?’s for Garmin InReach users

[Mike M]

I’ve sold my SPOT and am going to purchase a Garmin Explorer. Never had any issues with the SPOT, but the two way texting would be a godsend on an event like the Bob Marshall Open (and elk hunting as well).

A couple questions if I may.

I’m looking at the plan choices and think I could probably get away with the cheaper plan, but if I understand it correctly it doesn’t allow real time tracking?  Or it does at 10 cents a point?  I found real time tracking handy with the SPOT and I think it’s valuable in an emergency if for some reason you can’t push the SOS- you have a nice cracker crumb trail to where you’ve been. Kind of fun for folks sitting at home watching too.

Related to the above- does real time tracking eat battery life up much?  The SPOT could go weeks in that mode.

More questions on battery life. No replaceable battery, can you get 5-7 days out of the Explorer?  If so what do I need to do (and not do) to get this kind of battery life?

Is there a good option for a backcountry recharge- how big of a charger would make sense for a week long trip?

I don’t see myself using the GPS navigation a lot, more of a backup to Gaiagps. Does the gps use up much juice?  I’m guessing in gps tracking mode it would?

Thanks in advance and feel free to add any other information you feel is pertinent.

 

Thanks in advance

Mike

[BlackHatGuy]

On the most basic plan, yes, you pay a dime for each tracking point sent. I use the next higher plan which has unlimited tracking points.

You’ve got options for tracking that can save battery life (other than turning it off). You can have a send interval of 10, 20 or 30 min., and 1, 2, or 4 hours. Less sending equals more battery life, of course. Separately, you can have a log interval of 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, or 30 seconds, and 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes. Again, less equals more. There’s also settings called extended tracking and auto track, but i’ve never used those and don’t remember what they do.

I’ve got mine set for 10 min. send interval, and 5 second log interval, which is way overkill, especially since I’m so slow. :-) I have bluetooth turned on most of the time, which also uses more battery. And I send 2-4 texts at night chatting with my brother. I don’t use it as a gps device at all (I use Gaia for that), so I can’t comment on that. I turn it off at night.

With all that I get between 2-3 days out of a full charge. On an 8-day trip in the Sawtooths, I only had to charge it once (I wasn’t texting much on that trip). I imagine you could get 5-7 days easy enough by limiting texting, turning off bluetooth (I have it on for texting purposes through the phone, much easier than texting on the device itself), setting a higher send interval and log interval.

Despite the derision from some BPL anal types, I like my electronics. So I have my Explorer, my phone, and sometimes my Airpods and an iPod nano when backpacking. I don’t remember exactly which Mophie battery I used to take, but it wasn’t all that large to recharge everything when needed (less than 8000 mAh if I recall correctly). These days I have a battery case on my iPhone, which works well for not a lot of extra weight.

One thing to remember (which I didn’t realize the first time I used my old inReach SE), when you turn it off, it stops tracking. You must start tracking in the morning, simply turning it back on doesn’t start tracking.

Hope that all helps.

[Arthur]

I have an SE, therefore no GPS navigation.  30 minute tracking uploads, 30 minute check for messages, no bluetooth because I take this instead of a phone, Several texts in evening to get weather forecasts and tell folks back home arrived in camp. 99% precomposed messages. only powered on while moving.   I get almost exactly 100 hours.  I can watch the battery % almost exactly match the hours used.  Less than 6 days, never take a battery to recharge it anymore. If i am not solo, i do not even turn it on until getting to camp.  It could last 100 days for me in that usage mode.   If i think i will be less than 50% charge anytime, take something to recharge it because if i really need it in an emergency, the battery goes down faster with back and forth messages.  I keep waiting for a model with a keyboard that is not from 1990, but not sure that will happen with Garmin.

[Mike M]

good info gents!

Doug- if I understand you correctly- it will log at certain interval, but but you’re able to send that data at different interval, so you can get rather detailed logs (tracks), just anyone watching has to wait a bit to see them?

 

[BlackHatGuy]

Not completely sure Mike, but with my settings, someone following along at home sees the 10-minute interval send, but not the 5 second log interval. When I get back home and sync, then the rest of the log is put on the map, if that makes sense.

[BlackHatGuy]

About the weather texts, I don’t use the built in weather texts from Garmin, instead I text a site that some guy has and that automatically sends you a text back with the weather. Doesn’t cost anything, though he does take donations to keep the site running.

[Arthur]

For the weather, i use both the built in and the guy’s if I am going over a pass,  totally exposed for a time period or something serious.   I find that if they agree, then i can sort of count on the reports.  So many times both of them miss the mark in the back country far from a city.

[Mike M]

Doug- that makes sense- thanks

does this guy do US wide weather?  linky?  thanks

[Arthur]

https://wx2inreach.weebly.com/

[Matthew / BPL]

I can’t answer all of the questions from the OP but I can add a couple data points about how I use my InReach SE:

1. I have it set to upload my position every 2 or 4 hours. Honestly I don’t remember which.
2. I send a couple preset texts a day.
3. I often send another custom text or two.
4. I turn it off at night.
5. I go through less than 20% of my battery/day.

Good point above about having battery left in case of an emergency where you actually had to use it to send messages back and forth.

Important point about the InReach as backup GPS. The SE will give you your current GPS coordinates. You can use that to confirm location on a paper map that has a GPS grid overlay. Given that A) I use on paper maps as my primary source of navigation, B) Have GaiaGPS on my phone and C) can get a GPS coordinate on the SE, I didn’t see a good reason to buy the Explorer version.

Final observation on the InReach. The interface is atrocious! Don’t plan on easily sending texts off to people from it unless you pair it via BT to a cell phone (thereby draining the battery of the InReach and phone much more quickly). It’s not an issue for me because I don’t really want to communicate with the outside world other than a quick message confirming to my wife confirming that everything is okey dokey.

[Mike M]

thanks for the link- should prove helpful :

yeah don’t plan on too much texting- will probably have one preset  that’s basically “everything’s OK”, one that’s “going to be late” and one that’s “change of plans”

it’s the last one that would lend itself to two way texting ie “bailing, pick me up at X trailhead” and hopefully don’t have to use that one much :)

 

[Graham F]

I have the safety plan as well and would love just to use the odometer sometimes. Also the dark sky weather basic when I used it was very accurate in Australia. Also tab on the time and you get a detailed report for that time.

I am sure I have to pay for the odometer don’t I? Any way I can do it? Can anybody confirm? Thanks

Also 2 hours to full charge is right on mine.

PS yes the 1980s interface  ha ha, for those that can remember those old phones.

[J R]

This feedback is in line with my experience as well (SE, last pre-Garmin model). I check messages each morning, 1-2 during the day and then at least once in the evening but send usually only in the evening and one “hitting the trail now” message in the morning. I use it more for checking in at home than home checking in on me. Don’t have bluetooth on, I believe I have it set to send tracking points every 20 min, turn it off overnight.

On a week-long trip, all electronics are charged up at the start, and I take an Anker 10k mAh battery bank and charge a few devices, and the Anker lasts the whole way. I usually charge a device when the battery is down in the 20-25% range, but sometimes I’ll top it off from 50%. The InReach gets charged every 2-3 days, camera every 3-5 days, cell phone once, that’s all from the Anker (6.5oz with cable).

I haven’t Bluetoothed it to my phone, so for texting messages I’m still doing the over-over-over-over-over-down-enter to select each letter of each word, and yeah that sucks but I’ve minded it a lot less than I thought I would. It takes a little time, but there’s plenty of that once it’s dark in camp. The InReach does have a predictive text function (suggests words based on what you’ve started to type), and that can be a big help. Keep in mind that the predictive text is OK for everyday words but it’s not tuned at all to backpacking — you can type “getting on the t-r-a-i…” and it will predict you want to type “train” not “trail”.

I use a true PLB for short trips near where I live and use the InReach for longer trips where I just can’t be out of touch with what’s going on back home for days on end. Since those trips only happen once or twice a year, I have the Recreation service (40 messages/month) on the Monthly Freedom plan that allows me to turn the subscription on and off. Works really well for me to be able to buy just one month of service for $35 when I need it, unlimited tracking points and a decent number of messages.

[Matthew / BPL]

OMG seriously they could have done a much better job with the predictive text. They clearly didn’t think to sort the predicted words with a bias towards outdoor activities. It’s infuriating.

[Seth R]

Great tips an info. Just picked one up for some bigger trips I will be doing this year. Set it up on Sunday. My usage will mirror what JR is doing. I will continue to use my PLB locally. I got the plain SE because of all the reasons stated above.

[Rex Sanders]

My inReach SE experience similar to J R’s. 10 minute tracking, check and reply to messages morning and evening, occasional weather reports from https://wx2inreach.weebly.com, turn it off at night. Remember to turn on the device and tracking the next day!

I get about 6 days that way before I drop tracking and reduce message checking to save battery. At ~10%, I let home know the device is off unless it’s an emergency at my end.

In my tests, the % battery remaining drops unpredictably, varying by a factor of 2.5+ under similar conditions. “Extended tracking” helps a lot. Planned to carry a small USB battery for top-offs, but Amazon just recalled it :-(

Switched to the Monthly Freedom / Recreation plan last year to save money. When active, it comes with 40 messages per month and unlimited tracking.

— Rex

[J R]

P.S. There also are settings for screen brightness and how long screen stays on after last button press that will affect battery life.

[Mike M]

Anyone know what size charger is needed to get a close to full charge?

I have a 2600 mah (BD Ember)- gives me a full charge on my iPhone 6, but guessing it might be a little short for the Inreach????

 

 

[BlackHatGuy]

“P.S. There also are settings for screen brightness and how long screen stays on after last button press that will affect battery life.”

Yeah, forgot to mention that. I’ve got my screen set to 25% brightness, and it’s still plenty bright enough unless I’m in direct sunlight.

[Martin D]

I use mine with 10 mins tracking intervals too. I have the brightness set to minimum and use bluetooth all the time. It’s much easier to text this way (5-15 a day). I don’t want to fiddle with the arrows in an emergency unless I have to. I have the ringer on for incoming messages and keep the inreach in an OR waterproof pouch clipped to my shoulder strap. Turn it off at night. It’s good for 4-5 days this way for me, which matches my hiking phone’s battery life.

[Mike M]

just so I understand- referring to 10 minute tracking is how often the unit send an update out for folks to look at?

Versus logging rate which is stored in the unit until downloaded at home?

I’m guessing that the logging rate also impacts battery life?  What’s a reasonable rate for it?

 

Thanks

[BlackHatGuy]

“just so I understand- referring to 10 minute tracking is how often the unit send an update out for folks to look at? Versus logging rate which is stored in the unit until downloaded at home?”

I don’t really know for sure, sorry, but that’s how it has played out for me, at least that’s how it seems to play out.

[Mike M]

no problem, someone else might know- I can call too

I did answer one of my questions- looks like the Explorer battery is 2900 mah, so a 6000 mah charger should be plenty (have seen several in the 4-5 ounce range)

[Greg Mihalik]

Keep in mind that you don’t have to keep tracking turned on. Like SPOT, it can be just an emergency communicator.

If there is a potential for problems I keep the tracking on so people will know where to start looking, eventually.  Otherwise I just send a preset “All is Well” morning, noon, and night.

[Mike M]

^ the tracking is pretty nice for folks to follow along and as you say, a pretty good idea if an emergency were to occur and unable to get a message out for what ever reason

it sounds like keeping the tracking intervals relatively reasonable still gives you pretty good life

[Author]

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