Using Garmin Explore Without Active inReach Subscription

You can use the device as a GPS without an active subscription. However, you will have to enter billing information and select your future plan. You can certainly skip activation on the device, but I don't THINK that will defer billing. Your best bet is probably to select a "Freedom" plan which is intended for seasonal use. I think you are going to incur the initial "enrollment fee". This is also going to start a 30-day activation period, to which you are committed. You can then suspend the plan until you need it.

I have never actually tried to use the device without at least a suspended Freedom plan. I could be missing something. You might want to call customer support to verify.

FWIW, I was able to gain access to the Explore website w/o an active inReach when I purchased a Zumo XT. So, the fact that the website forces you to create and activate the inReach subscription w/ an inReach device seems like an oversight in how the site was programmed - it just makes the assumption that you want to activate the inReach subscription.

The Zumo XT does act as a inReach remote, but I don't see how that would make a difference, or why this particular device is allowed to create an Explore account (the only non-inReach device that works w/ Explore?).

The Zumo XT is not the only non-iR device to work with the Explore universe. Garmin is moving towards having handhelds and wearables work with Explore. The difference in registration procedures is because the non-iR devices do not require a subscription.

I THOUGHT this might give the OP a path to set up an account without registering the iR device. Then maybe add it later and avoid issues with plans and charges. But probably not. And setting up an account with a non-iR device drags in the whole Garmin Connect mess in addition to Explore. And you actually need a non-iR device. So that would probably be a bad plan.

I was simply pointing out, using the Zumo XT as an example, that you could add non-inReach devices to Explore, so there shouldn't be a reason to require an active inReach plan, not that the OP should run out and buy another device just to create an Explore account.

Garmin has way too many web apps, phone apps, pc apps. etc...., some w/ similar functionality that overlaps others, but is not compatible (i.e, 'Collections' in Explore vs BaseCamp). They really need to consolidate their app offerings and standardize the features and naming across them, all under a unified 'Garmin' account.

Pretty sure that everybody EXCEPT Garmin agrees with that sentiment! I think there is no central, high-level direction. Individual industry segments (iR, non-iR handhelds, automotive products, wearables, etc.) each go their own way. Any commonality or integration across segments is an afterthought. 

Or maybe there is some grand plan that is moving along at a glacial pace. The intermediate stages are hard to use?

They have a tendency to overcomplicate things for reasons which users like us cannot understand. (Can you say "collections"?) I also think they take shortcuts at the expense of usability. The long range plan might call for the Explore app to be able to "pair" with a wide range of devices all by itself. But that's a big project and Garmin Connect Mobile can already do that. So they drag GCM (and the whole Connect universe) into Expore-land. Just "temporarily". And so forth. Intermediate stage of the grand plan?

Not like we have a choice. There's not a lot of capable competition out there. So they don't need to make things easy to use in order to keep customers.