satellite phone or in reach gps

[Chugaglug]

We took iridium and Inreach to north brooks range last year, both worked great.

 

[CentOregon60]

Thank you all for the great info on this topic!

 

[lamp_ak]

InReach all day! My transporter last year said he prefers texts because of the ease of communication rather than a broken sat phone call

 

[Jackal7]

One note on sat phones, which for full disclosure I own an Irridium. If you call your wife, partner, spouse, kid etc. on their cell phones, you generally just pay the per minute rate, around $1.79 depending on your service and plan. The person receiving your call does not get charged...However, if they call you on their cell phones, and even if you are in the lower 48, Canada, or Alaska, standing there swatting bugs and looking at the nice remote North American scenery, you will be charged overseas call rates that are upwards of $6-$10 per minute. For some reason, the routing of calls to sat phones treats it as an overseas call. Trust me. You will get a huge bloody cell phone bill if you are paying the family cell account. Fair warning. Just paid one after my wife called me twice on a remote Canada trip to ask about landscaping. So, be prudent.

 

[Rocky]

with the iridium sat network you don't have to read a sat schedule to make a phone call.

I bet I InReach texted back and forth with our air charter service 25 times on a Caribou Hunt. We were going to get picked up after another party got dropped off. Ceiling was originally very low on our side of the mt range. When it lifted enough I texted him and he took off. Almost as easy as texting with my wife when we go separate directions on a shopping trip in town. They really likes the written info to fall back to.

Bet the Sat phone is handy too but heavy, expensive and a bit of a pain to read satellite schedules and wait for service prior to use....was not my phone, rather a friend was calling out a few yrs ago after a sheep hunt in BC. Looked like a pain, especially when the call dropped a few times.

 

[VernAK]

Last week InReach screwed up and blocked messages to ATT cell phones. Fortunately we were mostly communicating with Chris and she had Vorizon. InReach recognizes the screw up and is working a fix..

 

[Voyageur]

Used inreach for the first time this year and liked it much better than the sat phone. Was more convenient for me. Also really like the fact that at the end of my hunt I still have a communication device for future use vs handing the sat phone back to whoever I rented it from and having nothing but a lighter wallet.
Regarding the ATT bungle, it was nice to be able to switch to the flight service’s e-mail to contract them.

 

[Short Track]

I have the inreach for SOS only. It stays in my backpack.

 

[JakeMcCandles]

Used an InReach Explorer this year on an Alaskan drop Caribou hunt and it worked great. I'll definitely use it on my next Alaska trip. Twincedar above laid it out well. The only additional point I'd add is that the InReach Explorer serves as GPS as well, so a good primary or back up map. I used it for my primary while others used OnX.

 

[LanceS4803]

I have a co-worker that is a serious backpacker, as in weeks at a time in places like Brooks or the Bob Marshall. Only takes an InReach.

 

[PA Hunter]

I have the newer Garmin GPSMAP 66i inreach no need for a cell works great. Get one a few months before any trip there is a learning curve.

 

[LanceS4803]

I have the newer Garmin GPSMAP 66i inreach no need for a cell works great. Get one a few months before any trip there is a learning curve.

And the price, around $570, really isn't that bad.

 

[spin05]

Dont bother with the sat phone. Our pilot uses a in-reach. So we never heard from him

 

[Larry Bartlett]

Both have worked and inreach efficacy has improved drastically in 10 years. For me it comes down to "what if" scenarios we all hate to think about. If any one of those nightmares of logistics or loss of life occur, Inreach doesn't give me emotional and intellectual satisfaction to properly and timely address the current sit report.

Most of my clients take an inreach, I use a sat phone.

 

[AKBorn]

Both have worked and inreach efficacy has improved drastically in 10 years. For me it comes down to "what if" scenarios we all hate to think about. If any one of those nightmares of logistics or loss of life occur, Inreach doesn't give me emotional and intellectual satisfaction to properly and timely address the current sit report.

Most of my clients take an inreach, I use a sat phone.

Same here Larry. In the AK backcountry lots of stuff can happen, and immediate 2-way conversation still has value to me. I'll be carrying a sat phone on my trips, just like always.