Inreach Mini

Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

T8

Hi Everyone,

How do you use the mini? Does battery life allow for tracking during flight or is it a single text upon landing kind of thing?

Paying a subscription for something I wouldn't use except in an
emergency is high on my list.

None of my other emergency gear requires me to pay for the privilege of
having it sit in a bag.Â* I can be tracked via my transponder, ADS-B, my
phone if I have location services turned on, and probably my Flarm to a
lesser degree and I don't need to send text messages via satellite while
in flight.Â* Oh yeah...Â* I've got an old flip phone that will dial 911 if
there's a cell tower within range.Â* No charge!

And before starting off on how glider pilots are cheap, I like to think
that some glider pilots simply choose to spend their money on other goodies.

On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

T8

--
Dan, 5J

Inreach is useful in non-emergency situations when working phones are scarce. I used to arrange one retrieve last Summer, worked great. Service is $20 a month, $2 a month when suspended, in case this clears up any misconceptions about that.

Anyhow, I didn't mean this to be a thread about inreach service or inreach vs anything else. I am specifically interested in glider pilot experience with the Inreach Mini Device, which was new about last May or June.

best,
Evan / T8

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 10:41:03 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Paying a subscription for something I wouldn't use except in an
emergency is high on my list.

None of my other emergency gear requires me to pay for the privilege of
having it sit in a bag.Â* I can be tracked via my transponder, ADS-B, my
phone if I have location services turned on, and probably my Flarm to a
lesser degree and I don't need to send text messages via satellite while
in flight.Â* Oh yeah...Â* I've got an old flip phone that will dial 911 if
there's a cell tower within range.Â* No charge!

And before starting off on how glider pilots are cheap, I like to think
that some glider pilots simply choose to spend their money on other goodies.

On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

T8

--
Dan, 5J

On 2/6/19 5:39 AM, wrote:
Hi Everyone,

How do you use the mini? Does battery life allow for tracking during flight or is it a single text upon landing kind of thing?


They claim up to 50 hrs battery life at 10 minute tracking intervals.

I used on older inreach a couple of years ago when flying in a friend's
ASH-30mi.Â* At the time it was rather clumsy and error prone to use.Â*
Hopefully that has been cleared up.

The service charges you mentioned do, indeed, sound more reasonable than
I had imagined (my bad) and my wife does want to look into one before we
head out on our flying trip to Alaska.Â* Thanks for the info!

On 2/6/2019 9:08 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Inreach is useful in non-emergency situations when working phones are scarce. I used to arrange one retrieve last Summer, worked great. Service is $20 a month, $2 a month when suspended, in case this clears up any misconceptions about that.

Anyhow, I didn't mean this to be a thread about inreach service or inreach vs anything else. I am specifically interested in glider pilot experience with the Inreach Mini Device, which was new about last May or June.

best,
Evan / T8

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 10:41:03 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Paying a subscription for something I wouldn't use except in an
emergency is high on my list.

None of my other emergency gear requires me to pay for the privilege of
having it sit in a bag.Â* I can be tracked via my transponder, ADS-B, my
phone if I have location services turned on, and probably my Flarm to a
lesser degree and I don't need to send text messages via satellite while
in flight.Â* Oh yeah...Â* I've got an old flip phone that will dial 911 if
there's a cell tower within range.Â* No charge!

And before starting off on how glider pilots are cheap, I like to think
that some glider pilots simply choose to spend their money on other goodies.

On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

T8
--
Dan, 5J

--
Dan, 5J

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 11:08:46 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
Inreach is useful in non-emergency situations when working phones are scarce. I used to arrange one retrieve last Summer, worked great. Service is $20 a month, $2 a month when suspended, in case this clears up any misconceptions about that.
***some deleted***
On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

@T8 - perhaps in the U.S.; here in Canada it's $44.95 plus 13% tax/month for the plan that can be suspended ($34.95/mo annual with no suspension). We have great OGN coverage that will give the Rescue Coordination Centre a good starting point. To me, not worth it here - but at half the price, maybe.
Cheers

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 1:29:49 PM UTC-5, Dan Daly wrote:
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 11:08:46 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
Inreach is useful in non-emergency situations when working phones are scarce. I used to arrange one retrieve last Summer, worked great. Service is $20 a month, $2 a month when suspended, in case this clears up any misconceptions about that.
***some deleted***
On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

@T8 - perhaps in the U.S.; here in Canada it's $44.95 plus 13% tax/month for the plan that can be suspended ($34.95/mo annual with no suspension). We have great OGN coverage that will give the Rescue Coordination Centre a good starting point. To me, not worth it here - but at half the price, maybe..
Cheers

Check out the "safety" plan.

-T8

I was actually looking at inReach until I found the following in the
small print:

Minimum cost is $49.90 on the inReachâ„¢ Safety Plan, $64.90 on the
inReachâ„¢ Recreation Plan, $89.90 on the inReachâ„¢ Expedition Plan and
$119.90 on the inReachâ„¢ Adventurer Plan.

Ii appears that if you just leave the thing in a bag for emergency use,
you'll pay $29.95 to activate the unit, $0.30/track point if you use it
for tracking, $0.85/message if you send (or I would guess) receive a
text, and, if you don't use it enough to get up to $49.90/month, that's
what you'll pay as a minimum.Â* Then there's the acquisition cost...

That rivals DirecTV in cost and I dumped them.

On 2/6/2019 11:56 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 1:29:49 PM UTC-5, Dan Daly wrote:
On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 11:08:46 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
Inreach is useful in non-emergency situations when working phones are scarce. I used to arrange one retrieve last Summer, worked great. Service is $20 a month, $2 a month when suspended, in case this clears up any misconceptions about that.
***some deleted***
On 2/6/2019 5:31 AM, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?
@T8 - perhaps in the U.S.; here in Canada it's $44.95 plus 13% tax/month for the plan that can be suspended ($34.95/mo annual with no suspension). We have great OGN coverage that will give the Rescue Coordination Centre a good starting point. To me, not worth it here - but at half the price, maybe.
Cheers
Check out the "safety" plan.

-T8

--
Dan, 5J

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019 at 4:31:05 AM UTC-8, Tango Eight wrote:
Has anyone found anything not to like about the Inreach Mini?

T8

If it connects to a phone like the other InReach devices the mini should be fine. Personally don't find the InReach SE cumbersome, or expensive for that matter.
Suggest downloading the Garmin Earthmate app and the Text To Speak engine for the phone you'll connect, so you can use speech to text in the middle of nowhere. Test it at home in airplane mode.

OGN is great, but the N part needs to be much larger to be functional. Opening the OGN app and panning around N America, found only three stations in New Mexico and one between Montreal and Ottawa. Is that the extent of the N. American network?

I also use amateur radio APRS tracking. That network is huge compared to OGN, but still has blanks.
Jim