Can a SOS be sent when the Safety Freedom plan is suspended?

A friend suggested that instead of getting a standard PLB, I should consider a Garmin InReach Mini.

I was impressed with it's size. And while it was going to cost significantly more than a PLB there would be times when the text message functionality would come in very handy.

They explained that with the Freedom plan the texting functionality could be turned off and on at monthly intervals.

So I thought over summer you could pay for 3 months, and for the other 9 months you could just suspend the plan and use it as a PLB (with SOS) in an emergency if you where to go out for a day adventure.

No point paying for a full month when a one day emergency backup was all that was needed.

Have I misunderstood this?

If I was on an adventure, had an accident, and the plan was suspended, would the InReach Mini be of no use to me?

It wouldn't auto activate the plan when trying to send the SOS?

(If this is the case then with an annual plan this starts to look like a much more expensive proposition than a cheaper PLB)

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0 Garmin-Andrew over 4 years ago

An active subscription is required for all satellite communication features including SOS. SOS does not work while the device is Suspended on a Freedom plan. This article from our Support Center has more information:

Using an inReach Mini Without a Subscription

0 atlas_cached over 4 years ago

6671280 said:
If this is the case then with an annual plan this starts to look like a much more expensive proposition than a cheaper PLB

When stranded and potentially injured in a remote region of the Earth, far, far away from any signs of modern civilization, and you need emergency assistance, you definitely want to be sure you have selected the cheapest solution available.

0 6423725 over 4 years ago

If all you need during an occasional off season outing is sos security then a PLB would work great and after purchase cost nothing. In my opinion, the InReach gives you tracking and messaging for a price$$. The tracking alone has been valuable for me while sailing, however, Garmin has made the InReach software ridiculously complicated. It’s almost impossible for me to get a family member to follow my track or send an email. I spend more time at the start of a season trying to figure out how the web site and device work then should be necessary. Garmin needs to make this real easy. My friends who are seriously tech savvy can’t figure out why InReach is not intuitive.

0 atlas_cached over 4 years ago in reply to 6423725

I could not agree more!

inReach needs a complete overhaul. But the farther they go down the rabbit hole without fixing the underlying issues, the harder it will be for them, and their existing customers, which is very unfortunate......

0 TonyKiwiGPS over 4 years ago in reply to 6423725

Agreed! the whole syncing and various apps thing is seriously difficult. I got rid of the 66i and just use the Explorer+ for messaging.

0 rgs over 4 years ago in reply to TonyKiwiGPS

I wished it was working seriously difficult. It's seriously not working, that is an even bigger problem The devices are great but the software. pffff.

0 radiorover over 4 years ago

I don't see a quick simple and inexpensive solution.
The Iridium satellite network costs a lot of money.
Garmin and GEOS has to pay for the Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) service too.
Receiving an e-mail (or text-message SMS) and forwarding it via Iridium costs traffic.
Access via email would be open for spam.
Do you want to pay for spam?
So you can receive a message only via whitelist.