GarmininReach Mini 2, Lightweight and Compact Satellite Communicator, Hiking Handheld, Orange - 010-02602-00

This device has all the features one could need and features are customizable. I spend a lot of time in the deep wilderness of Alaska and am able to send and received important messages to friends and family. The most valuable feature for me is setting it up to send a location ping to the server every few min (customizable) to give my most approximate location if something terrible would happen to me or my partner. This information is protected by a login that can be shared by whomever you have at home waiting for you to return. The weather updates are also accurate and easy to use. Finally, you can use this as a standalone device or pair it with your smartphone to make texting quicker and view your topo maps, waypoints, and travel data if desired.

Very user friendly and durable.

I've had this inReach for over a month now and it's done great! The battery lasts seemingly forever and it connects very quickly to the Iridium network. There is a lot of talk about how iPhones now have satellite SOS functionality but you are limited based on your location if it actually connects to local emergency services. It also doesn't use the robust Iridium network like Garmin does.I use mine to keep in contact with my family when going into the mountains of Colorado with absolutely no issues. If you are going outdoors, buy an inReach mini. It will give you peace of mind and work flawlessly.

I love camping. I wish I could have done more of it in the past, but trying to get friends or family together for one is a P.I.A. I never solo camped because the places I like are National Forests that will normally have no cell reception so being alone and running into an emergency isn't a great incentive to be adventurous.Pros:The unit is easy to set up. Fairly easy top register and get an account. The subscription can be suspended at any time without penalty and reinstated when needed. Great for us fair season campers that will have these tucked away in our camping bins for the winter. Insurance is affordable. BUY THE RESCUE INSURANCE IN CASE YOU EVER NEED TO BE RESCUED. Battery lasts the entire weekend for me. I can send receive messages and leave breadcrumbs for my family to track. The list goes on and on, but most of all, I have peace of mind to get out on adventures by myself and get to camp more.Cons:Monthly subscription can be a little pricy if you want to be able to send more messages and send location data of your trip in real-time. You will need separate usage plan and rescue insurance. You can forgo the insurance but I don't recommend it. All it takes is one incident and you'll wish you bought at least the basic insurance. You can't switch between cellular data and satellite in the app. It'll always use satellite even if you have cellular coverage.I highly recommend this IF you love exploring areas outside of cellular service areas. It's a great tool to let your family know you're safe and peace of mind if something catastrophic happens. I hope I never need the SOS function but I can feel better when I venture out solo.

This is old-school performance on high-tech equipment. I bought this for outdoor adventures in areas that have no cell coverage. It is functional, but you have to imagine that you are living in the 20th century to meet performance expectiations.First, the setup and activation took nearly 2 days. Yes, 2 days. I set up my account, put the InReach outdoors with full view of the sky, and then waited... and waited... finally after numerous power cycles, and more waiting, it activated. The instructions said that the long activation time is not an indication of normal performance. Yeah, right.Then I went camping in a remote area for a week. I sent a preset message, had InReach in full view of the sky, sitting on a small table. I waited... finally the message showed as Sent after 20 minutes. Not impressed. Other messages took anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to send; judging the replies was more difficult, but the quickest reply from a friend was about 30 minutes (this could have been due to the friend taking time to respond). Despite the slow performance, it never failed to send or receive a message.The subscription plans have Gotchas that are not advertised. The Freedom plan, aka "pay as you go" does not offer much Freedom. First, you have to pay $35 for each year you use the plan; so if you only use it one month every year, then it isn't $15, it's $50. And, contrary to what's advertised on the Garmin site, you DO get charged for the months that you do NOT use it (as of June 2022), I believe $5/mo. For those reasons, I just did the Annual plan. The short of it: For ONE month, you pay $105 over the course of a year - that's $105 for ONE MONTH of usage. For the Annual plan, you pay $178 over the year, which is $14.86 per month.For the type and amount of service you get, InReach can seem like a total rip-off. You need to decide for yourself if having 'service anywhere' justifies the cost. For me, it is, and it fits my budget.There are a few strong points of the Garmin InReach2 over other platforms. First, it is small. I mean tiny. It's easy to pack and carry, and you do not need anything else - no phone pairing required. Battery life is good, and it uses a built-in rechargeble battery. The phone app is decent, and you don't need service / internet to use it or pair it. Of course you need to have already downloaded the app, but that's obvious. The screen is small but easy to read, unless you have poor eye sight. Still, let's say you are older or farsighted and lose your reading glasses, the SOS button can be found and operated by feel, so there's always that.Some downsides: Preset messages require setup on a computer via the InReach portal. The rechargeable battery means that you can't use common batteries in a pinch, like AAAs or similar; and you need to have access to a USB-C charger.Complaints aside, if I knew all this before I bought it, I probably would have still bought it, mostly because I'm an electronics nerd.

I travel worldwide, and use this as an emergency communication tool. It works great and with the new service pricing from Garmin it’s a good value.However, if you travel to other countries BEEARE, it may be illegal to have. I read people being detained in India for having one going through customs. Check and make sure before you travel!!

If you find yourself outdoors without service often, this is a must have for you. While it is a bit annoying that it requires a service to be used for communication, you can text, navigate, sync it with your phone, and even contact SOS if need be.