One off payment for subscription.

Hi there,

So looking in purchasing the inReach Mini for upcoming hiking in June in Iceland for that extra security in case all goes very bad!

For 90% of my life the device will be stored in a travel bag deep in the basement and not used. 2 times a year maybe once in June and second time in January I will do a 5 day trip where I want this device with me to send a message my loved ones that I am in deep *** - if it comes to it.

So I think for my personal use it does not make sense to have a monthly subscription (or annual) to pay for something I am not using. Instead, is there a way to pay a one off payment say £10.00 (gives you 50 messages, 10 weather notifications etc,.) making this a much more appropriate option.

Besides the above, which I am sure all will say is not possible, or does not exist, what other option is there? Can I cancel/renew when and as I need the subscription?

Otherwise I will just stick with flares!

Thanks!

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+2 Garmin-Andrew over 5 years ago

By signing up for a Freedom Plan, you can suspend your service as needed for times when you won't be using the inReach device. This article from the Support Center explains the different plan types and how it all works: InReach Subscription Plan Options. And here is the page on our site with the different plan options and pricing: https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/#subscriptions. There isn't an option to pre-pay for service as you mentioned.

+1 twolpert over 5 years ago

Best option is what is called a "freedom plan". With the freedom plan, you can suspend and resume the plan more or less at will. There is an annual fee paid in advance to start the plan. The annual fee repeats yearly to maintain the plan. When you activate or resume the plan, you do so for a minimum of one month (which does not have to be on a calendar month boundary). You pay a monthly fee for each month for which the plan is active.

The freedom plans have the same 3 tiers as annual plans. Each tier has different limits on the various message types and services. In the US, the annual freedom plan fee is $24.95. The monthly fees (during active months) vary from $14.95/mo for the minimal safety plan to $64.95/mo for the more or less all-inclusive expedition plan.

Depending on the tier, the monthly cost of a freedom plan is 25% to 40% higher than the monthly cost of the corresponding annual plan (without considering the annual $24.95 fee). However, for somebody who uses the unit only a couple of months a year, it's a clear winner.

0 Niterider4 over 5 years ago in reply to twolpert

I figured the break points to be at roughly six months. That is, if you use it for six months or more, you're better off getting the annual plan. If you're using it for less than six months a year, the freedom plan. Having said that, within a month of two of the break points, the difference is pretty small.

0 8953053 over 4 years ago in reply to Niterider4

Bit confused about your math, excluding the annual fee difference, for Safety Annual plan, the total is $11.95 X 12 = $143.40; for the Safety Freedom plan, the breakeven point is between 9 to 10 months because it's $14.95 X 9 = $134.55 or $14.95 X 10 = $149.50. Am I wrong?

0 5481906 over 3 years ago in reply to twolpert

Subscriptions, in my opinion, are the way to go if you intend to support this software in the long run (more than one major release, really). Consider this: if the programme you're developing succeeds well (which I'm sure is your objective), but you get 1000s of users to give you $5, that's all. You'll rapidly run out of money if you don't consistently push for additional users. I completely agree that advertisements are terrible.

If, on the other hand, you can legitimately charge $1 per month and your users find value in what you're giving, you'll be able to expand on top of that and eventually charge more per month per user.

0 Zoroff over 3 years ago

Adding one fact about one off payment.

When adding credit card info, there is an option to pay a sum in advance to your account, which will then be used to draw funds from.

It's probably not useful for maintaining a subscription for years on end, but it's a good option for buffering a bit.