New Inreach vs old DeLorme

Coach529

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
294
Location
Idaho Panhandle
I live in Northern Idaho and do a lot of solo stuff in the back country year round. Mountain Biking, Hiking, Snow Shoeing, and of course Hunting.

It would put me (and my wife) at ease if I could check in at night when back to camp.....and she could keep tabs on me at times.

Was looking at a Garmin Inreach, but also some older DeLorme models on Ebay.

You can buy a DeLorme Inreach Explorer on Ebay right now for $95 shipped. Cheapest I found the newest Garmin model is $400ish.

What is the real world difference between the two?
 
Joined
Dec 23, 2017
Messages
1,051
Location
Michigan
I use the Delorme paired with my phone. I dont know how the garmin could work any better this way. If you were to use the unit as a stand alone and not pair it to a phone, maybe it is better. I have not used the Garmin.
 

muddydogs

WKR
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
1,099
Location
Utah
I use or have both the Delorme SE and Explorer personally and they both work just fine. I just purchased the Explorer off Cabelas for $200 when they were selling cheap a month or so ago.

Be aware that the Delorme Explorer is similar to the Garmin SE+ in that the unit has GPS capabilities but the only thing that will show up on the units screen is a square grid map with no map features. The Explorer dose not have any real maps in it or able to download maps to it like the Explorer + unit. If your using your phone for mapping then you might not care as I don't.

Have you looked at the Mini? From my testing at work the Mini is a solid little unit that dose everything the SE+ dose in a smaller cheaper package. The Mini is a lot more phone based for easy of use then the bigger units so if your not planning on using your phone in conjunction with the Mini it's probably not the best choice.
 

muddydogs

WKR
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
1,099
Location
Utah
I use the Delorme paired with my phone. I dont know how the garmin could work any better this way. If you were to use the unit as a stand alone and not pair it to a phone, maybe it is better. I have not used the Garmin.

Both the Delorme units and Garmin units are about the same as a stand alone unit. The Garmin has a few more buttons for quick access menus but the navigation around the menus is the same. Personally I think the Garmin units just added a little more bulk and length to the unit itself and I prefer the smaller Delorme units. I'm not in the market for a new unit right now and hope to not be for a few years but if I had to purchase a unit tomorrow it would probably be the Mini due to its size and weight.
 

muddydogs

WKR
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
1,099
Location
Utah
I live in Northern Idaho and do a lot of solo stuff in the back country year round. Mountain Biking, Hiking, Snow Shoeing, and of course Hunting.

It would put me (and my wife) at ease if I could check in at night when back to camp.....and she could keep tabs on me at times.

Was looking at a Garmin Inreach, but also some older DeLorme models on Ebay.

You can buy a DeLorme Inreach Explorer on Ebay right now for $95 shipped. Cheapest I found the newest Garmin model is $400ish.

What is the real world difference between the two?

I know jeez three posts right in a row.
Just a word of caution when purchasing used units. I am not sure what the issue is but I have had around 10 Delorme SE units stop sending GPS coordinates this summer. Now my units are 4 to 5 years old, get used everyday for 6 months + and are generally treated ruff but its something to think about when purchasing a unit. Out of the original 80 units purchased 4 to 5 years ago I have about 50 left though some were lost and a few were just beat up. I would make sure your able to return the unit to the seller if there is a problem and upon receiving the unit send a test message right away to confirm GPS coords are being sent with the message. Make sure you check the box in your web account say send coords with message as well.
We have not had the SE+ or Explorer + units long enough to get an idea of there longevity.
 
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