Trouble accessing explore

I don't actually know the answer to this. I'm a little confused about what you're doing. When you go to explore.garmin.com, you ought to be able to log into the account with the same credentials you used in the phone app. At that point, you are not required to add a device. If you do add a device, you will be required to pick a subscription plan. If you do not add a device, I don't know if you can mark waypoints, routes, etc. Unless somebody else chimes in, you'll probably have to call tech support for a definitive answer.

Frankly, if it works from the phone and you can sync with the paired device, you might be better off sticking to that. In many ways, the app is easier to use than the web site.

All of that said, most people in your situation choose to go with a so-called freedom plan. You pay an annual fee to maintain the plan. You pay a monthly fee for each month the plan is active. You can suspend it any time. You pay no monthly fee while it is suspended. The only caveat is that you must activate for at least 30 days each time you DO activate it. That is to say, active billing is always in 30-day increments.

If you don't actually need inReach features, you're better off with one of the other handhelds in the GPSMAP 66 line.

Also, there are other ways to get waypoints and routes onto the device. Although it's not ideal, you can still use Garmin BaseCamp. Third-party planning software such as EasyGPS (free) or the more capable ExpertGPS (small cost) also work fine.

Just a minor clarification. The point of using an incognito or private browsing window is to avoid getting tangled up in Garmin single sign-on. This is particularly important if you have more than one set of Garmin credentials (for example, one set for the forums and another for your Explore account).

If you are signed in to ANY Garmin property (for example, the forums) and navigate to another (for example, explore.garmin.com), the second site will assume you want to continue using the credentials with which you are already signed in. (Even if you never created an account at explore.garmin.com for those forum credentials, the site will "helpfully" create one for you. Yeah, I know...) If you're not paying scrupulous attention, this gets really confusing really fast.Using a private browsing window avoids this issue.

Thank you both, Andrew and twolpert.

I am using Existing Account Sign In. I tried this using 3 different browsers. Something is for sure going on though that doesn't seem right. It's finally letting me get to the explore page, however I can not access the maps. Attached image shows I'm logged in (top right corner) but I'm being asked to sign-in AGAIN on the left to access maps. When I enter my pass it returns with "unable to connect to remote server". So maybe there's a server glitch going on. I'll try again tomorrow.

For others reading (correct me if I'm wrong) it's best to create a new account using your phone first, and then log-in on your desktop if you need to. Creating a new account using a desktop PC will require (at least it did for me) that you subscribe to inReach as a part of completing the new account process.

Did you create this account via the phone? Or is this the one where you abandoned the account creation process because of the subscription requirement? If the latter, you might try getting another email address, creating that account from the phone, then logging in with that via the PC. Just wondering if a half-created account might be the problem.

I have never seen a login screen like that. Never been challenged to log in (again) on any of the "tabs" at explore.garminl.com. It is possible that there were back end server problems at the time.It's also possible that you've gotten into logic on the web site that simply does not work.

If the problem still exists when you try again, you should probably call tech support.

This is the same account I created using the phone app. I'll try again this afternoon. If no success, then I'll see if I can create a second (new) account. As for inReach service, I will add that eventually when things in this country cool down. It would be foolish to subscribe to it now. Thanks for the tip about Garmin BaseCamp and EasyGPS. I'll check those out. For now I would just like to access the Garmin Map Tab on a PC.  

So this has turned out to be painfully excruciating!

Because my first account kept failing to give me explore access, I created a new account. First I removed my device from the first account. Uninstalled all my apps, then reinstalled the apps and used my second account to pair with the device. Over and over and over again, my Garmin 66i will communicate with the Garmin Connect app, but when it's almost finished pairing, it will completely fail. Now neither account will pair. I've reset everything , the device, the apps and still the same issue. This is so frustrating! I feel as those Garmin has not done a good job of putting their apps and devices through rigorous testing. Nothing technology wise has ever been this painful for something that should be so simple. And I really hate saying that too! I hate giving negative feedback, and I don't blame any employees who end up reading this. This isn't on them.

I want to like this device and I still do. Unfortunately I've spent more time trying to resolve a simple task then I can justify. Still a dead end! I read reviews at REI, but I took this route anyways. So ultimately I guess it's my own fault. It's great for navigation which I've already done with this. I might hang on to it for that reason even though I can get a phone app that does almost as good a job  for much less - minus inReach. Now I'm curious if inReach will even work. I'm suspicious that it too will give issues when it's needed most. Assuming I can create an account with a device that can no longer pair. I'm sad and extremely disappointed.

Video below.

In order to re-pair with the phone, you must do all of the following first. You may have done this, but I can't tell for sure.

Remove the device form the Explore app on the phone.

Remove the device from Garmin Connect mobile app on the phone.

Tell your phone to forget the device from the phone's settings app. The 66i will appear as TWO different BT devices. You must forget them both.

Tell the device to forget the phone. 

In order to pair again, you must do these things in this order:

Add the device to Garmin Connect Mobile - this is where the pairing occurs. If things are working right, you will see two pairing requests. The first will go through the full sequence (as illustrated in your video). The second will (on iPhone - can't vouch for Android) show a simple pop-up that says something like "device whatever wants to pair with your phone" and requires you to approve.

Add the device to the Explore app.

Sync. This should occur automatically when you add it to the Explore app.

Note that using two accounts complicates things. I don't remember about GCM. I do know that logging out of the Explore app causes it to remove the paired device. But only from the Explore app. For that reason, you should do the "forget" steps BEFORE logging out of the old account in either app. Before doing the pairing steps, you should log into the new account.

I encourage you to call tech support. I'm not sure what's going sideways here, but it likely has something to do with the state of the various accounts. Only they can diagnose and correct whatever it is. 

I'm not going to try to defend the product in this situation. Obviously, you've had a very bad experience. I will, say, however, that I've never had issues like this. Nor have I had any difficulties with inReach services over a wide range of inReach devices stretching back a number of years. OTOH, I'm not typically doing things which the eco-system considers unusual, such as attempting to use the device without a subscription. (In fact, the ability to do that at all is a relatively recent innovation.)

I'm really sorry this has turned into such a painful issue, I completely understand the frustration and am more than happy to work with you directly to resolve this. I'm going to send you a PM to get some account details to be able to take a closer look at this. 

Well I finally got it to pair again after multiple attempts. I don't remember the exact sequence of steps I took on the last attempt, but I do know in each prior attempt I would always remove the phone from explore and from connect as well as remove the apps from my phone entirely for some added insurance. Set the device to forget phone, reinstall the apps, reboot both phone and device. In that order pretty much I believe.

Good news it's paired again. Bad news I still can't access Explore, however Garmin-Andrew has reached out to me and expressed his apologies (my issue is no fault of his at all), but it was still much appreciated to hear. And prior to that I also sent an email to tech support. So I'll update as we go forward.