Contributors to this thread:
I have never used a satellite phone.
Will a battery last on a week long hunt (checking in daily with guide)?
What feature should I be looking for?
Any other questions that I might be forgetting?
For SW CO, what satellite phone would you suggest for elk hunting?
Prices for renting? Buying??
I would get the InReach satellite text messenger before I got a Sat phone.
Oh wait, I did get an InReach :) Love it.
In the areas I have hunted, even in WY where they said coverage was non-existent, I have always been able to find a spot close to camp where I could get text messages out and even make calls. In WY, I would leave my phone on and while hiking my texts would come in and go out but it took me a while to figure out where the "sweet spot" was. Once I found the spot, I could ride the ATV a couple minutes from camp and call home. Granted a Sat phone would be nice and in some situations crucial. However, cellular coverage expansion is making them less and less essential.
I've used a sat phone many times in that area. You want iridium not globablstar. You don't leave the phone on continuously....one battery should last you a week unless you are spending 100min on the phone....get the extra battery anyway.
Check it when you get it...make a test call. Stand still when you are making a call and have a good signal. These drop a lot of calls even just in the timber. I've rented from Satphonestore getting the smaller of the 2 units- they are better too.
InReach is the way to go.
Can't say anything about a sat phone, but I do have the InReach and I like what it does and was made to do.
I used my InReach last year on a dall sheep hunt in Alaska and it worked great. I paid a monthly fee rather than doing an annual subscription.
I went on a thru hike a few years ago and one of my buddies has one of those wives you need to check in with every day so we rented one. It was $100 a week + usage and as I recall we ended up around $120 and that was with a 5 minute call or so for a 6 day trip. 1 battery will be plenty for that type of usage, but I second taking 2 batteries "just in case". I have no idea what brand it was but it worked really well for our purposes.
Can someone go into a bit of detail about the inreach - looks like about $300.00 to purchase. Is there a monthly charge, annual fee, can they be rented like the sat phones?
Where we hunt in WY, we have to rent a sat phone as there is no cell service with-in miles of where we hunt. We have even tried boosters and external antennas for our cell phones.
consider the In Reach DeLorme They use the Iridium satellite constellation with world wide coverage. You can customized your messages and it sends your GPS cords to the person you are texting. No voice, it uses text. The co ordinates come with a link to an online topo map showing your location to the person you send the message to. you can buy plans per month, without committing to a lot of paid minutes that expire with a satellite phone.
if you definitely want a phone, go with Iridium and get a good one, but it will be a lot more $$ then the InReach (which I ended up getting)
You buy the InReach, activate the service on monthly program then cancel/suspend it when done. Cheap.
Does and in-reach work just like a regular GPS with the hunting chips?
IAhunter- the Inreach is strictly for limited communication, with GPS coordinates included. Just like the SPOT device with a couple of additions. It would not know what to do with chips. It does not replace regular GPS devices.
