Garmin inReach vs. Sat Phone ? Recommendations? Use will be Alaska, Remote Rockies, RSA and Botswana.

TakeMeLord

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I am approaching 70 years of age and my family wants me to start carrying a device that will allow communications in emergencies. Suggestion? God Bless,
 
InReach very small inexpensive. They can keep up with your location 24 hours. You text no talk We use ours when crossing the Gulf Stream to Bahamas. Gives loved ones peace of mind.
 
I live in rural Alaska. Most of my buddies have InReaches. I will probably go that way myself at some point. Currently I have a sat phone I got on eBay for a song a number of years ago. I buy sim cards with minutes on Amazon. It has never let me down. I have mine for a combination of worst-case scenario health concerns and just the simple bonus of calling to change a pick-up flight, or getting a friend to update me on weather conditions, while I am in the field and can't check it myself.
 
Garmin InReach work great in the US, in Botswana or RSA just use your regular cell phone to keep in touch or emergencies. RSA and Bots have better cell reception even in remote places than I have anywhere in the state of Montana!
 
I have used inReach for years. I have used the larger 700i GPS inReach for the past 5 years. I really like the tracking feature where my wife can see where I am at when I'm out in the mountains by myself. I also really like the weather forecasting ability for my specific location. For fun I would send her my location and what I was hunting when I was in Namibia a few years ago. I also have an iPhone 14 with the satellite SOS feature. The inReach allows me to text as much as I want and when set up will provide the person receiving the text my exact location every time.
 
I loaned my gps unit to some friends who did a tour in South America. It was lots of fun to follow their daily movements. I use mine in the states to text my wife so she always gets the texts and has my gps location. I’ve used it from remote mountains while hunting and also from canyon roads on the way home when we were stopped for traffic problems and had no phone reception. It is inexpensive to own and operate. Mine is the inreach explorer +
 
I have used my Garmin Inreach in Antarctica, Namibia, Carribean, and Alaska Northslope. It literally works everywhere.
The only reason I can see to have a SAT phone is if you need voice calling….
If you only need text, Inreach is the way to go….
 

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