Garmin InReach mini or...

[scogem]

Hello,

I am doing the West Highland Way fairly soon and I have plans to do something a bit more remote later in the year.
Everybody seems to have the Garmin InReach Mini and I understand it might help me out if someone I meet or I get injured. However, I will not use the text feature to text friends and family while on a holiday and I am not seeing any other benefits.

Are there any alternatives? Do any of the Garmin watches provide the same functionality? (I am sure they will be more expensive)

Cheers,

[davekeiller]

For the West Highland way, this is considerable overkill.
It's a well-trafficked, established route, mostly on good paths. The probability of an accident is very low. Should an accident occur, there's good mobile signal on most if not all of the route, so the chances of not being able to use a mobile phone to summon help in a timely fashion are slim to nil.

If going somewhere more remote, it's a bit more likely that you'll be out of phone reception, but where are you actually going? The vast majority of places do actually have mobile reception, so unless you're going somewhere that's a full day's walk from human habitation I'm not convinced it's really necessary.

[Marty_JG]

Who are the "everybody" who has a satellite communicator on the West Highland Way? As said, not needed there is constant traffic along it.

The in-Reach Mini is the cheapest of the Satellite communicators, no watch can do that that I know of. Should you start to do off-trail adventures in the most remote parts of Scotland you might consider it, but even out there 99% of people don't have one.

[WalkWithWallace]

If you're purely after a 'Get out of jail free' card, where you can just call for help when needed, then look at the McMurdo PLB:

https://www.seasofsolutions.com/products/mcmurdo-fastfind-220/

[shinenotburn]

Everyone's level of risk is different however a satellite device for the WHW does feel like overkill. There is another post on here of a similar nature where they are looking for a method of tracking and it seems to me that the technical solution might not be the best or first thing to reach for.

The simple use of an emergency contact who has a copy of your planned route and clear times when you will ring or text provides a high degree of safety and reassurance. You could spend the cost of a watch/mini on some training that could improve your skills and reduce the chances of an emergency in the first place.

I would second Robin's recommendation of a PLB if you want a "get out of jail" device however you need to be conscious to use it and you would be very unlikely not to be able to summon help on the WHW if you were.

The tech is great and usually works well within it's limitations however I would look at the human solutions first before sub contracting my well-being to a device.

Iain.

[scogem]

Thanks for the replies. I will have a closer look at the locator beacon.

I know a Garmin InReach mini is overkill for WHW. As I said, I plan on trying a few more remote places in future. Spent a few pounds on backpacking gear so will need to make a go of trekking and wild camping. Been watching lots of YouTube videos and many people have the InReach mini and I have seen it used for WHW. Maybe they bought for a previous trail. I dont know.

Anyway, I would like the features of the InReach mini AND I would also like some kind of journey tracker. I just wondered if there was another product that could do both.

[davekeiller]

If they're youtube videos then they're probably a bit all the gear and no idea.

I've been hillwalking in Scotland for 20 years and never felt the need for anything more than a mobile phone and a simple GPS unit. Mobile reception is more reliable than some people seem to think!

I can count on my fingers the number of times I've used a GPS in anger. Tech can be useful when it all goes Pete Tong, but you'd be better off learning to navigate so you don't get into difficulty in the first place.

[davekeiller]

If you want a journey tracker, then pretty much every standalone GPS unit, or GPS enabled smartphone (which is nearly all of them these days) will do that for you.

[jamiecopeland]

I have a Garmin InReach mini. The handset isn’t too expensive, but it does then require a monthly subscription.

As you mention it does indeed have an SOS button which can be used only if you need help when outwith phone signal. The texting feature is less about messaging your mates and infact it’s quite time consuming to type a custom message so I stick to the pre set messages. These come in handy if I’m running behind time as I can then alert my Mrs that I am safe. The device also tracks your location. You can choose who you allow access to the password protected website then only they can track you. Mine is set to send a beacon every ten minutes so if I haven’t moved for a prolonged period of time (an hour or more) my partner will no doubt raise the alarm that I’m probably in need of help.

Whilst the device might be of some use to myself I find the benefits also include peace of find for your nearest and dearest and in the event that I do need rescued then it will make the job of rescuing me much easier and faster for MRT.

[WalkWithWallace]

Mobile reception is more reliable than some people seem to think!

I can count on my fingers the number of times I've used a GPS in anger. Tech can be useful when it all goes Pete Tong, but you'd be better off learning to navigate so you don't get into difficulty in the first place.

Mobile signal has came on leaps and bounds, even since I started hill walking 11 years ago. You're almost guaranteed to get a signal on most summits. Dropping into remote glens is a different story though. Whilst a GPS tracker/PLB might be overkill for the WHW, you can go two days without a signal on parts of the CWT.

Experienced hikers with a map and compass can still get into bother, doesn't stop you having an accident in an area where there's no mobile signal.

A PLB is essentially an insurance policy. You'll hopefully never need it, but it's there just in case.

[Mal Grey]

I resisted such a device for a long time, as I felt the Highlands weren't really remote enough or wild enough.

We used such devices when on long trips in Sweden and Norway, where we were days from roads at times.

However, we now tend to multi-day trips in the wilder parts of Scotland, almost all canoe orientated. These include trips with a bunch of kids along. Easter 2019 we were in the middle of Inverpolly and spent 7 days without seeing another soul, and only once being able to receive a mobile signal enough to get a forecast update. Most of the time there wasn't even enough for a text.
After that trip, I heard from one of the parents, that one of the kids (about 10 at the time) had been a bit worried by how remote we were, and how we would get help if one of us had a problem. I think this also stems partly from an occasion where I poorly "skimmed" stone from one kid ended up with a trip to get stitches for another, and this lad had not forgotten that and was worried about how we'd call for help if needed. (Not that we would for a small wound!!) Some of the parents were getting a little pressure from grandparents to have some sort of safety device.
I also started thinking more about solo trips. When out in the canoe, there are times when we get windbound for a fair time, and it is possible that one day this might happen for long enough to fail to get to civilization when planning to. Also, we tend to be in the glens, as that's where the water seems to gather , and nipping up a Munro to get a signal isn't necessarily a practical thing.

I thought about this for a while, did a little research and eventually bought the InReach Mini. It was a big investment, but you only need to pay a more modest annual fee, then any month period that you use it in; you can then suspend it when not tripping. So it made sense to me, though as the least worried of the group I'm not sure why it was me that ended up splashing out! I do go out lots more than the others though.
It also gives me a weather forecast when there is no mobile signal, which is useful on week long trips, and has proven as accurate as any other.

I have only dabbled with the tracking side. It works, but obviously as its in 10 minute intervals to make the battery last, the track is a bit simplified and takes straight lines where you didn't. Battery life itself seems good if you're not using it. A couple of weeks ago I used it in Letterewe/Fisherfield on our latest daft canoe/mountain adventure (which my friend Lynne has posted a TR on yesterday), and we had no phone signal at all except on the summit of A' Mhaighdean (the most remote 4G in Britain ). Mostly it was just a back up switched off in my pocket, but I tracked the 2 hill days as an experiment, plus I checked the weather on it perhaps three times. The battery was at 85% at the end of the week, most of which was the 12 or 13 hours of walk tracking I guess.
I'm less interested in the ability for others to follow my progress, but do understand that sometimes family want this. I would never set to full time tracking, the battery requirements would be too much, but for regular planned check ins, and using the preset messages to say "safe at todays camp" etc, it could be useful.
The software for all the extra stuff isn't the slickest and does take a bit of working out, however the "Call International Rescue" process is simple, obvious and has instructions on the unit.

I wouldn't bother for the WHW, as mentioned, but if those remote trips are truly remote, it does give some peace of mind, not least for those at home.

One final thing. If you are using such a device to be followed by somebody remotely, and using that as an extra back up, make sure they understand exactly how the device works. I've told this tale before, but will again.
A couple of friends of mine were doing a couple of nights paddle in Affric. They were using a SPOT device and one wife was tracking them from afar. I was elsewhere, on a weekends trip in Wales I think.
Just before midnight, I get a phone call from my mate's wife. She wants me to look at the track as she's spent the last few hours worrying about them. After dictating the web address to me one letter at a time, I could get the screen up, and it was a Google Maps based view, with the loch clearly show. The track of my mates canoeing could clearly be followed, but then in late afternoon, it just started going around in circles. Worryingly to the wife, it was a few hundred metres from the shore line. I looked at it, and thought hard, as I couldn't see how an accident could end up with such obvious circling, and then short lines going out and back. Eventually, it occurred to me to switch to the satellite view on the map. Which was very different, and the shoreline in a different place. They were on a peninsula, wandering around camp and walking back and out for a call of nature, but had forgotten they had the SPOT in a pocket turned on...
It just goes to show what happens if those at home don't understand what's going on and also, the importance of using the "I'm safe" message without fail if that is what you've agreed with those at home.
Of course had they actually been bobbing about in a loch, it wasn't much use waiting 6 hours worrying before ringing a friend anyway...

[davekeiller]

It's certainly true that these types of device have their place.
However, I sometimes think that people feel like they need lots of expensive gadgets when the reality is that most of them are unnecessary. The success of the SARLOC system (and its competitor, Phonefind), shows how a standard smartphone is sufficient in most mountainous areas of the UK.

I remember going out hillwalking in the days when mobile phones were something of a rarity, and most people didn't have GPS either. Somehow we all managed to get home in one piece.

[Marty_JG]

Somehow we all managed to get home in one piece.

Experienced walkers from this forum, far more experienced than me, have lost their lives whilst hiking.

That your groups never had a fatality, broken leg, etc., doesn't mean other groups or individuals haven't.

[davekeiller]

@Marty_JG yes, obviously accidents did happen in the past. They still do and they always will.

However, our perception of risk and our strategies for dealing with it seem to have been different.
To an extent that's a good thing - I remember the days when the "actions if" were send two people to the nearest human habitation to raise the alarm meanwhile the rest of the party gives six blasts per minute on a whistle. Much quicker to use a mobile phone to dial 999. MR teams now use SARLOC as standard - that sends a text message to the injured person's phone containing a link. Hit the link and it uses the phone's GPS to determine your location and tell MR exactly where you are so they don't have to search the whole hillside.
However, there does come a point where the cost-benefit analysis says that the reduction in risk isn't justified by the costs of further measures. To me, satellite phones fall into the category of not being justified in most of Scotland. If I already had one, I'd probably carry it, but I don't think it's worth buying one for use in Scotland.

[Marty_JG]

I get what you're saying there is a cost/weight/benefit ratio to calculate, but the cheapest is £275, and "adding" Satellite to a Garmin GPS unit is also around that for similar-to-similar Garmin units. The SOS plan is £20 a month. The weight and bulk is negligible. But is it that a lot of money? To some of us yes. Certainly to me. To others, not so much. Looking at the range of costs for Hilleberg or DCF tents, the more expensive sleeping bags, mats, titanium cookware, hiking boots, let alone other personal items such as choice of mobile phone or version of car. Or a meal in the Kingshouse Hotel. The cheapest 3 courses of dinner (Lentil Soup, Chicken, Treacle Pudding) for one is £30, without drinks or coffee, and throw in an other £20 if you want something halfway interesting to eat. I know hills have gotten a lot better mobile reception, but within 5 miles of the Glasgow boundary, up in the Kilpatrick Braes, once you go over the Slacks reception is patchy at best, down by Loch Humphrey I rare-to-never get one.

Are they needed on the Lomond/Nevis/Cobbler tourist tracks or the WHW? Aw naw. But if someone wants to take a path less travelled, solo, I won't fault them for investing in one. Better to have one and not need it that to need one and not have it.