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Instinct and inReach Pairing

Yesterday I sat down with my Instinct and inReach Explorer + and tried to get them to communicate with no luck. It's not really a feature that is critical to me, but I was interested in seeing how it worked considering I happen to have both devices. I could see it being handy if I strap my inReach on a backpack and don't want to take it off to manipulate it, although the same can be accomplished with my phone.

I followed what instructions I could find, basically add the iR widget, select, and it tries to pair. BT is enabled on my iR however it is paired to my phone. I attempted to add another device on the iR but the Instinct still never saw it, and the iR never saw the Instinct. I disabled BT on my phone to keep it from interfering, but attempts with and without the phone's BT in the picture all failed.

The only thing I did not do is remove my phone as a paired device on the iR. I'd rather not really as I have Earthmate on there, and I'm having no issues with the phone and iR communicating via BT.

Now I had initially seen some conflicting info on if the Instinct communicated solely with the inReach Mini or if the Explorer handheld units also worked. All the documentation I've found from Garmin generically says "inReach device" thus not excluding the Explorer.

Anyone know some silly reason the two won't communicate, procedure I'm missing, step I skipped? As mentioned, it's not a critical feature to me, but I did think it was cool feature on the Instinct, and would like to mess with it. Who knows, it might actually be very handy.
  • Wow, PROBLEM solved!!! I made the last Update to the Instinct (Version 6.60) and to the inReach mini (2.80) and everything works fine! Thanks GARMIN...

  • I had it confirmed by email from garmin that the instinct will not connect to inreach explorer se, i went through this process to obtain a refund for my instinct watch as it was the primary reason I purchased  it 

  • Hi, what firmware are you running in your instinct and your in reach mini? I have an instinct tactical  and an inreach mini  they where pairing and working well. Now they still pair via ant+ bu the widget does not really work. What you mention is not an option for me.

    Thanks

  • He's was talking about InReach Explorer units. They don't have an ANT+ chip, so they cannot wirelessly connect to any Garmin watch units, including the Instinct. No one told the Garmin marketing team. And the marketing team never asked. So they just phoned it in and put "pair with an Inreach Unit" on the box and all of the online marketing bullet points, in ignorance to the fact that different iterations of the InReach units have different chips installed. Straight up false advertising, whether intentional or not.

  • Straight up false advertising, whether intentional or not.

    If you check the list of compatible devices on Instinct's product page, it clearly shows InReach Mini as the only InReach device compatible with Instinct: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/621802/pn/010-02064-01#devices

  • This post is insanely old -  thought I'd share my knowledge of connecting my instinct solar & GPSMAP 66i - much like most people I was looking for a way to turn on, "ANT+" - I'm not an extreme expert but savvy enough, to get around most technology, - Bottom Line 

    In Your Inreach Device,; Turn ON "inReach Remote" - found inside "setup menu" (Wrench & Screw Driver Icon) - then go to "sensors" (cellphone/handheld gps icon) - inside this menu you'll see a line item labeled inReach Remote, enable and the rest is generally self explanatory