Delorme InReach rumors?

I just picked up an Explorer last month when it appeared there would be no new offerings before the (northern hemisphere) summer 2015. REI offered both models 25% off during their Anniversary sale, which – aside from a one-off rebate I saw through the Continental Divide Trail Association – was the first discount I've seen on either model. Right now there are rebates going on: $75 for the Explorer and $50 for the SE, so that suggests they've milked the early adopters and are now moving into mainstream market to maintain growth. My uneducated guess is the next generation models won't be out until October 2015 in time for Christmas, or – more likely – March 2016.

Let me stick my fingers in my ears now in case I'm told I'm wrong and regret my purchase of less than a month ago…

Answering my own question here, but I think you're right Stuart – the SE and the Explorer were both announced around March in their respective years… Doesn't seem like there is anything new this year, which is understandable since they're already leading the market in tech (IMO)..

The question now is whether the explorer is worth the extra $$.. I suspect not since I just bought a Garmin Epix, but I guess an extra mapping device never hurts…

Tech cycles are designed to perplex us, I guess. After three successive May releases of RX100 /mk II / mk III, Sony bowled a googly with the July release of the mk IV. So I guess anything could happen with the inReach models.

In my case I had been using a phone GPS so the extra $ for the Explorer made sense. I went with the annual service plan to encourage me to get out more often, rather than try to plan ahead for which months I thought I'd need it. First time out with the Explorer, with less than an hour of light left and nowhere suitable to pitch my shelter I lost the trail under knee-deep snow, and got disorientated in the trees. My standard gps app on the phone was useless, but the Earthmate app immediately registered the breadcrumb trail that the Explorer had been recording. I was able to backtrack to a suitable location and figure out where the trail had disappeared to the next morning. Meanwhile I sent a text from the Explorer to my wife to let her know where her bumbling husband was. That was priceless to me.

Yellow Brick 3 highly recommended. On the heavy side (10 oz) but ridiculously bomber and reliable with excellent usage plans and customer service. I leave out one Cliff bar to make up the weight difference. Bought one used off a yachting forum.

I have not heard of any new InReach models coming out soon, but a company rep recently stated that Delorme will be adding some exciting new features via software upgrades to existing Explorers (and maybe SE's, not sure). There doesn't seem to be any new info on Delorme's website about those, and I confess to not having performed an upgrade on my own unit yet this season. Soon, since it finally turned summer around here.

Hey Jeremy, why the YP over Delorme? Just the pricing model?

The YB3 also runs much longer on the internal battery than the inReach devices.

Richard Russell wrote an in-depth review of the YB3:
http://w5yk.squarespace.com

I compared a ridiculous number of similar devices a couple of years ago, see the comments for updates:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/satellite_communications_sotmr_part3.html

Since then I bought the inReach SE, which runs for about five days on internal battery in the real world.

— Rex

My InReach lasted 4+ days having it on 24/7 and using it just for SMS messaging (2-4 times a day). It lasted 2-3 days using tracking (default interval) for 12+ hours a day and SMS messaging 4-6 times a day and turning it off at night. I found that to be very acceptable for me and since I carry a battery brick for charging my phone it was easy to just toss in another USB cable and charge the InReach too if need be. ymmv