DeLorme InReach SE
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:27 pm
I have several requirements for my hiking tech package: I need to know where I am and where I am going, I want to take pictures, I want to read a book, I want to know what time and day it is, and I want to be able to send an SOS message. Until my last trip, I carried the following: Map, compass, Kindle in Otter Box case, Sony point and shoot camera in soft case with extra battery, Suunto Core wristwatch, and SPOT satellite messenger.
I changed out that package for my most recent trip with the following: DeLorme InReach SE, synced to iPhone 6S+ in Mophie H20 Pro Juice Pack, Mophie 2x external battery, mini micro USB cable, and Timex Expedition women's wristwatch. The new package weighs about 2 oz. less than the old.
I am very happy with the new package and will stick with it. I have more capability now. By syncing the DeLorme device to the Earthmate App on my iPhone, I have the ability to text or email everyone in my phone address book. Not that I would, since I am not addicted to texting or emailing, but, for example, if I needed to reach my doctor, or work, it would be easy. Before my trip I downloaded a huge area of USGS 7.5 minute topos into my Earthmate App, so that the maps were right there without the need for access to Wifi. I found these topos as easy to read as the USGS paper quads, and completely unlike the garbled scribbling that passes for a map on the Garmin GPS. I was also able to upload waypoints onto the topos for us to follow. Earthmate has a GPS function, so I was able to see exactly where I was on the topo. I liked being able to max- and minimize the topo maps with my fingertips, according to how much I wanted to see. I was able to get weather forecasts, both hourly and daily, for my location. Texting and emailing was extremely easy, because I was doing it from my phone, rather than the device. The two-way communication, in my opinion, is a potential lifesaver.
I didn't keep records of how long per day I had the In Reach on. I didn't use the tracking function, but I did turn the device on to send and receive messages in the evening, and periodically throughout the day to check my GPS location. At the end of a ten-day trip, I had 75% of the In Reach battery left.
My iPhone and Mophie Juice Pack had to be recharged once during the ten days, at about day 8. I used the phone with abandon to take photos, read, check my GPS location, and send and receive messages.
I wasn't careful with my pack, dumping it down a few drops, but the InReach SE and Mophie Juice Pack H20 Pro are very tough, and aside from a tiny scratch on the screen of the InReach, no damage was done.
Stuff breaks, of course, so my husband carried the paper maps and compass. I have resorted to reading the fine print on maps in my sleeping bag at night, when my Kindle has broken in the middle of a trip.
I changed out that package for my most recent trip with the following: DeLorme InReach SE, synced to iPhone 6S+ in Mophie H20 Pro Juice Pack, Mophie 2x external battery, mini micro USB cable, and Timex Expedition women's wristwatch. The new package weighs about 2 oz. less than the old.
I am very happy with the new package and will stick with it. I have more capability now. By syncing the DeLorme device to the Earthmate App on my iPhone, I have the ability to text or email everyone in my phone address book. Not that I would, since I am not addicted to texting or emailing, but, for example, if I needed to reach my doctor, or work, it would be easy. Before my trip I downloaded a huge area of USGS 7.5 minute topos into my Earthmate App, so that the maps were right there without the need for access to Wifi. I found these topos as easy to read as the USGS paper quads, and completely unlike the garbled scribbling that passes for a map on the Garmin GPS. I was also able to upload waypoints onto the topos for us to follow. Earthmate has a GPS function, so I was able to see exactly where I was on the topo. I liked being able to max- and minimize the topo maps with my fingertips, according to how much I wanted to see. I was able to get weather forecasts, both hourly and daily, for my location. Texting and emailing was extremely easy, because I was doing it from my phone, rather than the device. The two-way communication, in my opinion, is a potential lifesaver.
I didn't keep records of how long per day I had the In Reach on. I didn't use the tracking function, but I did turn the device on to send and receive messages in the evening, and periodically throughout the day to check my GPS location. At the end of a ten-day trip, I had 75% of the In Reach battery left.
My iPhone and Mophie Juice Pack had to be recharged once during the ten days, at about day 8. I used the phone with abandon to take photos, read, check my GPS location, and send and receive messages.
I wasn't careful with my pack, dumping it down a few drops, but the InReach SE and Mophie Juice Pack H20 Pro are very tough, and aside from a tiny scratch on the screen of the InReach, no damage was done.
Stuff breaks, of course, so my husband carried the paper maps and compass. I have resorted to reading the fine print on maps in my sleeping bag at night, when my Kindle has broken in the middle of a trip.