Lpart
Well-Known Member
Anybody here with experience with either the InReach SE or InReach Explorer. They sound like a good idea but I am seeing more negative responses on the internet than I would like.
Delorme InReach
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LaHunter
Well-Known Member
I have read some positive reviews on the InReach Explorer. There is a very good article in the latest edition of Western Hunter Magazine on back country communications and the InReach is one of the units discussed. What I have read is that it uses the Iridium satellites, which makes it more reliable than other systems.
Kudu1
Member
I have the SE unit, honestly it's simply awesome.
I've used on the ocean (fishing off my boat) in the BC mountains (100 miles from the nearest cell tower) in Europe and the Middle East - Africa - its truly global.
Two way communication via either short message service (SMS) to wife's cell phone or e-mails straight to her computer / iPAd.
She tracks my movement (real time) and has the ability to text me anytime day or night even if I'm on the other side of the planet (Africa)
When not in use you shut it down and it costs you next to nothing to keep it active - all you do is send them an email when you travel / go hunting and you are back up and running.
it's waterproof - been in the deserts - snow - at altitude and has never missed a beat.
It pairs with my iPad -iPhone and turns them into real time gps tracking be it with Google maps - Tom-Tom or the proprietary software - I can track myself no matter where I am, on any of my smart devices (no cell cover needed)
What's not to like.
(I'm not affiliated - paid by or sponsored by in-reach at all) I'm just telling you the way it is.
I've used on the ocean (fishing off my boat) in the BC mountains (100 miles from the nearest cell tower) in Europe and the Middle East - Africa - its truly global.
Two way communication via either short message service (SMS) to wife's cell phone or e-mails straight to her computer / iPAd.
She tracks my movement (real time) and has the ability to text me anytime day or night even if I'm on the other side of the planet (Africa)
When not in use you shut it down and it costs you next to nothing to keep it active - all you do is send them an email when you travel / go hunting and you are back up and running.
it's waterproof - been in the deserts - snow - at altitude and has never missed a beat.
It pairs with my iPad -iPhone and turns them into real time gps tracking be it with Google maps - Tom-Tom or the proprietary software - I can track myself no matter where I am, on any of my smart devices (no cell cover needed)
What's not to like.
(I'm not affiliated - paid by or sponsored by in-reach at all) I'm just telling you the way it is.
I've used one for a year now and it does a good job. I seems to performs much better than the very expensive sat phone I rented last year during hunting season. A friend of mine also has one and he has got along well, also. I would recommend it.
Steve
Steve
Elkmasterwyo
Well-Known Member
+1 to this, love my inreach se! Miles ahead of spot!
Good to hear some positive feedback on the Delorme Inreach and Explorer. My hunting buddy has the Inreach and we used it a lot last year and it was great.
The only negative review I've consistently heard about the Explorer is how painfully slow it is to type text messages. But when I'm out hunting I'm not out there to send texts all day long, so overall it's not that big of a deal to take an extra minute or two to type a text to your family or just use one of the pre programmed texts.
I will likely be purchasing the Explorer by my first scouting trip this summer to replace the SPOT tracker that just decided to stop working in the middle of a hunt last year.
The only negative review I've consistently heard about the Explorer is how painfully slow it is to type text messages. But when I'm out hunting I'm not out there to send texts all day long, so overall it's not that big of a deal to take an extra minute or two to type a text to your family or just use one of the pre programmed texts.
I will likely be purchasing the Explorer by my first scouting trip this summer to replace the SPOT tracker that just decided to stop working in the middle of a hunt last year.
Elkmasterwyo
Well-Known Member
Same experience, here with a gen II spot, solo hunt and it gave up the ghost causing me to head home early because I knew if my wife was hearing from me on it, then all of a sudden stopped getting spots, the Calvary would be on its way by morning, that's what drove me to buy the delorme. Couldn't be happier! Well maybe faster texting ability lol, as it is quite slow to type! Usually have downtime after dark in the evenings for that though.
MTLIVIN
Well-Known Member
I went through this process last year ans decided the ResQLink Personal Locator Beacon was best for me. I bought it for solo mt goat hunting and figured if i had issues it would be a griz or a fall, both of which put me in the bottom of a deep canyon. So i told the wife no news is good news, and its truley a life saving device only, but its also far ahead of spot and delorme for tracking and reliability. Depends what you want i guess, i just wanted backup.
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Timnterra
Well-Known Member
Len graciously allowed me to barrow an InReach SE to write a review on last summer. I used it on over a dozen hikes and I liked it. It does allow you to stay in touch with the outside world and the live tracking feature could potentially be a real life saver. I would like to try the explorer for the added gps useability. The unit is well made and easy to use the only thing I could ask for is a bigger screen and a real base map.
I have an inReach explorer, and when I pair it with my phone, I get all the function of the inReach built into the app. The app has it's own text interface that is very similar to the standard txt interface buit into your phone, and it has a full map feature that shows up on the screen of your phone either in topo mode or full satellite imagery if you downloaded the maps ahead of time.
Not ideal to have to carry and charge your phone, but at least it's something if the maps are an important feature to you. batteries do run down quicker when you pair with the phone because of the bluetooth, that is the biggest downside.
I quickly found out that the app feature in the phone can work with the phones built-in GPS while the inReach is turned off, and I just use the app in my phone as a handy GPS unit any time I'm out hiking or doing whatever. It syncs all the waypoints and routes back to my inReach and with my Delorme account whenever I get service. It really works very well.
Timnterra
Well-Known Member
That's good to know. Did it need cell service to startup and sync the two devices?
The Delorme and the phone would sync between themselves when connected via Bluetooth. I do not believe the Delorme would sync waypoints to the online account without being connected to a computer. But the phone would sync to the online account any time it had service. Does that make sense?
