Garmin has restructured the InReach plans.
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Garmin has restructured the InReach plans.
Frequently Asked Questions on September 2024 inReach Consumer Subscription Plan Changes | Garmin SupportClose
Garmin Support Centre is where you will find answers to frequently asked questions and resources to help with all of your Garmin products.
(support.garmin.com)
Annual plans are gone. Monthly plans retain their prices while offering more features (e.g. more text messages).
What's the catch? Plans can no longer be suspended. You can either cancel (and be subject to an expensive reactivation fee when you resubscribe), or drop to the cheap, new pay-as-you-go Enabled plan.
Overall, seems like a win for me personally.
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Paul Edwinreplied to Dave Heinemann π¦πΊ last edited by
@dHeinemann Interesting, I'll have to take a look. Last time I was thinking about buying one, I got so confused with trying to decide which subscription would be most cost-effective that I just gave up.
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Dave Heinemann π¦πΊreplied to Paul Edwin last edited by
@paul_edwin Yeah, the plan options have always been way too complicated for their own good. I think this is a solid improvement.
I reckon I'll just use the pay-as-you-go Enabled plan. The prices are very reasonable for the way I use the InReach (mostly check-ins and the occasional text message). It'll be a lot cheaper for me than the old plans.
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Patrickreplied to Dave Heinemann π¦πΊ last edited by
@dHeinemann @paul_edwin Thanks for the heads up, I only need this for perhaps 1 month a year and have never bothered in the past as I too found it too complicated. Iβll take another look.
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Dave Heinemann π¦πΊreplied to Patrick last edited by
@patrick Let me know what you think!
If you won't be using the InReach at all for >5 months at a time, it sounds like it will be cheaper to cancel your subscription when you're done, then resubscribe (and pay the activation fee again) when you need it. The activation fee is equivalent to 5 months of the cheapest plan, Enabled.
But there are also cheaper alternatives to the InReach, like regular PLBs. I like the InReach because it gives me the option to send/receive text messages.
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Paul Edwinreplied to Dave Heinemann π¦πΊ last edited by
@dHeinemann @patrick Thanks for doing the calculation!
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Dave Heinemann π¦πΊreplied to Paul Edwin last edited by
@paul_edwin No worries! Don't be afraid to double-check for yourself though, as the prices could vary by region.
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Patrickreplied to Dave Heinemann π¦πΊ last edited by
@dHeinemann @paul_edwin Still too expensive for my limited needs. I misunderstood when you mentioned pay-as-you-go, and donβt realise there is also a monthly fee associated with that. If I was going on a trip to a really remote destination for some time then I would consider it, but until then Iβll pass.
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@patrick @dHeinemann @paul_edwin I would like to use Garmin InReach bc of all my other Garmin stuff, but the subscriptions don't feed my needs too.
I'm still using a Spot Gen 3 with a basic plan, annual fee for the Spot Service sth around 50 β¬ and the OverWatch Rescue for 40 β¬/year.
I just activate it for the month I need it and the montthly fee is around 22 β¬.it is not that cheap too, but still a bit better than Garmin.
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Dave Heinemann π¦πΊreplied to motourer.de last edited by
@motourer Yeah, there are plenty of alternatives to try. I went with Garmin because it was easy to get my hands on here in Australia and I've always liked Garmin products, but its definitely not the most cost-effective one.