**CLOSED**Garmin - Group Buy**

FYI

 

Sweet, I'm in. Been meaning to buy one of these for a long time now since I'm frequently doing dumb shit outside of cell service and radio range.

 

ive never shipped to Alaska, but im willing to work it out

 

USPS flat rate is the easiest and usually fastest way, assuming the Garmin packaging fits inside of it.

 

im sure itll fit.

 

Thanks, Ill check it out!

 

A lot of questions are also answered in the Amazon Q&A, your question specifically is the first one asked and answered.

 

This one next please ha

 

Ill talk to the master of coin of house neely and see what she thinks we can swing. Count me out as of right now though.

 

will do

 

I'm pretty sure you don't need the subscription to just use gps capabilities but maybe. Not sure honestly because I wanted the tracking feature enabled so I have the subscription. There are multiple plans depending on your use. There is a "freedom plan" where you pay $25 annually and just pay for the months you use it. I believe I have an enhanced recreation plan or something like that but it's about $30 a month roughly. Uploading maps and othe gis files/ way points is like any other device. There's a learning curve but once you figure it out it's cake. Mostly it's just navigating the website and the app for it no biggy. This is a fully capable gps unit meaning no cell service needed to function properly. In regards to your comment of trails on maps running cold... for maps such as the forestry roads, some areas weren't mapped within the past 10-15 years so there may be some instances where you'll come to a green wall where it shows a road/trail. But that isn't because of the gps's capability, that's just the nature of off-road mapping/navigation.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

that's actually a great help. I am looking for a really nice GPS nav set up strictly for offroading in the PNW.

Here are my thoughts after doing some research:

-If I get this, I can Blutooth it to my Ipad, use the GAIA app (sp??) and those two things combined should be able to allow me to plot my location, exactly on the map within 2.5m. I like this device but hate the subscription part. However, having the young daughter that will camp with the family, I like the idea of the SOS (not that I would ever intend on using it, more of a mental security blanket) which I guess would be my acceptance of paying for the subscription.

-The OTHER option would be to use the skypro gps (I also fly civilian FW so I could use it with foreflight) which only costs 129$ AND there are no subscription fees. If I got that, I could still use the GAIA app for backpacking trails and what not, have very accurate GPS data, use it for flying also..but I don't get the SOS option.

My problem is I do not like paying for something I am not using. If I go a month of no camping/off roading due to work or something, Ive wasted that month's subscription. I am trying to find a no shit break down of what it costs to operate the Garmin (the annual one time payment PLUS the monthly package) which would help me narrow down the decision. I have tried searching for it on the interweb but have had no luck yet.

 

The GPS will work without the subscription.

What wont work is the texting ability.

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/Tx130NMS4COT3TW/ref=ask_al_aap_hza?_encoding=UTF8&sort=helpful

 

yea, I read through a TON of Amazon reviews, and some people (and REI) are even saying that you need the subscription to use it period and that there was a miss-type somewhere that made people think you didn't need any subscription to just use the GPS function...so I'm just confused and still doing some digging haha

 

@rollin904 @Seabass own units, i would consider them as our resident experts.

hopefully they chime in

 

Two types of plans:

Yearly contract - month to month subscription + GPS + SOS + Texting + Pinging feature.

Monthly contract "freedom plan"

Freedom plan allows you to pay one annual fee and then pick the month you want the SOS + Texting + Pinging features

All other months that you don't pay will have a standard GPS feature on your device WITHOUT SOS, Texting, Pinging - Just a simple GPS.

@Seabass can you confirm?

I have also attached a Garmin rate sheet

 

The whole idea with the inreach is to that you can communicate with anyone in the middle of nowhere. You told your wife you going to be on a 2 day trip in the mountains and decide to stay an extra day or two cause its so nice, you can let her know and she doesn't call search and rescue to come save you.
Someone gets hurt you can call in help. You see people lost out in the desert for days on the news, no one can find them, if you had one of these you could be rescued in a few hours.
I have the Spot gps locator which is good but limited cause you can't actually communicate with anyone with live texting. The Inreach does.
You spend enough time in the woods eventually you might have an oh-shit moment, or you might come across someone else that needs help.

 

https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/ Full break down of subscription pricing. As I said before they have a freedom plan where you only pay for the months you use it and an one time or annual fee of like $25 I believe. I don't believe the SOS function works without a subsription. The main function that I love about it is the Bluetooth capability of using a tablet/ipad in conjunction. Hope this answers your remaining questions. Also with the subscription it allows for "tracking" that pings every hour, 10 minutes, 1 minute depending on what you choose, so no need to plot your location but you still have the option of doing so if necessary.

 

What was the date that this closed??? (or was it not specified)

 

NO date that I'm aware of. Just a minimum of 15 confirmed. correct me if I'm wrong @ramonortiz55