Thoughts on the Garmin Inreach Messenger?

[flymolo]

Thank you for your replies - I just saw a product video and it is actually smaller than I realised. Shouldn’t be a problem to stow away on a BP/W or BCD despite the round shape I guess…

You could rig it up and mount it on your waist band like a canister light

 

[TheQuintessentialMan]

Yes it's $34.95 a year for the Freedom Plan and then $14.95 a month and up (depending on the bundle of messages) when you need it. If you go over the monthly allotment, you pay a la carte per message.

Cool; I presume the monthly can be changed month to month depending what I need? For instance, the basic looks like it would do for normal activities but traveling remote out of country, I may want premium for a month to communicate state side. Does the other person have to have a Garmin device or does it utilize standard phone messaging? I like Garmin products but they could do a better job of explaining their products capabilities.

Thank you for your replies - I just saw a product video and it is actually smaller than I realised. Shouldn’t be a problem to stow away on a BP/W or BCD despite the round shape I guess…

Good thread you started. I've been looking for something like this too, it brought out a lot of good info.

 

[xan]

You could rig it up and mount it on your waist band like a canister light

In fact, Light Monkey does make a dry canister that's easily attached to 2" webbing. I have no personal experience as I bought a DRYFOB before discovering it; the main appeal would be the custom sizing option, as a slightly larger option would allow me to bring my phone when shore diving.

For the DRYFOB, I attached a large bolt snap via cave rope to one of the mounting holes, and usually clip it to my butt D-ring when diving.

 

[flymolo]

In fact, Light Monkey does make a dry canister that's easily attached to 2" webbing. I have no personal experience as I bought a DRYFOB before discovering it; the main appeal would be the custom sizing option, as a slightly larger option would allow me to bring my phone when shore diving.

For the DRYFOB, I attached a large bolt snap via cave rope to one of the mounting holes, and usually clip it to my butt D-ring when diving.

 

[flymolo]

In fact, Light Monkey does make a dry canister that's easily attached to 2" webbing. I have no personal experience as I bought a DRYFOB before discovering it; the main appeal would be the custom sizing option, as a slightly larger option would allow me to bring my phone when shore diving.

For the DRYFOB, I attached a large bolt snap via cave rope to one of the mounting holes, and usually clip it to my butt D-ring when diving.

Be careful if the edges are sharp they may cut through the cave line

 

[flymolo]

Cool; I presume the monthly can be changed month to month depending what I need? For instance, the basic looks like it would do for normal activities but traveling remote out of country, I may want premium for a month to communicate state side. Does the other person have to have a Garmin device or does it utilize standard phone messaging? I like Garmin products but they could do a better job of explaining their products capabilities.

Good thread you started. I've been looking for something like this too, it brought out a lot of good info.

Yeah it can be changed from one month to another although I find since preset messages are free to send I don’t run through the sms quota

 

[Still Kicking]

Does the other person have to have a Garmin device or does it utilize standard phone messaging?

No need for Inreach to receive. It goes to email, or SMS via the phone company email servers, eg. xxx-xxx-xxxx@vtext.com. Not sure if you can send a text directly to SMS.

I like the preset texts -- i can send unlimited group messages to the family letting them know all is well and I haven't forgotten about them

 

[rjack321]

Cool; I presume the monthly can be changed month to month depending what I need? For instance, the basic looks like it would do for normal activities but traveling remote out of country, I may want premium for a month to communicate state side. Does the other person have to have a Garmin device or does it utilize standard phone messaging? I like Garmin products but they could do a better job of explaining their products capabilities.

Good thread you started. I've been looking for something like this too, it brought out a lot of good info.

You can send from an InReach either an SMS text or an email, or an email-like message to another InReach (it looks like an email but its unique to the garmin network).

Any of those 3 forms can reply to your InReach message. But your family member cannot initiate a conversation via SMS or email to your InReach. All messages are limited to 160 characters each. It's best to make each message fully stand alone with very clear pronouns if used at all. Sometimes they can be received in a different order than they were sent.

 

[xan]

Be careful if the edges are sharp they may cut through the cave line

Good point, thanks. The metal eyelets look polished enough on the DRYFOB so as not to cut through the triple run of line, especially given that it's not under a lot of tension during use. I do check my gear over before dives, so if I notice any problems I'll replace the line and/or try to come up with another approach.

 

[VsubT]

In fact, Light Monkey does make a dry canister that's easily attached to 2" webbing. I have no personal experience as I bought a DRYFOB before discovering it; the main appeal would be the custom sizing option, as a slightly larger option would allow me to bring my phone when shore diving.

I've used a custom-sized LM canister for my PLB for several years, and it has not leaked at all - even on tech dives to 200'/60m. Cool to see that they list these as a product now with multiple sizes, they were a special order item previously.

Lance