Emergency Communication Insurance

To be fair, I only bought this because we planned and executed a family trip in Big Bend National Park. I was traveling with my wife, kids and grandkids. I knew that there would be no cell service and didn't want to risk an accident or animal encounter without access to some kind of SOS communication. Fortunately, I never needed the SOS but was greatly relieved that I had access to it through my Garmin messenger's 24/7 response feature which included the ability to define our emergency should we have one.

Perfect For What I Needed

I love that I can use the garmin to charge my phone, simple satellite communicator.

Didn't Realize Phone Was Needed

I bought this for an AZ mountainous motorcycle trip. I use my phone, mounted on the bike, for navigation. There's a risk of going off a cliff and getting separated from my bike. I didn't realize that a link to my phone was necessary for emergency communications I've returned it and hoping that the inReach Mini is what I want. I gave 4 stars because - perhaps - this could have been made clear to me before my online purchase. Otherwise it likely is a wonderful device.

Does What It Should

I carry this on backcountry or offgrid situations and have not needed it for an emergency but have used it for text communications paired to my phone. Has worked every time, no issues. What else is there to say for a product like this? It works when it needs to.

Keeps You In Contact

Worked great for my western hunts, and back country snow boarding. Easy and quick for check in messages. Being able to type on your phone makes it nice to have actual conversations. I never go into the backcountry without it now.

Works Great And Has A Long Battery Life.

I actually purchased this a year ago to go on my trip through South America and also for flying my powered parachute for safety. Well it's been a year and I am finally using it. I charged it up and had it sitting around the house for about a month and the battery still had a ton of juice left in it. I started my trip and had it on while on the plane from Seattle to Medellin, Colombia and it tracked me all the way there which was awesome! Now that I am in town it has tracked all over where I have walked and taken the metro. It's awesome for family members to see where I am for mine and their security.

Good Performance

Good performance. Only criticism is that there's a bit of a delay in the messaging (~ 20min for a message to be sent or received), but perhaps that's to be expected with a satellite-based system. I don't know if others are better. Messaging via the phone app worked great from northern Ontario.

Would Recommend

Easy to use, love it in the back country and on the trail

Great Communication/emergency Device

I have used the inreach messenger on many extended backcountry trips and it has been just what I need, a simple and compact version of an emergency and communication device. I have only used it with my phone (can imagine this would be quite a pain without pairing it) and have not missed the lack of mapping/nav features, but if either of those are a concern, this may not be the best option. For me, however- perf. Long battery life is a bonus as well. Have not yet used the reverse charge feature, but I bet that will come in handy someday.

Great Peace Of Mind

This messenger device would be my 5th Inreach or satellite communication tool and became an instant preference over others. The battery life is by far the best feature with this model as I am not as worried about leaving the tracking feature on higher frequency when out hunting by myself. The main complaint I would have is the ability to use this device for active mapping on your own phone when connected, but Garmin also provides an updated model the Messenger+ that provides this feature.

The Best Option

Battery that lasts for days. Good tracking. Emergency communications. Cell phones have sat messenging available but I haven't had it be as reliable as a sat messenger. Maybe one day but for now traveling in the backcountry alone this device is madatory. I find it lasts a whole weekend without issue.

Through 360 miles of Unbound XL this allowed my family to track every mile

Mostly Good

a little tedious to use without a phone but otherwise it works great and has good connectivity

Exactly What I Needed

Using On-X for years and love it, but wanted the inreach option too. The Inreach Messenger was the perfect fit. I was able to stay in touch with everyone wether they had a Garmin with inreach or just a cellphone with the messenger app.

I purchased this for an off road trip to be able to keep in touch with family. Battery life was excellent, it only dropped 10% after 4 days of intermittent use. Size and weight wasn't a concern for this trip but I don't have any concerns in taking it on the next backpacking trip. It will be a minimal weight penalty for some peace of mind.