Garmin is bringing audio/video capabilities to the backcountry in a means it by no means has earlier than. The inReach Messenger Plus machine doesn’t look a lot completely different than the acquainted inReach we’re all used to, however the efficiency is almost incomparable.
Chip Noble, Garmin inReach product supervisor, has labored towards today since 2011 when an editor requested a easy query, “Texting is nice, however can it ship an image?”
After greater than 10 years of labor, Noble can lastly ship that long-awaited thumbs up.
The inReach Messenger Plus ($499) permits you to pair together with your smartphone to share images and ship 30-second voice messages. One other big change is a tenfold improve in textual content functionality from 160 characters to a whopping 1,600, so that you shouldn’t have to chop your messages quick to get the purpose throughout.
If it really works as marketed, you possibly can describe intimately the place you camped for the night time, ship an image of the dawn, and document a good-morning greeting to the children with out heading again to civilization. And the messenger will will let you obtain images, messages, and long-form textual content when you’re within the area, too.
“Plus, with a chargeable battery that may final for weeks, security charging to assist restore a depleted cellphone and the power to set off an SOS message, the inReach Messenger Plus is a useful instrument for any journey,” Garmin Vice President of International Shopper Gross sales, Dan Bartel, famous in a press launch.
Similar Look, New Tech
Despite the fact that the present inReach Messenger (now $250) and the brand new Messenger Plus ($499) could look alike, they arrive with fully completely different options underneath the hood.
Whereas older inReach units use Brief Burst Knowledge (SBD) packets to ship texts, the inReach Messenger Plus steps up the sport with Iridium Messaging Transport (IMT), permitting you to ship images and voice messages. It is a entire new system with its personal distinctive {hardware} necessities.
On spec, the hand-held unit appears rugged. It’s rated temperature-resistant and water-rated to IPX7 and claims to face up to water publicity as much as 1 m for as much as half-hour.
As for cost, the rechargeable lithium battery seems to final a very long time. You might conceivably stand up to 600 hours of battery life with a textual content message or location despatched each 10 minutes in low-power messaging mode. Relying on what modes you’re utilizing and the way regularly you ship images, messages, and texts, a completely charged battery may final for months.
Within the occasion the battery runs dry, customers can join the inReach Messenger Plus to their smartphone to offer it sufficient energy to ship a textual content from the Messenger App.
Subscriptions begin at $14.99 a month.
Big Leap Ahead for Security
The inReach Messenger Plus nonetheless carries the ever-comforting SOS button, however now customers also can ship an image of their environment to assist others find them in the event that they’re harm or simply can’t get out on their very own.
That little element may imply the distinction between a optimistic and destructive consequence in a security emergency. When minutes matter, giving a picture of your actual location may simply make all of the distinction.
First Impressions?
I’m desperate to get this new tech from Garmin into the sector, and I’ve intensive assessments already scheduled. This factor is headed to the deepest components of a number of the gnarliest woods, and I’m hopeful I can share a bit extra of the journey in primarily real-time with the folks I really like again residence.
If the inReach Messenger Plus ($499) is as much as the problem of permitting me to say goodnight to my canines from some island someplace whereas they preserve my mattress heat at residence, it will likely be value each penny.
Keep tuned for updates to be taught what occurs once I put this factor via the wringer.