spot x vs garmin inreach mini

Currently I have a SPOT gen 3 and the mandatory annual subscription ($200 + $25 maintenance) is ridiculous given that I don't use it much and can get a 2 way messenger and only pay for the months I need it (typically 2 months a year). I am curious to hear from folks who have used either the spot X or the inreach mini what your thoughts are (bonus if you have used both) on these devices. I have read rei.com/blog/news/which-sat… but am curious to know how people feel about these items after having committed to them and actually used them for a while.

A few specific questions to get the convo started:

How have you managed with the battery on extended trips? The ratings are all for non stop use but I typically turn the device off when I'm not hiking so perhaps I'd be ok without having to recharge on a 4 day trip (the max I'd generally be away without cell signal).

How is the smartphone integration for the Mini? Intuitive? Clunky?

Do you own either device and wish you had gotten the other? Why?

Any other considerations?

PS - Anyone interested in purchasing a SPOT gen 3 next month? :D

I recently bought an inreach mini and I just got back from a four day kayaking trip.  We kept the inreach on during the time in the kayak and when I got back it still had 50% charge. We didn't use the tracking feature, but I would say battery life is as good (if not better) than advertised.

Smartphone integration works well and it's convenient to type messages. The maps for the nordics aren't great, but I use viewranger or some local app if I want detailed topo maps anyway. Most of the time I just send preset messages straight from the device or from my Fenix 5x (which pairs to the inreach). Even though it's more convenient to follow routes/navigate to waypoints on my fenix or smartphone, you can do basic navigation on the inreach too. 

The subscription is quite expensive in Sweden, but the ability to use the freedom plan and the fact that it works way up north is what made me get one. 

Apart from the differences highlighted in the REI review, another difference is the satellite network. SPOT uses the geostationary Globalstar network, which doesn't work well at high latitudes or in mid-ocean, or if there's a restricted view of the sky (e.g. at the bottom of a deep canyon). InReach uses the Iridium network, which consists of 66 satellites providing true global coverage. They're not geostationary, so at some point an Iridium satellite will probably become visible even if your view is somewhat restricted.

I don't have either device (I've got an older DeLorme InReach SE that I'm in no hurry to replace), but if you only turn the device on for an hour or so each day then the battery should last for weeks on end. At least that's the case with my InReach SE.

If I had to choose between the InReach Mini and the Spot X I'd pick the former. Apart from using the Iridium network, the Mini is smaller and lighter, and in the long run it's cheaper than the Spot if you use Garmin's "safety" plan. You'll probably want to pair it with a cellphone to compose custom messages, but I carry a cellphone anyway.

Don't overlook PLB devices either. I have the ARC ResQlink+ and it is awesome. no recharging the battery, no monthly subscription, no annual fees. just toss it in your pack and forget it until an emergency.

You do not get the text messaging, GPS, bluetooth sync, etc like you do with the Spot or Inreach. But I wasn't interested in those, I only wanted an SOS device.

sandrock wrote: Don't overlook PLB devices either. I have the ARC ResQlink+ and it is awesome. no recharging the battery, no monthly subscription, no annual fees. just toss it in your pack and forget it until an emergency.

You do not get the text messaging, GPS, bluetooth sync, etc like you do with the Spot or Inreach. But I wasn't interested in those, I only wanted an SOS device.

Seriously.

If you want the messaging features of the others that's one thing and you can ignore the rest of this.  I'm stupidly frugal and like that there's no annual fee (they only require battery replacement every 5-ish years), but the superior SAR power of the PLBs is the main selling point for a solo hiker that trends towards clumsiness. The SPOT has too many fails for my liking.  I'd rather train family and friends to do without an "I'm OK" message if I know I'm even slightly more capable of sending an "I'm NOT OKAY" message to people who might actually help me.

Katherine Knight wrote:

Seriously.

If you want the messaging features of the others that's one thing and you can ignore the rest of this.  I'm stupidly frugal and like that there's no annual fee (they only require battery replacement every 5-ish years), but the superior SAR power of the PLBs is the main selling point for a solo hiker that trends towards clumsiness. The SPOT has too many fails for my liking.  I'd rather train family and friends to do without an "I'm OK" message if I know I'm even slightly more capable of sending an "I'm NOT OKAY" message to people who might actually help me.

It is great to know that this is an option, however at present a hard requirement for me is to be able to send "I'm OK" messages, which is why I'm specifically considering the aforementioned devices.

Thanks for the great feedback everyone!

Katherine Knight wrote:

Seriously.

If you want the messaging features of the others that's one thing and you can ignore the rest of this.  I'm stupidly frugal and like that there's no annual fee (they only require battery replacement every 5-ish years), but the superior SAR power of the PLBs is the main selling point for a solo hiker that trends towards clumsiness. The SPOT has too many fails for my liking.  I'd rather train family and friends to do without an "I'm OK" message if I know I'm even slightly more capable of sending an "I'm NOT OKAY" message to people who might actually help me.

I experienced the same. Returned it after a two week trip where it gave us a false "sent" reading twice. It makes your family worry more to not get an "OK" message they are expecting, than to not expect anything.

Andy Eiter wrote:

I experienced the same. Returned it after a two week trip where it gave us a false "sent" reading twice. It makes your family worry more to not get an "OK" message they are expecting, than to not expect anything.

I have had to deal with "False Positives" with the Spot Gen 3 a lot.  The message sent indicator will blink even when a message has not necessarily been delivered.  Because of this, I am going to upgrade my device to one with 2-way texting capability so I can confirm messages.  Not needing a smartphone puts the SPOT X at the top of the list for me.  I carry a smartphone, but since I use it for mapping, camera and other functions, I can't guarantee it will have enough battery to work as my emergency callout device.  

Martin le Roux wrote: Apart from the differences highlighted in the REI review, another difference is the satellite network. SPOT uses the geostationary Globalstar network, which doesn't work well at high latitudes or in mid-ocean, or if there's a restricted view of the sky (e.g. at the bottom of a deep canyon). InReach uses the Iridium network, which consists of 66 satellites providing true global coverage. They're not geostationary, so at some point an Iridium satellite will probably become visible even if your view is somewhat restricted.

I don't have either device (I've got an older DeLorme InReach SE that I'm in no hurry to replace), but if you only turn the device on for an hour or so each day then the battery should last for weeks on end. At least that's the case with my InReach SE.

If I had to choose between the InReach Mini and the Spot X I'd pick the former. Apart from using the Iridium network, the Mini is smaller and lighter, and in the long run it's cheaper than the Spot if you use Garmin's "safety" plan. You'll probably want to pair it with a cellphone to compose custom messages, but I carry a cellphone anyway.

This is not quite correct.  Globalstar ustes inclined LEO orbits.  Globalstar's big limitation is that they use ground earth stations to relay messages from you though the satellite to ground and into the phone network.  Iridium uses other Iridium satellites to relay your message around the world and enters the telephone system near Phoenix.  For Globalstar the satellite must be able to see you and the ground earth station for the message to get through.  For Iridium you only need to be able to see the satellite and the system is configured so messages can then always be relayed to the ground station near Phoenix.    The earth ground station limitation is also why globalstar does not work in the ocean, there are no ground earth stations floating in the ocean.

Globalstar created the Spot and messenger market when their satellites started to fail.  They transmitter to talk to the phones were breaking but they realized the receiver from the phones was just fine.  So they came up with the spot to generate some revenue while they replaced there satellites (my speculation).  All their broken satellite have been replaced.
 
FYI,  It is Inmarsat that uses geostationary orbits.  I took both Inmarsat and Iridium phones to Peru and we had much better connectivity with Inmarsat.  Inmarsat does not make a messenger like Inreach or Spot.  Our good experience was because the majority of valleys pointed towards an Inmarsat satellite.  The deep valleys caused problems with Iridium and we often had to wait for a connection.  The good news is that a connection will happen eventually with Iridium.  If you don't have a connection with Inmarsat you have to move because the satellite is not moving.

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-personal-locator-beacon/buying-advice 
Was doing some research on different PLBS and found this article very useful. Helped a lot explaining the different satellites being used by each device. 

sharing my thread from a few days ago about this very issue:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/116176892/spot-satellite-messenger-service-issues

I have an inreach mini and had the old black inreach that has not screen before the mini. both served me very well over the years. im really happy with the mini. the battery life has been good for me. i dont tend to have it on when i am backpacking into a location. i turn it on (with tracking) for climbs though and the battery has never been an issue. if im going to be out in the backcountry for many days with multiple climbs where it will get a lot of use, i carry a small batter pack that i can charge it with. the app works just fine. great mapping on the app. allows for easy messaging using your phones keypad, etc.

Katie K wrote:

Seriously.

If you want the messaging features of the others that's one thing and you can ignore the rest of this.  I'm stupidly frugal and like that there's no annual fee (they only require battery replacement every 5-ish years), but the superior SAR power of the PLBs is the main selling point for a solo hiker that trends towards clumsiness. The SPOT has too many fails for my liking.  I'd rather train family and friends to do without an "I'm OK" message if I know I'm even slightly more capable of sending an "I'm NOT OKAY" message to people who might actually help me.

Unfortunately, PLBs are known to sometimes inaccurately report locations, just like the inreach and spot devices according to my friends on several SAR teams. The two-way messaging ability of the inreach is worth its weight in gold in a real-life rescue scenario.  

In August, I found myself calling for a rescue in August for a fallen climber from another party.  I was able to accurately describe injuries and our position to rescuers, which communicated the severity of the situation and initiated a quicker response.  If your PLB reports an incorrect location, you have no ability to communicate your correct location to rescuers, who could spend hours searching in an incorrect area with no other information to go off of.  I think an inreach is the way to go.  Each month is only $17 on my plan, and you can "freeze" the plan anytime if you don't need it.  

I checked out the mini inreach, but the fact that it loses most functionality if your phone is broken/dead made it unattractive to me.

I've had a Delorme InReach for around 4 years and loved it.  I recently received an error message claiming the device had been damaged.  Tech Support said it was a device failure, not caused by me, but I would have to pay $200 to trade for a refurb.  Of course the other option they gave me was to buy a new device at full price.  I'm a little sour about it but will likely be coughing up the money for a refurb device.  The actual technical support by Garmin and Delorme has always been top notch.

The standalone (no phone necessary) capabilities and increased battery life of the full size inReach are likely worth the weight and $$ in comparison to the mini.   If you do not plan to use the tracking or messaging features, consider a PLB.  I have no experience with SPOT devices.

Tucker Mozeley wrote: I've had a Delorme InReach for around 4 years and loved it.  I recently received an error message claiming the device had been damaged.  Tech Support said it was a device failure, not caused by me, but I would have to pay $200 to trade for a refurb.  Of course the other option they gave me was to buy a new device at full price.  I'm a little sour about it but will likely be coughing up the money for a refurb device.  The actual technical support by Garmin and Delorme has always been top notch.

The standalone (no phone necessary) capabilities and increased battery life of the full size inReach are likely worth the weight and $$ in comparison to the mini.   If you do not plan to use the tracking or messaging features, consider a PLB.  I have no experience with SPOT devices.

Same thing happened to my inreach and tech support had no solution except buy a new unit. I googled the problem and there was a very easy solution on line. Sorry I don’t remember the exact sequence but it was something easy like pressing and holding a button while in a certain function. That was a year ago and it’s been good since. Good luck. 

I've actually since bought and used the Garmin InReach Mini and for my purposes it is leaps and bounds better than the SPOT Gen3 I used to have. Simply having the ability for 2 way communication with loved ones, let alone rescuers, is very valuable. The fact that I've been trying to sell my SPOT Gen3 for months without success also says something...

Ad my vote for having dealt with issues on canceling my subscription, automatic bank account withdraws with higher rates without any prior contact/ notice from SPOT and just plain awful customer service and eithics as a company.  Wouldn't run a SPOT for free if given one with lifetime subscription. Planning on picking up the garmin/in reach deal for future longterm adventures.

Signal mirror + yer lucky nickel

Marcelo wrote: Ad my vote for having dealt with issues on canceling my subscription, automatic bank account withdraws with higher rates without any prior contact/ notice from SPOT and just plain awful customer service and eithics as a company.  Wouldn't run a SPOT for free if given one with lifetime subscription. Planning on picking up the garmin/in reach deal for future longterm adventures.

In contrast, I've been using a Delorme/Garmin InReach for years (just upgraded to a mini this fall--love it) and the ease of changing the subscription, or pausing it (I'm on the freedom plan where I can pause it for months at a time), is great. 

Greg R wrote:

Same thing happened to my inreach and tech support had no solution except buy a new unit. I googled the problem and there was a very easy solution on line. Sorry I don’t remember the exact sequence but it was something easy like pressing and holding a button while in a certain function. That was a year ago and it’s been good since. Good luck. 

Pretty sure it's UP-UP-DOWN-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-B-A-SELECT-START 

So, to be the naysayer, the whole point of getting out and about is to be disconnected. It has probably been hashed out numerous times here, but when I go out, I don’t want to be connected. At all.

In my opinion, when I go climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, hiking, floating, whatever, the best part of it is to be 100% reliant on myself and my abilities, and perhaps my partners abilities.

All this about beacons, and transceivers, and radios, and SPOT and GPS devices, all that, is in my opinion, pure bullshit. Get out and go, on your own. Learn how to navigate with a compass and a paper map, or with nothing at all. The electronic stuff has a place, sometimes, but nothing electronic can, or should, ever be a substitute for skill, practice, or common sense.

Edit: for the record, I’d be fucking mortified if I had to call in outside help to rescue me or one of my party, if I hadn’t already exhausted/explored/tried every option available before that.