Garmin inReach Mini 2, Lightweight and Compact Satellite Communicator, Hiking Handheld, Orange - 010-02602-00

Been using this now for a while. Takes a little practice to understand the working side of this linked o my cell phone. Nothing more than expected for this technology. This is a great tool for anyone spending time in the back country. First, gives you comfort knowing you can send a message to let people know your status. With back country hunting, it has been the best tool to carry in years. When someone needs help to pack something out, you get the message and exact coordinates of where they are at.. Have done many late night trips in the dark to help with packing back to camp - all started with a message from this device, and then using that to hike directly to the individual..

This is old-school performance on high-tech equipment. I bought this for outdoor adventures in areas that have no cell coverage. It is functional, but you have to imagine that you are living in the 20th century to meet performance expectiations.First, the setup and activation took nearly 2 days. Yes, 2 days. I set up my account, put the InReach outdoors with full view of the sky, and then waited... and waited... finally after numerous power cycles, and more waiting, it activated. The instructions said that the long activation time is not an indication of normal performance. Yeah, right.Then I went camping in a remote area for a week. I sent a preset message, had InReach in full view of the sky, sitting on a small table. I waited... finally the message showed as Sent after 20 minutes. Not impressed. Other messages took anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to send; judging the replies was more difficult, but the quickest reply from a friend was about 30 minutes (this could have been due to the friend taking time to respond). Despite the slow performance, it never failed to send or receive a message.The subscription plans have Gotchas that are not advertised. The Freedom plan, aka "pay as you go" does not offer much Freedom. First, you have to pay $35 for each year you use the plan; so if you only use it one month every year, then it isn't $15, it's $50. And, contrary to what's advertised on the Garmin site, you DO get charged for the months that you do NOT use it (as of June 2022), I believe $5/mo. For those reasons, I just did the Annual plan. The short of it: For ONE month, you pay $105 over the course of a year - that's $105 for ONE MONTH of usage. For the Annual plan, you pay $178 over the year, which is $14.86 per month.For the type and amount of service you get, InReach can seem like a total rip-off. You need to decide for yourself if having 'service anywhere' justifies the cost. For me, it is, and it fits my budget.There are a few strong points of the Garmin InReach2 over other platforms. First, it is small. I mean tiny. It's easy to pack and carry, and you do not need anything else - no phone pairing required. Battery life is good, and it uses a built-in rechargeble battery. The phone app is decent, and you don't need service / internet to use it or pair it. Of course you need to have already downloaded the app, but that's obvious. The screen is small but easy to read, unless you have poor eye sight. Still, let's say you are older or farsighted and lose your reading glasses, the SOS button can be found and operated by feel, so there's always that.Some downsides: Preset messages require setup on a computer via the InReach portal. The rechargeable battery means that you can't use common batteries in a pinch, like AAAs or similar; and you need to have access to a USB-C charger.Complaints aside, if I knew all this before I bought it, I probably would have still bought it, mostly because I'm an electronics nerd.

i am a hunter of large pelagic fish and travel the west coast looking for them. this device lets me talk to my wife and friends and rescue services while on the ocean. i have used this in Mexican waters, at the Farallon's in San Francisco, and in my forest home. works as intended. if you dont like the fees, go without..

Easy to use. Cheaper than a sat phone.

I've had this inReach for over a month now and it's done great! The battery lasts seemingly forever and it connects very quickly to the Iridium network. There is a lot of talk about how iPhones now have satellite SOS functionality but you are limited based on your location if it actually connects to local emergency services. It also doesn't use the robust Iridium network like Garmin does.I use mine to keep in contact with my family when going into the mountains of Colorado with absolutely no issues. If you are going outdoors, buy an inReach mini. It will give you peace of mind and work flawlessly.