OT: Backcountry Satellite Communication Device

[Jeffreauxdawg]

I don't think I need a phone, but definitely someway to communicate in case of emergency in the mountains. We go in a couple times a week in the summer for hiking/kayaking/fishing. Winter snowmobiling will probably be fairly regular. And the drive to our town from the city is about 2 hours through lots of dead spots and it would be nice in case of a breakdown/accident late at night.

So I am looking at the Garmin in reach products. Can't decide between just a communication device or one with GPS and maps. I hear a lot of good things about onX. And I download maps from All Trails for hiking that work wonderfully. Doesn't seem like I need the maps and GPS, but wanted feed back from some of you with more hands on experience.

 

[Shmuley]

We use Garmin inReach Explorer. The plan we have lets us activate and deactivate between backpacking trips, which is handy.

 

[aTotal360]

I like onX. I also use a small solar battery pack and a carabiner to attach it to the top of my pack. I run the usb cable aLong side my camel back straw on my back strap. Someone in my group will always have a Spot X. I don’t own one though.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

I think the explorer is where I am leaning. The extra battery life alone is worth it, but how is the GPS?

 

[DotnotFeather Dawg]

I have used a inReach Explorer since 2017. Did a 7 day 6 night backpacking trip to Glacier NP in 2017….it was required by the wife before I got the approval to go. Kept it on during the hiking and turned it off at camp. I had to charge it up once during the trip on day 4 using a battery pack. Worked great and my Buddy was using it to text family as well. Sending/Receiving messages takes about a minute. Being able to turn the service off when not needed it awesome. Didn’t really use the maps but I had it dropping makers as we went. Getting weather reports was also nice.

ETA
Pairing it with the phone made it much easier to text.