So another negative point. I am opting to keep my old gps and simply investing in a satellite communicator like the Garmin Mini , or a SPOT or a Zoleo that seems to have very good reviews. Oh, and I did a test between my old 60CSx bought in early s and the 66i under a thick forest canopy. After both units were on for about 10 minutes, the position reading between the two units was off by only a few meters and elevation was off by only 1m.
The one positive aspect of the 66i compared to my old unit, is the speed at which it acquired satellites. However in the first few minutes, the difference in positioning between the two units was about 50m.
Can't tell you which one was more accurate though, but I would feel quite confident with the 66i especially after it has been turned on for several minutes like any gps.
I am a forester who has worked with gps units for the last 30 years. I load numerous waypoints of my sampling sites ahead of time. I use the gps to navigate to these points and I also use the gps unit to record new points. I do not create routes or tracks. Welcome to Trailspace, Rockies. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with this Garmin. Too bad it didn't work out.
InReach Service is expensive and set up to scam you out of money by automatic renewal of monthly service with no way to opt out when selecting a monthly plan. Garmin will charge you the minute your month is up and you can call them the minute after but they will charge you for the full month that is starting, no refunds, partial credits, or even an apology.
I have lots and lots of Garmin products and have been a repeat customer of theirs for as long as I can remember. I have never had a problem with any of their products or their technical support. My most recent purchase was this top of the line GP66i with InReach capability which I purchased to have InReach capability to text family for week trips I take out West every few years.
I selected the "Freedom plan" which allows you to add monthly service for up to one year but they have it set up to automatically renew at the end of each month and do not give you an option to opt out of auto-renewal nor do they send you any notifications that your plan is about to renew.
I have contacted them the day the plan was renewing within hours not a day or days! Their customer service rep was rudely talking over me when I tried sharing ideas for changes to better serve their customers such as allowing to de-select auto-renewal when placing the order manually or simply sending out a notice before the plan automatically renews.
I went from loving my Garmin devices to loathing the company for being rude, unprofessional, and unwilling to work with their me, someone who has purchased so many of their products and until now has been an advocate of their company.
With the money this device is costing me to simply text I so regret not simply renting a satellite phone like I have done in the past to check in with family. Absolutely do not buy any Garmin devices with InReach. They have it set up to scam people out of money with the automatic renewal and no leniency. I used to love Garmin but after my experience with their InReach service and customer service after trying to cancel service within hours after it automatically renewed I will never recommend or buy another of their products.
So sad to see companies that don't care about their customers. I have never been more disappointed by a product. Every other Bluetooth device I own shows up on my phone and pairs in seconds. This device has never paired in less than a dozen tries. I have had to sit down multiple times with the Garmin "how to" video to pair it. I have been using GPS and inReach for a few years. GPS since the '90s.
I'm experienced with Basecamp and make all my trips with it. I'm so happy to have one unit to do both things. I'm pretty intuitive with new tech like this but this is super difficult to through a 2- or 3-night hike onto. There's other map sites you can use to try to avoid the clunky Garmin Explorer site. Don't waste your time there. There is little to no "How to" clips online which help you with the Explorer site and syncing.
If you decide you want to find a Network Engineer to try to sync your devices good luck. Have used other GPS devices in the past no dramas. The only experience I have with this device is trying to find a place to put in deep in my backpack so I can just hike the pent-up regret and buyer's remorse away.
It does look nice though. The 66i is garbage. I spent two hours trying to do so and gave up. The computer just searches endlessly for the 66i. And it charges with any old USB charger which is easy enough. This one is more straightforward. If you just need a satellite communicator and already have a GPS or smartphone that you navigate with, then get the InReach Mini full review here.
You can perform navigation with it when you pair it with a smartphone and the Earthmate app. If you want navigation with InReach and are not comfortable relying on a smartphone in the backcountry, then go with the 66i. The 66i offers InReach, a better screen, WiFi, and more memory, but otherwise they are very similar. This is where it gets tough. On a smartphone you can pinch and zoom, choose from dozens of map layers and sources, and store hundreds of thousands of waypoints, tracks, and routes.
Try using a touchscreen in the rain. Try looking at the small writing on navigation app screens when you have mild snow or sun blindness. What happens when the phone drops and the screen cracks?
Or when the battery dies because you forgot to put it in flight mode? So there are some interesting options. First off, this is a handheld GPS unit, and the rounded edges and sizing make it fit ergonomically into your palm.
Your thumb can reach around and hit all the buttons. The weight 8. Weight-wise it feels like holding a mango or a heavier piece of fruit. Like previous Garmin GPS units, the screen is plastic and can scratch. I recommend getting a cheap tempered-glass screen protector. IPX7 means that you can submerge it 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, which in practical terms means you can get it wet without a problem.
The spec has 24 areas of testing that a piece of gear has to pass, including fun ones like explosive atmosphere explosions , fungus, and gunfire shock. I wish the overall setup was a little more coherent. The service is free with your Garmin device. To make it more clear:. In order to use the InReach functionality, you need a subscription plan.
They work like cell phone plans and vary in cost. I have a setup guide at the end of this article that tells you how to get sorted with your plan and setup when you have the device. You can also tweak some of the settings for your messages which is helpful. These settings have no effect on the pricing or cost of messages. Make sure you spend time setting up your presets, contacts, and quick text on the explore. You also need to sync the device with the Garmin Explore smartphone app to send the messages and contacts to your 66i.
It does not sync over the Iridium satellite network. If you wanted to text someone outside of a preset message, you had to manually type their phone number in.
You can add a new contact on the 66i, including entering an InReach device address. When you sync your 66i with the Garmin Explore app the contact will sync back to your main account as well.
After you send a message the 66i will check for replies to your message for 10 minutes. After that it does a check for new messages every hour.
If you have LiveTrack on, it checks for new messages every time that it broadcasts your position. You can also trigger a manual check. One of the really powerful features if you hike with others is the InReach to InReach capability. If you wanted to communicate over long distances in the wilderness before, you usually would go for a GMRS radio, and there are some very cool options like the Garmin Rino basically a 66i with radio instead of InReach.
But the range is limited to a few miles and usually you need a decent line-of-sight to use them. Since the InReach uses satellites, you can be as far away from other InReach users as you want. We had set up presets beforehand and it was all done in a matter of seconds. You can message any other InReach device Mini, Explorer, etc. A cool new feature that ties into that last point is the ability to navigate to a location sent from another InReach.
When you read a message you can tab and see the location info from where it was sent. To sum it up, you can trigger an SOS from your 66i and an emergency response team will coordinate a rescue. And unlike PLBs you can have a two-way conversation with the rescue team. Or maybe you smell smoke from a wildfire and need information on evacuation routes. You can do it with the InReach. Read this. Before I get into the details this is a good time to give you my disclaimer about hitting SOS.
And there is definitely unwarranted use by those who are less experienced. For a few hundred bucks you can signal a rescue if something bad happens, and accidents happen to all of us regardless of experience level. The LiveTrack feature allows you to broadcast snapshots of your position to your MapShare webpage. What the hell is a MapShare page? Good question. You can make the page public those with the URL can find it or password protected and private. You can also filter some of the data that shows on it.
By default, all of your messages and tracks will show on the map. You can also allow visitors to ping your location or send you messages. Some subscription plans include unlimited live tracking and others charge per tracking point. You can tweak how often tracking points get broadcast in the settings, anywhere from 10 minutes to 4 hours.
Unlike other Garmin InReach devices, the 66i does not offer satellite weather reports. A lightweight device with decent screen size and some wonderful mapping and navigation features make it one of the top in the line. However, some users found a few small bugs with the software. But overall, this device is just amazing. It is one of the best handheld devices out there to be with you on your adventure trips.
It is more than a smartphone and also features InReach capabilities. Thus, it can be the most ideal choice for you. When you get caught in a downpour… …you may find yourself desperately wishing you had a durable, warm, completely waterproof jacket with. Your email address will not be published. Facebook-f Twitter Pinterest-p. No Comments. In-depth Review. Table of Contents. Share on facebook Facebook.
Share on pinterest Pinterest. Share on twitter Twitter. Share on reddit Reddit. Share on tumblr Tumblr. Share on email Email. Share on print Print. Tim Fox. Since the age of 10, Tim, a writer at Outdoor With J, has enjoyed camping in the great outdoors. Although he loves the peace and quiet of the outdoors, he also likes his creature comforts. You can find more about him here.
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