InReach Plans? What do you prefer?

[HighUintas]

I don't do tracking, but the way I understand it, if you are on the safety plan, you would be charged $0.10 for "real time tracking" as you have described.

You can also set up the preset (free) messages to send your location with the message. That's what I use and send frequently throughout the day to keep my wife at ease.

Also thought I'd mention that I switched from Spot to Inreach and wish I had done it sooner.

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Are you using the inreach mini or the full size?

The battery life and easier message sending without bluetoothing to cell phone when using the full size seems nice. But it has a lot of features I wouldn't use and the mini is cheaper, so I'm not sure which would be better .

 

[bayoublaster7527]

I do the freedom month to month. Turn on in Sep and turn off end of Nov.

 

[dla]

Curious what everyone has found to be their preferred InReach plan?

Do you just pay by the months as you need it? Do you just buy an annual package? Is it worth getting the cheapest annual package, and then just eating the extra fees on the couple months a year you go over?

I switched from SPOT to InReach Feb this year (12 year SPOT user). I'm a firm believer in tracking, (more on that later), and chose the Recreation plan for this year.
I use InReach every month, but I've never gone over my 40 text monthly allocation. So I think something like a safety plan with unlimited tracking would be best for me.
I use the Mini, and I send presets mostly unless I'm carrying my phone for OnX mapping.
I set the tracking interval to 20 minutes - seems enough resolution. I leave the Tracking on all day. After every trip I clear the history logs and start fresh.
Regarding tracking: recently a family member headed off on his dirt bike to check trail cams and his bike croaked on him many miles from a road. He uses the safety plan. We get no "I'm OK" message (not sure why) and there's no track points on the shared map page (supposedly his InReach could be pinged). Anyways, stuff happens and that is why I always use Tracking.

I'll revisit my plan choice next year. My lifestyle changes, so maybe my plan choice will change too.

 

[Aaron Warpony]

I use cheapest plan. the text overage charges aren't that much. I don't text much on it though. you can always up your subscription at any time

 

[robby denning]

Safety plan.

I use the preset messages to send a nightly "all is well" to the wife. I save the custom messages to send her updates when plans change.

I'm not out there so that I can sit and text all day so I don't send many messages besides the nightly check-in. But if texting is your thing consider this. There is a $13 difference before you get to the next level plan. At $0.50 per extra message you can send an extra 26 messages for a total of 36 messages before you spend as much as the next plan that allows 40 messages.

Then consider how often you think you will actually use the tracking feature. It is rare for me, so the occasional use is still low enough to stay below the cost of the more expensive plans. Every message you send contains the tracking point.

I use mine all year so I stay on the annual subscription. By the time I estimated usage on the Freedom plan it wasn't going to save me any money.

Yes. Every message has tracking so that’s why I dropped the tracking. Thanks


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[mrbillbrown]

I started out with the unlimited thinking I needed all the messages and tracking. Figured out it was way cheaper for me to pay for the tiny overage texts vs paying for the more expensive plan upfront and not using all the provided paid for messages. I don't typically worry about the tracking feature either.

 

[Tbone58]

I’d look at the packages and see how much you want to message or check the weather. I’m switching to the expedition package and staying with the freedom package. I have young ones at home it’s nice to stay in touch and check the weather to make sure nothing is coming in that I’m not ready for. The freedom package means I can use it the two months each year and then turn it off. It’s a great investment in my opinion