Satellite Communication
I got kind of excited by the release of satellite messaging on the latest iPhones and iOS. It’s a good safety feature that allowed me to send a location update and more importantly send an SOS message should I need to, even when I didn’t have any mobile reception. It’s free and seemed to work and it was easy to use thanks to the large screen on the phone. I haven’t had to use it in anger but it did offer to share my location once whilst I was completely out of reception and that seemed to work well.
This made emergency beacons such as the RescueMe PLB that I had (mainly for sea-kayaking) somewhat redundant. Im not saying having a backup emergency device isn’t sensible and something dedicated to emergency assistance is probably a good thing, but having such capability on your phone could come in useful. The PLB was only for emergency use, the phone however allowed me to send non-emergency location updates to Anna when out of reception too. Don’t forget of course about all the other things an iPhone is useful for when out in the wilds which means that I always have it with me too.
Just for info, the RescueMe PLB has never been used by me. It was only a one-way system as well. So, if I did ever use it I wouldn’t know if the message had actually been sent or received by emergency services so it would be a case of hit the SOS button and hope for the best!
Apple are upping the stakes in iOS 18 (currently in Beta) by adding two-way satellite messaging. This allows us send actual text messages and just as importantly receive them as well, all over satellite so that we can stay in contact even when out of any reception. This is not only to emergency services but to anyone.
All this is very useful, especially when I’m out in the hills, and especially considering the fact that I’m not getting any younger.
Despite being better in some ways (and currently free to use), the Apple iPhone satellite communication system does have a few problems.
- The two-way messaging isn’t available yet as it’s still in Beta.
- The satellite communication is a little slow.
- I’ve had a couple of situations where it was unable to connect to a satellites at all and couldn’t therefore send a location update and presumably wouldn’t have been able to send an SOS message.
- The service isn’t available in all countries, just a few chosen countries at the moment. No doubt this will improve with time.
With these issues in mind and a planned trip to the mountains, where the Apple service wasn’t available, it was time to think about a different satellite communicator. Having some Garmin devices the obvious choice was the Garmin InReach Mini2.
The advantages of this in comparison to the phone is that it:
- Works worldwide.
- It is a dedicated tool.
- It has better battery life.
- It uses a better satellite network (Iridium vs Globalstar).
- It also has features such as tracking and weather updates.
The disadvantages are that it’s an extra device to carry and therefore extra weight (113 g with the karibiner), and probably most significantly is the cost. The InReach Mini2 is around £230 to buy but you also need a subscription to use it. The subsription cost varies dependin on the plan that you buy but the cheapest is around £15 a month. There are other plans up to £65 a month. There might be additional charges for sending/receiving messages, getting weather updates, sending tracking points etc. depending on the plan that you have.
I’ve gone for the cheapest plan and will use it sparingly. This plan gives me
- Unlimited SOS messages: hopefully I’ll never use this!
- Unlimited Check-ins: these are preset, un-editable messages that you can send along with your location. This is what I’ll use mainly, as a quick ‘All is OK’ update to Anna each day.
- 10 free messages a month: I’ll use these if I want to send (and receive) other info to Anna. Additional texts over the 10 included cost 50p.
So, the InReach Mini is kind of expensive for what you get, but useful day to day for peace of mind and to keep Anna up to date when I’m out in the ‘back-country’. It’s a dedicated tool, it’s the most reliable and if it were ever needed in an emergency situation then the costs would definitely be worth it. Anna can send me messages on it too if needed. Although for ‘chatty’ messages we’ll stick to usual mobile messages that we’ll pick up if and when reception is available.
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[…] in the stream) the surroundings explored and a satellite location checkiin sent to Anna from my Garmin InReach Mini2, it was soon time for dinner. To minimise weight we were carrying dehydrated meals and […]
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Expensive but with you life style could literally be a life saver x