GPSrChive Discussion Forum

Could someone please suggest alternatives to the Garmin Inreach service.

Garmin has just changed its Inreach subscription plans and in my case, because I use it only twice per year, it has become 50-60% more expensive.
Which I find totally unreasonable.
So I’m considering selling my Inreach mini2 and finding an alternative.

I’m wondering which alternatives are available to Garmin Inreach as far as yearly costs are concerned.
I’m interested mainly in the SOS functionality and not so much in messaging, although being able to communicate with rescue services is a huge plus.

Hi.
If you only need it for emergency, a PLB (personal locator beacon), may be a choise.
They must be registered.


There are also competitor devices which may use other satellite constellation than iridium.

I came across some articles when searching for "best personal locator beacon" or "best satellite messaging device".

987 wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2024 1:14 pm Hi.
If you only need it for emergency, a PLB (personal locator beacon), may be a choise
...
I came across some articles when searching for "best personal locator beacon" or "best satellite messaging device".

A PLB is indeed an option that I'm seriously considering. It's definitely cheaper but it wouldn't help if you f.e. are lost and might be able to self-rescue with a little help.
I've read a few of those articles comparing devices such as Spot or Zoleo although most of the info is about the device itself and not the plans.
However it does seem like Garmin is one of the costliest options if like me you use the thing only a few times per year.

I'd love to hear from someone who has any experience with these.

We use ZOLEO a lot in search and rescue. It's solid for messaging but not nearly as good if you are interested in live tracking, in my opinion. With ZOLEO each device gets an actual phone number for SMS which is a huge advantage over Inreach for receiving messages. The ZOLEO app will use Internet if you have phone connectivity, though Inreach will do this nowadays too with the messenger app, however I've found it to be flaky and I prefer to send directly from my Montana 700i. None of the ZOLEO devices that I've seen have a display, so without the app running all you can do is initiate SOS.

We have a few people using SPOT. I have no real opinion on it, it's been around a long time. If I didn't have Inreach I'd have a ZOLEO and not SPOT, but that's just my raw preference.

There is a non-advertised Inreach plan that is just under US$10 per month. There is no free anything aside from SOS, so you pay for every message and track point. That is probably a great plan if you mostly just need it for emergencies.

Thanks for the info Scotte, the Zoleo would definitely be a contender but if I understood correctly the yearly cost in my case would be practically the same as what Garmin is asking for its new plan. Zoleo plans unfortunately have a minimum of 3 months commitment.

Consider that I'm in Europe and we have to pay extra tax on American products: I was paying 80 euro's per year for a Freedom safety plan (twice per year and for the rest the suspend plan). With their new plans, even the cheapest option the so called "enabled" option, it would cost me 120 Euro's per year.

The Spot seems to be a cheaper option as far as plans go, but there are quite a few negative posts out there...

Andy wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2024 9:53 am Garmin has just changed its Inreach subscription plans and in my case, because I use it only twice per year, it has become 50-60% more expensive.

Garmin has reversed their stance it seems. It is now possible to suspend your inReach subscription if you’re in one of the new plans (Essential, Standard, Premium or Enabled).

Suspending can be done for a max of 12 months, after which your subscription is cancelled and you have to reactivate again.

Details are in this FAQ by Garmin.

JungleJim wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2025 5:35 pm

Andy wrote: Mon Oct 21, 2024 9:53 am Garmin has just changed its Inreach subscription plans and in my case, because I use it only twice per year, it has become 50-60% more expensive.

Garmin has reversed their stance it seems. It is now possible to suspend your inReach subscription if you’re in one of the new plans (Essential, Standard, Premium or Enabled).

Suspending can be done for a max of 12 months, after which your subscription is cancelled and you have to reactivate again.

Details are in this FAQ by Garmin.

That sounds great. Thanks for that.
Let's see if it works in reality. It seems Garmin has indeed changed their minds about eliminating the much loved "suspend" functionality in their subscription plans. I can only guess they might have gotten a lot of disappointed reactions from users, or perhaps they predicted losing too many customers in the future.

I'll believe it when I see it though. It seems too good to be true.
If I'm not mistaken there are no yearly costs for the enabled or essential plans. So it would seem that if I use these for two months a year it would end up costing less than the previous freedom plan.

Suspending the subscription works, I did so for my subscription a couple of days ago.

With the option to suspend inReach has become a lot cheaper: you only pay for the months you have the Enabled/Essential/Standard/Premium plan, and as long as you do not suspend for a single period more than 12 months you won’t have to pay an additional fee.