Satelite cell phones?

[SAJ-99]

I’m a very slow adopter of all things. But, my stubbornness notwithstanding i think alot of folks who do more than day trip style recreation are gonna very much wanna maintain a dedicated safety device.

Phones are for pictures, videos, onX, and honestly aren’t as rugged as an inreach device and adding in the necessity to recharge to also maintain the absolute necessity of a safety net becomes too much for me. And on top of all that, my device has been purchased already, it won’t be until it’s too old or breaks that I will re think all of this. But until then, that garmin subscription is gonna be turned on from basically May through November every year.

I understand that view. I really want to hear some real world experience on it before signing up. But I am excited at the idea of getting rid of my inreach. 1) it’s another device I have to manage the battery on and 2) it has the same shortcomings as any device. I have found I need to have a pretty open view of the sky to get it to work, it is terribly slow and I find myself waiting for many messages to get sent. And 3) the user interface on the device is just terrible.

I said years ago Apple should just buy Garmin and make the products more user friendly. They could still purchase it today with one quarter worth of earnings, but they might not need to if this works.

 

[seeth07]

On my recent trip to AK, I had my inreach and both my phone and inreach were on at all times except during sleeping. I used my phone for navigation on and off the water as well as photos for the most part. I did use the earth app for using the inreach and never turned the screen on the inreach except to turn on and off.

My inreach lasted the entire trip without once charging it. 7 full days. My phone got charged twice using a small power bank. Power bank had 12% left and my phone was under 15% once at hotel just over 7 days.

If my phone was able to send and receive the satellite messages, I don't see how the battery life would be drastically changed but even so, I'd rather just have a slightly larger power bank or another small one left at camp rather than having to keep the inreach in my pocket as well as my phone.

The main nice thing about the inreach is for sure how easily it would be to activate sos compared to the phone. Perhaps the phone could have a way that if you held the power button the power off screen could have an sos to tap for ease.

 

[yakimanoob]

Adding my 2¢ as an avid backpack hunter in the fall and SAR / mountain rescue operations leader year-round.

• First and foremost, the ability to call for help using satellite networks is critical for anyone operating in the backcountry. Whether it's your phone or a dedicated device, please make sure you have the option when you're outside of cell range.
  • The old adage in SAR is that most people don't die of their injuries; they die of exposure after they become injured.
  • If you become injured and can't get self-rescue, just think about the amount of time it takes for someone to notice you're gone, activate SAR, then for SAR to find you (all the while not knowing if you're dead, injured, or just late).
  • If you're able to tell folks where you are and the nature of your injuries, your survivability goes WAY up. I can tell you from personal experience that we are able to save many, many more lives thanks to this technology than ever before.
  • I hate getting a call that a hunter is missing. I love sending medivac helicopters to exact coordinates knowing that the person truly needs that (dangerous and expensive) rescue.
• Redundancy is important to consider. Cell phone based sat comms tech is in its infancy, and while it's extremely promising and already having great results in rescue situations, I would still recommend backcountry hunters carry a dedicated device.