Delorme Inreach

[Sakoman]

Anyone use this product, any pro's or con's on the unit? Is there something better available?

[Prairiewolf]

Originally Posted by Sakoman

Anyone use this product, any pro's or con's on the unit? Is there something better available?

I have one and use it extensively for hiking and hunting purposes. I believe it to be the best tool of its kind, and my wife likes knowing I'm ok when afield.

Pros:easy to set up and maintain, awesome online ability to build routes and waypoints, can use to communicate your location to fellow hunters if required, good battery life, GPS and "spot locator" in one unit.

Cons: expensive to purchase, plus the monthly plan fees (although these can be reduced for off season periods), best used in conjunction with your mobile phone and Earthmate app.

If you just want a GPS you don't need this. If you want the communication ability in addition to GPS, this is ideal.

[katts69]

Incredible unit. I have the old one that I pair with my phone. Leave tracking on for our sheep hunt. Shut it off at night. Batteries last forever. Can check in with the wife and kids every morning and night. Great peace of mind.

[300magman]

As the 2 above me have said, it's a great unit worth every penny. You won't be disappointed if you buy one. Battery life is great too, and saves having to pack a comm and gps device separately. Cuts down on weight and pack space used.

[Headdamage]

I have one though work and it is great, much better and more useful than a spot. I even like it better than the work sat phone, much easier to use and works when the phone doesn not.

[old dog]

Great unit. I love the tx function. WO it I wouldn't have been able to reach my other son to help pack out my sheep last year. Lot cheaper than a sat phone and a sat phone plan. I thought $35 / mon wasn't too bad and then drop it to $5/mon during off season. Spent a lot more money on the other gear. Lol.
We still have a Spot which still comes in handy

[Jcbargholz]

Agreed with the comments above,

Its been great, very reliable and WATERPROOF. Has seemed to be kinda finicky during heavy fog and in heavy tree cover, but in the open it works great.

[Jjolg123]

Yup love mine, and although it is costl i like that its flexible as far as shutting it down during non use seasons.

I use mine paired with the smartphone and i do notice that when i send texts the person receiving will often receive 3 to 6 of the same text all at once.

This is only a issue if your the limited texting plan but still somewhat annoying

[Peter Gill]

Love mine. I have an older model, use it in my airplane, kayak, hiking, fishing, climbing. Sent a lot of messages on it from Nepal on behalf of myself & others after the 2014 cyclone, and again after the earthquake.

Thinking of upgrading since I can get a pro deal on the new one, might be selling my older one if you're looking & short of cash. Also have a SPOT Gen1 if you think you want at least something and can't afford the newest & shiniest. Willing to let it go for a really good price, like maybe nothing if it's going to a good home.

[GasGas]

Have the Inreach SE. Have used it all over the world. Tracking and texting to and from via the Earthmate app on my phone was excellent in every case except one..Had it freeze up once.

Would not turn on. Was far from civilization and had to ignore it for the rest of the trip. Came home and researched the fault. Turns out there is a 'soft reset' you can do by pressing certain buttons for a certain amount of time. The soft reset worked. I etched those steps into the body of mine with a soldering iron to prevent 'the next time'.

I believe the new model (orange one) had a map display on it too..not needed if you have a modern smart phone (since in the Earthmate app, you can download the maps you need for your area)

Not needed if you already know where you are. Why pay more for the new model if you already carry a smart phone?

[Okotokian]

How does t work as a GPS? Can it effectively replace both my Garmin GPS and my SPOT? The In Reach website doesn't seem to say much about GPS possibilities. I have Alberta backroad maps on my GPS so have access to maps with WMU's, hiking and skiing trails, water bodies. Does In Reach have that. And I guess I still have to pack two devices as I have to bring my cell phone along, and depend on BOTH of them working to keep in touch or call for help. No?

[Headdamage]

It will tell you your coordinates but but does not have a map. To use it as a normal gps with a map you need to link it with a smart phone but even then I do not find that it replaces my Garmin.

[Jadham]

Originally Posted by Okotokian

How does t work as a GPS? Can it effectively replace both my Garmin GPS and my SPOT? The In Reach website doesn't seem to say much about GPS possibilities. I have Alberta backroad maps on my GPS so have access to maps with WMU's, hiking and skiing trails, water bodies. Does In Reach have that. And I guess I still have to pack two devices as I have to bring my cell phone along, and depend on BOTH of them working to keep in touch or call for help. No?

My InReach, which I got as a Xmas gift 3 years ago, came as a boxset with both a GPS unit and the comm unit.

I don't know if you can upload a third party map system like the Backroads series, as I haven't tried. I rarely use the GPS for navigation, but put in my own waypoints as needed when on the ground.

[Jjolg123]

Originally Posted by Okotokian

How does t work as a GPS? Can it effectively replace both my Garmin GPS and my SPOT? The In Reach website doesn't seem to say much about GPS possibilities. I have Alberta backroad maps on my GPS so have access to maps with WMU's, hiking and skiing trails, water bodies. Does In Reach have that. And I guess I still have to pack two devices as I have to bring my cell phone along, and depend on BOTH of them working to keep in touch or call for help. No?

If you get the smartphone edition you can go view what the maps look like by downloading the earthmate app for your device thru play or apple store. If you phone craps out the main unit still works as a stand alone unit to signal sos and basic preset messages much like the spot. My favorite part of using it via my smartphone is the confirmation of delivery. Lets me sleep well before bed knowing it was received even if i got get a reply.

As far as getting your garmin maps onto the delorme gps/inreach unit im sure its possible there is a tough of conversion software out there but i haven't tried since i use my garmin rhino's for gps/radio.

[Prairiewolf]

Originally Posted by Jjolg123

If you get the smartphone edition you can go view what the maps look like by downloading the earthmate app for your device thru play or apple store. If you phone craps out the main unit still works as a stand alone unit to signal sos and basic preset messages much like the spot. My favorite part of using it via my smartphone is the confirmation of delivery. Lets me sleep well before bed knowing it was received even if i got get a reply.

As far as getting your garmin maps onto the delorme gps/inreach unit im sure its possible there is a tough of conversion software out there but i haven't tried since i use my garmin rhino's for gps/radio.

If a guy didn't want the option of the spot locator and email which the InReach provides, The Garmin Rhino could be the best GPS out there IMO. The InReach as a stand-alone GPS is suitable but not stellar.

[Pekan]

I received the Delorme Inreach as a Father's day gift. After getting home from a spring bear hunt way later than my wife expected me to.

A hunting buddy has one and she purchased based on his recommendation.

I really like the idea of it, send/rec texts anywhere, the i phone interface makes a gps not necessary (which is why I went and sold my Garmin GPSmaps62S).

But....here are the real issues i've had in the field:

Delayed text transmission. By like a week. : "going to be home around 11:30. See you then." Delivered a week late! That was delorme to cell phone.
Had another one delayed by about 20 hours. That was from delorme to delorme.

Spotty coverage in mountains. Not K2 either K-Country! Tombstone area. Unable to send/ rec messages to/from another delorme. Where the other guys delorme was communicating with cell phones in Calgary.

The track feature.....There are two options for laying a track (like a breadcrumb trail). Store on device only or on network. This is the one that really ****ed me off. Mine was set to store on device, but it send the info to the network and I was charged $.25 per recording interval! I got the bill and immediately went to device and checked settings. Took a photo of it, sent to delorme Canada. After a whole bunch of back and forth, the split the $200 bill with me. I said I'd pay the $100 this one time but if it happens again I'll tell visa to refuse the charges.

I told the Delorme customer service manager that I thought my hardware should be replaced. He squirmed around that and basically refused, giving some song and dance about them being just a distributor for Delorme US, bla, bla, bla.

Latest problem.....won't power down. it shuts off for a few minutes then powers right back up again.

Truthfully, I stopped carrying the thing in October. Can't be bothered. Between I hunter's built in map, and lots of foothills and k country having some cell coverage, I just haven't bothered with the darn thing.

So it came from Campers Village in Calgary. I'll be returning it this week. Might try and exchange if they'll do that.

I've not seen any negative press on this device from anyone else. So I'm assuming my hardware is defective. However my customer experience with this product has been very frustrating.

Anyhow, long story short, I have absolutley no confidence that if I were to press the sos button anything would happen!

And for the hardware cost and monthly fee charged, it's should cup your balls and tell you how awesome you are!!

Rant over.

[Bergerboy]

I am using a SPOT right now and am not overly impressed. I have heard similar stories about the I Reach. I am now researching a sat phone as I want to know for certain that I can reach someone when needed.