it check for messages.


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[muddydogs]

I would have to ask the guys claiming an hour plus what there listen interval was. When I need to be in communication with someone I make sure my listen interval is 5 minutes and I've not had an issue getting timely messages.

 

[ohoopee]

My listen interval is 20 minutes. I manually select listen for messages if I am expecting text. Regardless, I have had several times during storms where I have waited an hour for messages. I have had two occasions where message never went at all and had exclamation point in message the next day. One time waited for weather report all night. A great device and I love having it overall.

 

[204guy]

For full disclosure both my units are older SE that where purchased used. Both have had software updates. I think my listen intervals are set at 5 or 10 min. I've also known a message was sent and did the manual listen and not had the message come through.

For awhile, I was driving over the mountain for work a lot. I kept the inreach in the truck incase I went in the ditch. 1 day coming home there was a guy stuck in some little car so I stopped to help him. I fired up the inreach and sent my wife a message letting her know I'd be late. When I get back to service my phone lights up, wife never got the inreach message. She's pissed, I'm like wtf? When I got home I got on the computer and logged into my inreach account. The message showed up there as a sent message. So the message was sent and received by garmin, I could see it on my account but my wife hadn't received it. Something on either garmin or Verizon's end was holding that message up. It did finally come through about 3.5 hrs after I sent it and I was already at home.