I don't understand the tracking pricing

I don't understand the tracking pricing.  The "Safety" plan has tracking interval of "10  min+".  I presume this means it is sending my location to the satellite every 10 minutes (if I've configured it to do so), for free. But then it says "send/track points" costs $0.10.   Why would I be doing that, if it's sending my location every 10 minutes for free? Is this only if I want to send it more than every 10 minutes? That's what I would have assumed from the pricing grid, HOWEVER, on the "track settings explained" garmin page, it has an example that if you have a send interval of 30 minutes for 1 hour, you'd be charged for 2 track points. If that's the case, what is this "10 min+" that I'm getting with the safety plan, when if I set it to 30 minutes I'm still charged?

support.garmin.com/.../

  • The "10 min+" for the Safety plan means you can send at 10 minute intervals or longer, not more frequently. You are charged for each track point sent, whether every 10 minutes, or every 30 minutes, etc.

    The next higher tier of service (Recreation) keeps the minimum tracking interval at 10 minutes or greater, but allows unlimited track points to be sent for no charge. 

  • To be absolutely clear about this: The safety plan does not include ANY sent track points in the monthly fee. Every track point is charged at $0.10 US (in the US - elsewhere, YMMV).

    As noted above, the "send" interval can be set to 10 minutes or more with the safety plan. The send interval you choose affects the number of track points sent per unit time. But it does not affect the charge for each track point.

    Some of the confusion may arise because the safety plan does include 10 text messages. That means that the first 10 in any month are included in the monthly costs of the plan. Every one after the first 10 is charged at $0.50 US. That's what the "overage charges" section on the plan page means.

    Also as noted above, recreational and expedition plans include unlimited sent track points in the monthly cost. 

    https://discover.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/personal/#subscriptions

    The idea behind the "safety plan" is that you have the ability to trigger an SOS. But there is very little included in the way of sent track points or sent messages (other than SOS).

  • To be absolutely clear about this: The safety plan does not include ANY sent track points in the monthly fee. Every track point is charged at $0.10 US (in the US - elsewhere, YMMV).

    As noted above, the "send" interval can be set to 10 minutes or more with the safety plan. The send interval you choose affects the number of track points sent per unit time. But it does not affect the charge for each track point.

    Some of the confusion may arise because the safety plan does include 10 text messages. That means that the first 10 in any month are included in the monthly costs of the plan. Every one after the first 10 is charged at $0.50 US. That's what the "overage charges" section on the plan page means.

    Also as noted above, recreational and expedition plans include unlimited sent track points in the monthly cost. 

    https://discover.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/personal/#subscriptions

    The idea behind the "safety plan" is that you have the ability to trigger an SOS. But there is very little included in the way of sent track points or sent messages (other than SOS).

  • I am about to activate my inReach, but my understanding is that the tracking interval of 10+min for the inreach Safety Plan means you can record your track (for later upload to Strava,etc) at 10min intervals for free. It's only if you want to send those tracking points to a spouse or race tracker that you would pay 0.10 per tracking point.

  • There are two types of "track points" on iR devices.

    "Sent points" are transmitted via Iridium satellites in more or less real time. These are the ONLY points that are chargeable against whatever plan you have.

    "Logged points" stay on the device until "sync-d". Depending on the device, the sync might be wired (USB connection to a PC running the Garmin sync desktop application), wireless via the Earthmate mobile app, or wireless via the Explore mobile app. Logged points are NEVER chargeable on any plan.

    On most devices, you can independently select the "sent point" interval and "logged point" interval. So you might send at 10 minute intervals but log at 1 minute intervals. On some devices, you disable sent points and only do logged points. No two devices are alike in this regard, so YMMV.

    Either type of "track" can be exported from the Map tab at explore.garmin.com. Export in either .gpx or .kml format, depending on the capabilities of the system into which you will later import the data.

    To further confuse things, some devices support the concept of "activity", which is Garmin-speak for the logged track. On some devices.

  • The response above is confusing.  Are the "sent" tracking intervals charged at $.10 per message OR are they charged at $.50 per message after the first ten msgs (of any kind) are used up?

  • Messages and sent track points are separate things. The safety plan does not include ANY sent track points. EVERY track point costs $0.10. The safety plan includes 10 messages per month. AFTER the first 10, EACH message costs $0.50.

    Full details here: www.garmin.com/.../837461