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Motorla Defy - satellite messaging

Well, if it's like any of the Motorola phones I have had in the past, the technology right up to the point of contact with the provider is awesome, it's their inability to establish a cellular connection that would keep me from buying.

Technology has come a long way since I have relied primarily on a Motorola cell phone, I have one now as a secondary contact and it doesn't show the same level of connection as my IPhone, especially when I am in a remote area of Texas or South East Kansas.

That said, I will be waiting for you to update us.
 
Wow, very interested. Not at all in love with my inreach explorer... It's "ok" and does what I need it to but as with (in my experience) most Garmin products, it's a bit "clunky". The topo mapping is functional but honestly worlds away from smartphone capabilities. To be fair they are two very different platforms.

So basically if I'm going to be using my phone anyway, an "easy" messenging and sos commutator makes a lot of sense... Downsides for me are that my phone isn't waterproof, and the battery life is far shorter than the inreach which is essentially just primarily tracking my and pinging a location every ten minutes, with occasional screen time for topo map reference.

Then there is the issue of keeping two separate electronics charged and operational, two things to fail vs one, etc.

Still, I really like this idea. Very interested to hear your experience.

The monthly plan is FAR more reasonable, too! I'm going to do some more digging on this. Thanks for posting!!
 
Ok, got to use it some although I was still close to town where I was hunting. You have to download the app to connect it to your cell phone. Once connected you get the choice to send out messages via your cell or satellite from the device. You can hit "check in" and it will text out your GPS coordinates to whomever you have set up. I charged it and after 2.5 days I was down to 22% battery. I suppose that is decent battery life, I really wish I would have bene out of cell coverage to really test it.

I'm heading out hunting again Tuesday, if you have any questions about it let me know and I can try and answer. overall I think this does give piece of mind and it makes it easy to check in without having to do much.
 
I have the in reach and I thought it pairs with phone? Although I haven't tried, but a good phone with onx is a MUST out west and to hunt where legal.My phone goes all day on airplane and in reach is mainly for contact with my son ,who may be on a different mountain than me and most all we hunt has no cell
 
I am guessing that the connection between the two is Bluetooth? If so, will it connect with your phone in airplane mode?

That would force the satellite device to handle all of the connections, maybe really test the battery life?

How long did it take to recharge? Do you have a solar charger to try to see how long it would take to recharge or keep charged? Something like you would use in a remote camp?
 
Inreach works with phone in blue tooth and in airplane mode.I mainly hunt out of my camper, but I have a small Noco jump pack that will charge phone 3-4 times, most use a small solar.My camper has small gen. and solar, also wave heater.Ive camped this way for up to a month many times.
 
I am guessing that the connection between the two is Bluetooth? If so, will it connect with your phone in airplane mode?

That would force the satellite device to handle all of the connections, maybe really test the battery life?

How long did it take to recharge? Do you have a solar charger to try to see how long it would take to recharge or keep charged? Something like you would use in a remote camp?
It charged to full in less than an hour (not sure how long, I left it and came back and it was charged). I'll try it in airplane mode this week.
 
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