satellite communications?

Anyone use these while out in the woods? Pros, cons? I am leaning towards the spotx.

I have an original Delorme (Now Garmin) In-Reach that pairs with my phone. It can send and receive text messages via the iridium satellite network and provides for real-time tracking for a nervous wife sitting at home who worries about your solo-trips. :rolleyes:

While totally irrelevant to me personally it also has the ability to post directly to your Facebook page.
 
I have an original Delorme (Now Garmin) In-Reach that pairs with my phone. It can send and receive text messages via the iridium satellite network and provides for real-time tracking for a nervous wife sitting at home who worries about your solo-trips. :rolleyes:

While totally irrelevant to me personally it also has the ability to post directly to your Facebook page.

Does it need cell service to send and receive messages and live track or just the sat link? My garmin 64s will receive texts and I can send live track links but it’s through one of the garmin apps on my phone and I need cell service, it works well when I have cell reception but I find I don’t rely on it much as service is hit or miss in my area. It’s just easier to tell the wife what area I’ll be in and which fsr I’ll be on if I know the names lol.

I’m usually not that far from home even when I am I the middle of nowhere, we’re the end of the road in most respects so getting to know he bush isn’t far.
 
Anyone use these while out in the woods? Pros, cons? I am leaning towards the spotx.

I recently picked up the Garmin InReach Mini sat communicator and I like it.
It is a pretty basic unit but works great. I'm just using it for communication when I'm out of cell range although you can use it for more than that if you want, ie. GPS tracking.
It is very compact and can Bluetooth pair with your cell phone. I like that you can pause the Garmin service contract for a few months if you like.

 
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Have used the spot, iridium sat phone, globalstar sat phone and Inreach. By far the best and most reliable is the inreach. Paired with iPhone can be used to send and receive messages. Carry an external battery for phone and inreach. Two weeks backpacking no problem.
 
No kidding? Huh, you learn something every day. We couldn’t get rid of our iridium phones fast enough.

Funny but we got rid of our Globalstar satellite phones because you could never depend on them The last straw was when Globalstar sent out a list of the best possible times to try and send a call on any given day. :rolleyes: The In-Reach communicators replaced the phones at a fraction of the cost.
 
I use SPOT Connect it’s old and outdated but works fine as a one way communicator. I use to link it to my FaceBook account but they have since removed that feature. I rarely go out of Cellular range so I doubt I’ll be renewing this fall. I seem to do that every other year or whenever I’ll be heading up north.
 
My inreach is great. Never had a problem sending or receiving messages with or without cell service. I can text or email anyone I want with it. I usually have a conversation via text at night with my wife when out solo and the preset emails you set up will include your gps coordinates in the email to whoever you send it to.
 
So Inreach needs an I-phone eh?

I'll hit up google and do some research ;)

Does it work just with Apple, or will it work with Android?

I have a blackberry Q10 but am due for a free phone upgrade. If an I-phone is better for use with this Garmin device I'll get an iPhone.

You just need the Garmin Earthmate App that is available for Android or Iphone. It works pretty good. I've only used it a couple times so far but it paired up to my Garmin InReach Mini with Bluetooth real quick.
 
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