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Is InReach service reliable?

James Chung
over 2 years ago

I just bought the InReach Mini 2 and an annual recreational plan.  

I have been testing it to learn the user interface and its effectiveness.  So far, my impression is "janky." More seriously, I fear that it will not save my life in real life situation.  Here is my data...

1. Tested in the backyard with a clear view of the sky (no cloud, 95125 zipcode)

Even after letting the unit "settle in" for 5 minutes, the communication is laggy.  Fine, I'll accept that it's a tiny handheld transmitting with satellites.  But it makes me wonder "how many satellites do Garmin own up there?

I also get enough of the "GPS signal is poor, do you want to send it anyway?" This makes me wonder if I'll be cussing at Garmin as I am freezing with a broken ankle with a clear view of the sky. 

I have not done the same test under cloudy condition yet. 

2. Tested in Monterey Bay while scuba diving.  Paid for the expensive underwater case.   Tried to send the start and end preset messages on the surface.  Clear view of the sky.  Waited 5 minutes both times before "oh well, I'm just testing it" and gave up.  I eventually received the preset messages on my phone. Tried the tests both with case and without it.  

Before wasting more time holding my breath..

A) Is my expectation of InReach too high?  (i.e., marketing hype)

B) Is this device and service gonna increase my chance of rescue as I do "weekend adventure" activities in California?

C) Am I using this InReach Mini 2 incorrectly?

Thanks in advance. Pray

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to cmeienberg
    cmeienberg said:
    way out of line compared to how this unit actually performs

    well not so simple! Garmin is just selling equipment certified by Iridium for that service. It has to work certain way as Iridium allows and not other.

    Iridium Satellites are low orbit and one satellite is visible approximately 9.5min, but!! this is calculated from 8.5deg above horizon. This can be found really only on a ship at sea. 

    In real life, you will have much less then 9min visibility of a satellite, you will have time gaps when no satellite can be seen, depending also on the latitude you are located, as you can have also 2 sats visible, but the transceiver will work only with one of them at time and with one of the 48 spot beams each satellite provides.

    Trees with leaves do have an impact on the 1.6GHz frequencies, but in this case your build in GPS receiver will notice this much more then the Iridium transceiver which will find a way to transmit a message in this environment. This is one of the reasons, you get this warning about incomplete position fix.

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to skyeye

    First it appeared I double-posted. I deleted one and now they're both gone...

    All of this true. But...

    I am located at a moderate latitude (38 degrees north). In practice, I have seen no real problems except in narrow defiles or urban canyons. Sometimes I see a short delay, but never anything close to 30 minutes. There may well be intervals when no satellite is visible to me. But the low earth orbit and short transit times mean that another satellite becomes visible shortly. 

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to twolpert

    yep, someone did create this tool, it shows the theoretical footprint of the sats, but yes, 8.5 deg over horizon

    https://www.gsat.us/tools/iridium-satellite-location-map-tool