Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Emergency help while hunting?

Have you used an In Reach? I have looked at em a few times wondering if the sats used were better than with SPOT or not.

Very similar to the sat phone issues... I think was globalstar vs Iridium and which sats they used...

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I've been surprised that no one has recommended the Delorme In-Reach SE sooner.

I have used one for a year and a half in remote areas across wilderness British Columbia, northern Saskatchewan and Western WA State and flat out love it. Low cost, has always worked, far more reliable than Sat phones I have used and allows me to compose an appropriate message at the time.

It is a pocket size stand alone device which sends and receives text messages directly via Satelite, to and from any smart phone or e-mail address. It sends the location from where the message is sent with each text. It also has one lockable button to call 911 Search and Rescue from wherever you are in the world, which I have never used. It costs $299 plus a monthly plan which starts at $9.99 per month for the cheapest, which I have. I got rid of my SPOT once I got the In-Reach SE.

http://www.rei.com/search.html?ir=q%3Adelorme+inreach&page=1&q=delorme+inreach

I can compose a message any time and send it, unlike the pre-canned messages SPOT requires. I can say I'm stuck, need a specific tool, that I've decided to stay out an extra night, need help to pack meat, ask my wife to meet me at a restaurant, or tell her that my sleeping bag is lonesome. Text and e-mail address are limited to 140 words total per message. Keyboard is small on the hand held device.

I have used it from deep in a canyon under tall NW forest trees loaded with heavy snow and also in the same places in heavy rain. It has always sent and received messages though may take a few minutes. Text apparently goes out in a quick burst and is much more reliable than Sat phone voice.

I have used it from inside my sleeping bag inside a vehicle in the Canadian Rockies, from inside buildings etc. My first message I sent from my dining room table and then realized that I should go outside to open sky as recommended, so went out and sent a message while leaning on my vehicle. The first message popped up with a satelite photo like Google Earth and showed the message as being sent from a spot on the roof of my house over the dining room table. The second message put the spot five feet in front of my car's bumper. Ditto for showing the fire ring of our campfire in the Canadian Rockies when sent from there.

Cell phones almost never work where I hunt and fish. This Delorme In-Reach SE is the most significant practical wilderness communication device to appear in my lifetime thus far.

I have no connection with Delorme nor am I a salesman for them, though I wish I had invented it.

Delorme In-Reach works for me....far better than SPOT. Friends living very remote all went to In Reach.......I first used mine to call for a bush flight after taking a dall sheep and it worked at 64 degrees North and in a deep and narrow valley.

Get the brochure and study the options.....not all that expensive and you don't have to pay for an entire year......wife can even track you so be careful where you go.

VERY good info folks!!! Seems the DeLorme has better reception, so to speak than SPOT.

SPOT has worked, sounds like In Reach took their idea and took it up a step and called it their own and ran with it. Very good deal.

Thanks, Jeff

FWIW, just remembered that I used my Delorme inReach SE on the East coast as well. On vacation last year I sent my grandkids e-mails from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, etc. so that they could see on Google earth where we were.

The spot device 3rd generation works well but still needs the line of site to the salivate over head. There are generally satellites which will be over head most any time of day or night.

Cheap- but a map, good whistle and a 2 way radio.