Garmin InReach Refresh

Dang… UP goes the price again…..wonder if it’s lighter. I really wish that they had made the screen bigger.

Looks like they now weigh 7.5oz up from about 6.8 on previous versions.

Hmm…anyone see any improvements? IMO, the biggest problems with the InReach v1 are the bulk and slow typing. Now it’s even heavier and the typing looks the same.

Maybe the screen is a bit nicer?

Demorme on screen maps in the pricier version.

what I want to know: will I be able to get the old version on the cheap?

If I sell you my older one to buy the new one perhaps?

Crap, going backwards. Things should be getting smaller and lighter. Electronics usually come down in price.    Still want one…

As satellite communicators, both the inReach SE+ and Explorer+ offer identical messaging capabilities. However, it’s on the GPS navigation side that their differences become apparent. While inReach SE+ uses GPS to provide basic grid navigation and allow you to drop waypoints, mark key locations, track your progress, and follow a breadcrumb trail back to base – the inReach Explorer+ goes a step beyond, providing full-fledged GPS on-map guidance with preloaded TOPO mapping and waypoint routings viewable directly on the unit. Plus, a built-in digital compass, barometric altimeter and accelerometer are included with Explorer+ to help you get and maintain accurate bearings anywhere on or off the beaten path.

It seems like, with the ubiquity of smart phones, that something like the discontinued Spot Connect would be the route to go: No screen, very few buttons, just satellite communication, and pairs with a phone for sending and receiving messages.

I’m sure you could come up with contingency cases where having a dedicated communicator is useful, but with a rugged case and battery pack, couldn’t you get all you need for less money and weight, assuming you already own and would bring the phone anyway?

yeah, with an iphone (or whatever), many of the inreach functions are unnecessary, and work much better on the phone to begin with. a “mifi”-type device, but for satellite not cellular, sounds perfect. i hadn’t heard of the spot connect. does it work well?

I’ve got no experience with Spot Connect, nor any satellite communicator, but reviews of the Connect aren’t favorable. So while it itself may not have been a great product, I like the concept of it: an outdoors-oreinted hotspot but with satellite instead of cellular.

General purpose satellite hotspots do exist, but they are expensive, not particular light (over 10 ounces for the Iridium Go), and require expensive plans. These look geared towards sailors and yacht owners, whose budget and available leisure time vastly exceed the average backpacker’s.

Yes, if you are already carrying your phone a screen less device makes sense.   I took my phone on a trip for the first time this past summer.

@katherine Got my SE for $200 a couple of weeks ago by combining a Backcountry.com holiday discount + Active Junkie cash back + no tax/shipping. Keep an eye out, retailers will be offloading their stock soon.

Spot Connect is only one-way, only sends but can’t receive messages, right?

If you go out of cell phone signal regularly then inreach is a fantastic product, mainly for the sense of security it gives to friends and family. Also very good as an emergency beacon.

You could argue that the new product is too expensive, but personally I think it is a fantastic device.

Looks like they have made a significant improvement to the screen size.  The screen is slightly larger and higher resolution than my Etrex 30.  Looks good to me and with built in topo, it seems to be the unit I’ve been waiting for.  Not cheap but any GPS with maps is pricey and so what do you expect when you add satellite communication to a mapping GPS.

Would be nice if they offered a third option doing just what we want paired with a smartphone.

The screen size looks a little larger, but it looks like it still has same clunky interface.  If one just uses it for emergencies it may be fine(though I wouldn’t want to use the Inreach keypad if I needed to provide a lot of information on the situation, that’d take forever), but if one is doing a lot of communicating with the outside world it’s so much easier using a phone. And if you’re using the phone for messaging you’re going to use the phone screen for topo maps, routing and interfacing.  I have the Inreach Explorer and if I had to use it by itself without the phone I’d go crazy.

Ken T, the Inreach can be paired easily with any smart phone, you just need to download the Earthmate App.

Yeah, I know. You miss my point. A third option with just basic screen function that would be smaller and lighter that was designed to be used primarily paired with a smartphone. Not a stand alone device that also pairs with a phone. We want the same thing.

Phones are fragile.  Phone batteries are tiny.  Pairing two devices complicates things and doubles (at least) the odds of something breaking before I need to call for help.

Disclaimer:  I don’t carry any kind of emergency beacon, but if I did, I’d want it to be bomber and bonehead simple to use when my arm is broken and one eye is swollen shut.

I hear you. I carry a PLB. But the two way communication, ability to get maps/gps could be nice. Especially in a light package. I think there is enough interest for the market to bear both kinds of product.

garmin is (i think) known primarily for their maps and gps navigation. i’m just spitballing, but for this reason alone they may be unlikely to make a new device that utilizes neither. which is a shame. apps like gaia are great and getting better all the time. modern phone operating systems are so much better than whatever delorme/garmin can cook up, and are interfaces that most of us use all the time already and know intimately. i think they’d have a popular product on their hands with a smaller, lighter, two-way bluetooth satellite box.

…what do you expect when you add satellite communication to a mapping GPS.

I’d like the option to just have a nice satellite communicater with no mapping GPS. The regular InReach gives me my coordinates and that’s all the GPS I ever want.

Perhaps the large screen for the new InReach Explorer makes sense, but the regular InReach should be getting smaller each generation like the Spot has.

I was happy with just having my gps coordinates from my inReach SE when it was the latest and greatest.  I upgraded from the original inReach that didn’t have a screen and relied on a phone for communication (it was like carrying a brick).

When the Explorer came out with a built in GPS, that allowed for waypoint and track upload and download, it was an easy decision for me to move on to the Explorer.  While I suspect this feature is unappreciated by most users, it’s really important to me.  Adding mapping is of less importance to me but after the new Explorer+ has proven itself (to be reliable), I’ll probably move up to that model.   My only concern is (driven by past experience), that when Garmin introduces a significant new gadget, it takes a while for them to work out the bugs.