Garmin InReach questions

[ullar]

Originally Posted by BigNut

Yes, you’re right. We do subscribe to the InReach unlimited plan - we have a daughter who insisted on being able to contact us anywhere, and fortunately PREFERS texts to voice, so that decision was already made.

Here’s how I get around the tedium of entering all those lat/longs:

Before leaving on a passage, sit down with a plotter, and choose a grid of lat/longs you might/will be interested in. Capture a screenshot of the area you are interested in, and mark it so you know at a glance which lat/longs on your list go where. It is much less work at anchor than it sounds.

At sea, simply copy and paste. You can get 24, 48 or 72 hr forecasts. We tend to always request the 72. You only need to enter the coordinates, no other text is needed. You do need to pay attention, as the reports do not include the lat/long. So I do one at a time.

For us, it is way more affordable than a satphone, but YMMV. If I had the budget, I would go with a high speed satellite connection.

We also have friends on standby when we are at sea, who are happy to provide answers to specific requests, also via the InReach, very much appreciated. One of them is a sailor on this forum, so he provides knowledgeable input without prompting, which is fantastic.

For texts and weather I would have an Iridium Go. You can receive gribs and exchange small-ish emails with it. Not expencive. For us Inreach is mainly for tracking and occasional keep-in-touch texts.

[GMN]

Hello all, this is Cody from Global Marine Networks here.

For those of you wanting to receive GRIB files that are easy to read and interpret plus are friendly to satellite connections (low file sizes) then I implore you to take a look at PredictWind Offshore. It's a fairly simple to use program that downloads weather forecasts customized by you directly to your computer using your satellite terminal. Many people love the program for it's ease of use plus the fact that it perform its downloads in one data session! The best part is, we provide a free subscription to this service (the lite version) with our XGate compressed email service! I'm sure some of you may already know what XGate is, but for those that don't. It's an email service that lets you stay connected via email anywhere you go. It compresses emails down considerably and it even allows you to send and receive photos and attachments! It performs its downloads in just one data session too! Plus you can check your Xgate email anyway you choose (via Satellite or via standard internet connection). We even have apps for iOS and Android! For those of you who are interested just email us at sales@globalmarinenet.com!

You can view our pricing by following this link: XGate Satellite Phone Email| Iridium 9555, Inmarsat, Globalstar via XGate | GMN

[Eder]

Originally Posted by nzldude

Im very interested in the Garmin Inreach Mini.
Are they suitable for tracking on a yacht?

Weather forecasts any good on them?


Gareth

Tracking is good. Marine weather forcasts in French Polynesia has been much more accurate than predict wind, passage weather or windyty. Leaving on passage tomorrow...not relying on any other 7 day forecast.

[Time2Go]

Originally Posted by Eder

Tracking is good. Marine weather forcasts in French Polynesia has been much more accurate than predict wind, passage weather or windyty. Leaving on passage tomorrow...not relying on any other 7 day forecast.

I Can’t agree with you here.
My friends are now approaching Fiji
They started in Ft.Lauderdale Fla.
I had to leave the boat in Panama
for family obligations.
That said, they have a “Go” on board
and I have been sending them emails
daily with all weather information pulled
from Windy.Com.
They have been dead on with respects
to wind speed, direction, pressure.
and developing highs and lows.
Please tell me how you accessed Windy.Com
once out of land based internet or
high speed cellular data service???
My friends have a lot of resources on board
but my daily emails to there “GO” have beat them all.
I also have been a long time Inreach user
Great tracking, Text messaging, Back-up GPS
Weather better than nothing But just a snapshot
at one spot on the globe, you have to get multiples
and put a picture together in your head.
Cheers
Neil

[Eder]

Hi Neil
I get friends to send me weather updates on my inReach. Since I have arrived in French Polynesia the InReach marine forecasts have been accurate.



Yesterdays passage from Rangoria to Papeete not so much...I have the bruises to show, but the other weather prediction sites all missed force 6 & 7 with 3 meter on the beam.

[davil]

Hi
have Garmin Inreach SE and want to use my tablet to write messages instead of the small InReach screen.
I can pair the Garmin bluetooth pair to the devices, have both paired and connected,
how do I bring the screen of the InReach to the tablet to start typing?is there an app I need?
thanks

[StuM]

Originally Posted by davil

Hi
have Garmin Inreach SE and want to use my tablet to write messages instead of the small InReach screen.
I can pair the Garmin bluetooth pair to the devices, have both paired and connected,
how do I bring the screen of the InReach to the tablet to start typing?is there an app I need?
thanks

Earthmate.


https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...arthmate&hl=en

[GTom]

I am considering a satphone (SSB is too fiddly, not to mention I need to learn how to use it...).

In real life, how does the battery life of the mini and the SE+ unit looks like? Any point to buy the Explorer version for boating? I don't see much advantage of Garmin's maps at sea...

Is there a waterproof charging option? 100h max battery life doesn't seem very long.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by GTom

I am considering a satphone (SSB is too fiddly, not to mention I need to learn how to use it...).

In real life, how does the battery life of the mini and the SE+ unit looks like? Any point to buy the Explorer version for boating? I don't see much advantage of Garmin's maps at sea...

Is there a waterproof charging option? 100h max battery life doesn't seem very long.

I use my inReach on deliveries to allow customers and my wife to keep an eye on me and communicate. The inReach will last a few hours. My SOP is to plug in a 12vDC “gang box” that supports 3 12vDC devices and 4 USB devices. In this manner the inReach is always on line.

Aside from a Hallberg Rassy 352 I just did, the inReaxh can communicate from below decks at the Nav station.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Snore

I use my inReach on deliveries to allow customers and my wife to keep an eye on me and communicate. The inReach will last a few hours. My SOP is to plug in a 12vDC “gang box” that supports 3 12vDC devices and 4 USB devices. In this manner the inReach is always on line.

Aside from a Hallberg Rassy 352 I just did, the inReaxh can communicate from below decks at the Nav station.

Depending on how often it is updating, I get several days out of mine.


On one trip, I accidentally had it updating at the default (10 minutes?) rather than the 4 hours I usually set it at and it still lasted nearly 2 days. At 4 hours, it is still going at the end of the 3-4 day trip to Cairns.

[a64pilot]

I drilled a hole in a waterproof box, ran the usb charging cable through it and sealed the box back with hot glue.
I leave ours plugged in always.
If the boat were to disappear or we had to abandon it, the Garmin and the AIS will report position, and maybe we have a chance of recovering it.

[belizesailor]

It all depends on usage (send/recv) and I dont send a lot of messages, but my older Delorme InReach Explorer can last a minimum of 48 hours at my usage level. In standby its battery life is impressive.

[hellosailor]

IIRC the newer ones are all water resistant to some degree, and a microUSB or USB-C charging port *can* be extremely water-resistant, even without rubber plugs. A tiny dab of silicon grease can help if it isn't rated.

But with any of these, with a USB-type charging port, you could easily slip a 10,000mAh or 20,000mAh power pack into a vinyl pouch (i.e. "EWA pouch" designed to seal radios and cameras underwater) or a heavy ziplock bag, so the actual unit was protected-but-accessible, and had a very much larger power supply sealed right in with it.

Those power bricks aren't always what they claim to be--a no-name device may only be 1/4 of what they are claiming, so caveat emptor. Also, the newer more expensive ones that can be charged on a USB-C port, can often be recharged, or charge new devices, 4x faster than the old plain USB ones. FWIW.

[GTom]

Thanks for all the feedback, I think I'll go for the SE version with the bigger battery.

[a64pilot]

The Inreach+ is apparently rated IPX7, which I think means one meter for 30 min.