fkajwg
formerly known as ...
Good point here which means differences in stand alone functionality then comes into play
Any use the Garmin InReach?
- Thread starter Jerry Daschofsky
- Start date
I've tended to use my Inreach devices (none were the mini units) unpaired with my smartphone....uses more battery for both if paired and really wanted to learn to effectively use all of my Inreach devices' features. I don't send out or receive frequent or complex text messages...and during my working years nobody at my job even knew I had satellite communication capability. Only used it to communicate with family.
My Garmin bike computers (which have full on board mapping and GPS capability) will also bluetooth to my Inreach but I don't pair those either. Gets WAY too complicated to bother with! My watch connects to my smartphone and too many interconnected devices becomes a non-stop tangle of incessant beeps and vibration notifications.
Last edited:
I have the Explorer+, so I use this one - https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/566397/#devices
G_Smolt
Legend
For y'all with battery concerns when pairing inreach devices with smartphones, here's a few things I've learned in the last 12 years...
1) if you have a full-size inreach, turn your screen brightness to 10%. That alone will add days (yes, DAYS) to your battery. My DeLorme unit (14yrs old) uses about 10-12% battery with a couple msgs and a couple pings in 12hrs. As you get closer to full discharge, or if you keep your screen on 100%, the burn rate will get faster.
2)turn your smartphone radio off and put it in airplane mode after pairing. That will keep your phone battery charged, as it won't constantly be looking for signal.
This is default for me, as the whole reason I own an InReach is because my local cell coverage sucks and any time I fly to something fun away from town, I get ZERO reception. Use your best judgement.
3) buy a good, lightweight battery bank, familiarize yourself with its use, charge it, vaccum-pack it with its cord, and keep it in your pack. Check it midway through the season to make sure it is ready to go, then repack it. When you need it, it can be a lifesaver.
1) if you have a full-size inreach, turn your screen brightness to 10%. That alone will add days (yes, DAYS) to your battery. My DeLorme unit (14yrs old) uses about 10-12% battery with a couple msgs and a couple pings in 12hrs. As you get closer to full discharge, or if you keep your screen on 100%, the burn rate will get faster.
2)turn your smartphone radio off and put it in airplane mode after pairing. That will keep your phone battery charged, as it won't constantly be looking for signal.
This is default for me, as the whole reason I own an InReach is because my local cell coverage sucks and any time I fly to something fun away from town, I get ZERO reception. Use your best judgement.
3) buy a good, lightweight battery bank, familiarize yourself with its use, charge it, vaccum-pack it with its cord, and keep it in your pack. Check it midway through the season to make sure it is ready to go, then repack it. When you need it, it can be a lifesaver.
fkajwg
formerly known as ...
If you turn the airplane mode back off, so radios on, does it come back paired, or do you need to pair or reconnect it again.
Jay
fkajwg
formerly known as ...
I also use mine unpaired and take all steps to conserve battery usage rate.
But, what happens when there is an actual emergency?
Yes you can do the SOS and it will send your location, and get authorities or search and rescue started.
I always create presets w key personal information, and if on an organized trip I have a preset made to state the trip, dates, outfitter and their contact info.
But beyond that it’s going to be hard to provide specific up to date incident info and replies, unless you pair it up. So I think it’s wise to know how to pair it up easily and perhaps practice once each day on a trip.
In other events I have learned that I don’t respond the way I think I might if I have not actually been trained and practiced. Training is key in emergency situations.
fkajwg
formerly known as ...
I agree about the 10%. If you turn down your zero you got nothing after dark
With an unpaired mini (I only have the full screen version) it would be difficult for updates and communication...but with the large full screen Inreach units you just use the on-board keypad and don't need to 'pair-up' with a smartphone. I also have preset messages.
I have my Inreach paired with my iphone. I conserve battery life in the wilderness by turning them both on once a day when I send a text message home. In an actual emergency I would leave them both turned on so I could communicate with Garmin and SAR with more detail.
I tend to leave my Garmin Inreach Explorer on the entire time I'm in the sticks because in an emergency I wouldn't want to waste time waiting for it to 'boot up' after turning on (though it's pretty fast), and especially when I'm afoot because I use its mapping and GPS waypoint functions. Even left on it only uses about 10% per day. On really extended (or potentially extended) I carry a fully charged lithium battery pack that provides plenty of power for both the smartphone or the Inreach.
It's important to note that carrying a GPS (along with a compass and map) makes it quite apparent how rapidly one can get 'turned around' in the 'non-urban' world! I always establish an initial waypoint when I leave my vehicle....at minimum I'm able to take different routes back to to my point of origin.
So very true. Litterally have gotten turned around twice. Once around 1990 on the return route on a backbacking trip in the N. Cascades. It was kind of foggy, and I pointed out to my partner, "That looks just like the big boulder we passed after leaving the lake." It was the same boulder; we had litterally hiked in a circle. So I got out my map and compass and took bearings on the farthest tree I could see in the fog, hike to it and repeat until we finally dropped beneath the fog layer. Another time on the OP I came upon a creek that looked very similar to one I crossed shortly after leaving my car. Cuz it was the same creek! By this time I had a GPS, so I got it out of my pack and turned it on and followed my route using that instead of my directional instinct.
I was on a crew cruising timber in rolling redwood country with foggy, rainy, miserable weather.
There were ten of us on the crew and I was the rookie forester that drew the short straw to run a compass line back to where the truck SHOULD be parked. It was an HOUR walk through the woods.
I took a compass bearing and starting pacing. I was sure that I passed the same STUMP three times in that hour, but kept with my line. I was pretty sure my professional career was going to end then and there when nine cold,wet, hungry, and pissed off foresters gave up on me!!!
I walked right into the truck!!! Thank god.
fkajwg
formerly known as ...
A key part of what i was going to teach about the inreach, especially the mini, was setting the coordinates units of the device to the same units as the axes or grid on your paper maps.
I create maps on cal topo with blue grid of UTM coordinates. With my coordinates from the GPS on the device set to UTM, I could locate myself pretty closely on the paper map.
Paper maps and compass are important !
Good point! No handheld device can provide the kind of wide-ranging detailed info found on a good topo map.
Years ago, I was buying a life jacket from a little kayak shop and got into a discussion about water safety and reliance on technology. He talked about being able to handle situations and assumed that the technology, cell phone, gps, whatever wasn't expected to work so you had to be able to take care of yourself and whomever you were with. Now, with better signals, EPIRB, GPS, satellite phones, cell phones, etc. it's different but the same principle applies.
He said he didn't even take his cell phone, as it most likely wouldn't work anyway, but this was 15 years or so ago. I have since replaced the life jacket I couldn't find, but assume self rescue or at least the mindset is key when you really get out there. Even with the world becoming a smaller place... Cheers! Stay safe!
He said he didn't even take his cell phone, as it most likely wouldn't work anyway, but this was 15 years or so ago. I have since replaced the life jacket I couldn't find, but assume self rescue or at least the mindset is key when you really get out there. Even with the world becoming a smaller place... Cheers! Stay safe!
The reliance on gps devices is making paper maps more difficult to obtain. I have old ones of most places I need to go, they don’t show new roads, but at least I can see where the lines get really close together and plan my route accordingly. Hard to see that on a map just a little bigger than a business card. I am, admittedly, a dinosaur, but having owned two gps devices, both garmin, I found them to be fun toys, but ultimately not worth the trouble to use/carry.
I was just thinking of getting a new Apple Watch, and I see they have satellite connectivity for emergency comms. Has anyone got any real world experience with these? I like my current Apple Watch, and would be carrying it anyway, software is intuitive and easy to use, claimed battery life is 42hrs.
I was just thinking of getting a new Apple Watch, and I see they have satellite connectivity for emergency comms. Has anyone got any real world experience with these? I like my current Apple Watch, and would be carrying it anyway, software is intuitive and easy to use, claimed battery life is 42hrs.
15 years ago salt water would destroy a cellphone. My iPhone is water tight enough that I’m not the least bit afraid to use it out on the salt, and rinse it under the tap when I get in. I put C-maps on it download the area I’m in. Put it in airplane mode so the battery lasts.
On land I use avenza maps. The map store is clunky but all but the most recent usgs maps are free to download, and the information you can see is pretty good.
I can print maps from my Gaia subscription and Garmin Base Camp on 8x10 waterproof paper. The ink is now more water resistant after drying than when "ink jet" printers first came out but I still carry them in a plastic bag or waterproof map pouch with a compass when going into unfamiliar areas.
My rather large Garmin watch contains maps I used with my Garmin GPS but find the "maps" so small they are pretty useless for navigating or even checking my current elevation. I have always carried an altimeter along with a map and compass. I use the map on my phone that displays my position instantly and is easy to zoom for getting my currrent elevation to quickly calibrate the barometric altimeter on the watch at every discernable landmark, including the trail itself.
*adding, the altimeter has been a tremendous help in finding my exact location on a map when I am on a trail and/or my vision is obstructed by trees, fog, blowing snow... so I can't triangulate on distant landmarks.
Be careful. My last Samsung phone was supposedly IP68 rated and it leaked and was ruined after losing my balance and sitting down in calf deep water with the phone on a lanyard around my neck in a non-waterproof case. Now I put my phone in an IP68 waterproof case every time I'm going into the water.
Last edited:
The last phone I had destroyed by salt was a Samsung also. Salt got in through the poorly designed power port. I am on my third IPhone and have much more confidence in the design of the case. So far no problems.
