If you're not a professor or a professional trainer/teacher then you are missing your calling. This was absolutely the best explanation of somewhat complicated material. Thank you so very much for putting the time and effort into helping your fellow humans' decision making so much easier. My intentions are strictly to stay in touch with my two sons if and when the grid and cell phone service goes down. Much appreciation.
the most expensive part of my thru hike was my monthly garmin in reach bill. i really didn't understand the plans or how to use the mini. tracking and messages cost me the most. i sent messages over one week ....that really killed me.
I have an annual recreation plan, which gives me an "excuse" to get away at least once a month. "Honey I HAVE to go out this weekend or I'm throwing money away on my In Reach" .
You should have the safety plan and always keep you inreach (no pun indeed , inreach) it does you no go with out the monthly plan that makes it active all year round
The annual program fee has gone up $10 to $34.95. The activation fee for the annual subscriptions is up to $29.95. You need to be deactivated for at least 5 months for Freedom Safety or Recreation to be cheaper than the annual plan.
Dan, Just got my 66i today. Your video was EXACTLY what I needed. Thanks so much. BTW as a full time performer, I want to congratulate you on your articulate and clear speech. you are awesome!!
I’m watching this as of September 1, 2024 and this is exactly what I needed. I am just starting my adventures in scuba diving and will be going several times a month to different places. God willing other countries I think the annual safety plan will be the best one because I would still have my cell phone obviously not in the middle of the ocean with unlimited messages. And Seems like the best plan and it’s 11.95 now. and if you have divers alert, Work, you’ll have search and rescue so you don’t need to get any of their extra insurance is for Garmin. This is the video I needed thank you.
excellent analysis Dan. I am going to follow your advice and go with the annual Freedom plan. I would add the non-math/money factor that if you have the annual plan you never have to think about whether to skip months, you never go without coverage if you have skipped a month and decide to go out into a non-cell covered area. And peace of mind is worth something.
Dude! Your nerdy interest is very appreciated. I’ve just bought a mini2 and started to surf yt looking for such information while scratching my head. Thank you!
This was incredibly clear and useful. Helped me a lot. After subscribing for 3 months, I now realize that Safety plan is the best for me. Thank you very much for putting this video together
I'm in your target audience, thinking about getting a Montana 700i. I go motorcycling, but am rarely out of cell coverage, so I'm pretty sure the Freedom / Safety plan would be best. Thanks especially for clarifying that with the Freedom plan, the user can turn it on and off at monthly intervals. So if I thought I'd be going in a remote area, I'd activate it for that month. I wish there was an "Emergency" option that has really low (or no) monthly fee, but a perhaps significant charge for even a single SOS.
I had this same debate and went with the mini over the Montana. My final decision was based on what happens if I get separated from the bike. I want the sos button on my person. A garmin zumo xt and inreach mini is roughly the same price as the montana
Really useful comparison. I was just about to create a spreadsheet to do these break-even calculations when I spotted the video. Saved me a ton of work! Many thanks.
I started with the safety plan, but almost immediately upgraded to recreation. If I lose my Inreach mini 2 I want tracking turned on all the time so I can easily find it.
I have not been so happy with a tutorial video in some time. This is the first video I have watched of Dan's; I hope his others are as good. Great delivery and personality! Thanks for the great video Dan!
I have had mine for over a year and I pay for expedition on the freedom plan. The most expensive way to go. I did not know that you could just pay overage charges for extra text messages $.50 and extra tracking points $.10. Awesome video thanks!
Thanks so much for the detailed explanation of the subscription features. And for the clarification on the tracking part of it (sending vs. just tracking on device). VERY helpful and MUCH appreciated!! :)
Excellent thought put into this - Breakeven analysis is a tool I should use more often. A great tool when looking at many purchases such as refinancing a home. Thank you. One item not to overlook with the Recreation Plan vs the Safety Plan, you get unlimited 10 minute tracking which is nice for my wife to know where I am. I can set it and forget it. I dont have to send a tracking point to her manually. Helpful on the mountain bike where my hands are occupied.
Thank you. Love all your content but this is especially valuable as I am a new owner of about 2 weeks. Totally intimated by the choosing a plan. Clear now.
This was a very good video! I honestly usually just buy the largest plans to always be covered but with your break down I am purchasing the annual recreation plan as I don’t feel I will go over the break even point of it ! Thank you for taking the time to make this !
Wow, just your break even analysis got me clicking on LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!! Thanks for a great vid. We'll soon be purchasing a mini for our August thruhike!
I wish that even on an annual plan, you could bump it up from Safety to Recreational for one month, when you want the extra messages and location pings just for that month.
Great summary. You missed one think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you decide to upgrade plans, there is no fee. However, if you decide to downgrade your plan, there is a fee. Everything else was well covered.
thanks for the great explanation of the plans as I was just about to purchase mini 2 device but the features is way more expensive than I expected. I was put off by sat phone plan expenses but I just might put it back on the table. Great video thanks for the info.
Very comprehensive!!! I really appreciate the way you did the comparisons between plan options! My brain was about to explode trying to figure it out on my own. You made it easy to choose AND get the best deal for my specific needs. Thank You!
Another consideration, I think, is switching from recreational for a month when you're doing extended backcountry trip to safety, maybe in the off season when you're only doing day trips and just want to have it along in case of emergency.
Very useful video. Well done and thank you ! There is something else, in my opinion, that should be added (but has nothing to do about money): with the annual plan, you have absolutely no risk to forget to activate you plan. You know the plan is always ON. Go whenever you want and don't even think about the plan, the activation or whatever... This might be different with the monthly plan, especially for someone like me who forgets things very easily ! :)
I use both the Safety Plan & Expedition Plan When I go MTB, kayaking & hiking, I use the Garmin inReach Mini with the safety plan And when I go backpacking I use the Garmin... I forgot the name of the device but I use the Expedition Plan
Thanks Dan - that was just the info I was looking for! Thanks for hammering out the math for us, and giving us your take on what we might need to fit our needs. 👍
Dan, It serves you right for making sense of Garmin’s abstruse data plans, they changed the price on you. Thanks for doing all this work, very helpful. One question: If you're on a Freedom Plan and you don't use tracking, isn't there *NO* point at which the Recreation Plan would beat the Safety Plan? My math: You get 30 additional texts if you pay the $20 extra for the Recreation Plan, or 66 cents per text, whereas if you stay with the Safety Plan you only pay 50 cents per overage text. Lmk if my calculations are in error.
Yeah no kidding! Oh well, I figured they'd increase their pricing eventually. For your question, the math works like this: since the Rec plan is $20 more than the Safety plan and overage charges are $0.50/message, $20 ÷ $0.50 = 40 messages you can send OVER your monthly cap of 10 messages with Safety before paying the overage charges becomes more expensive than paying the extra $20 for the Rec plan. Let's say you send 51 total messages in one month, the math would be (51 - 10) x $0.50 = $20.50; so $0.50 more than the extra cost of the Rec plan. Hope that helps!
Great review. One thing I think should have been mentioned is the SOS functionality and its cost. yes, SOS is included in the iridiun plans, but depending on where you are you may need extra SOS 'insurance'/memberships to cover the actual costs of rescue. Or in other words. the Iridium plan lets you can for the cavallery when needed, but you may end up paying them yourself with many $$$ if you have not made plans for that (or live in a place where that is in fact free)
So for Tracking points (if the math is correct) the break-even point between Safety and Recreation is if you're going to be out using+tracking on the device for (approximately) 21 hours a month under the Annual plan, or 33.5 hours under the Freedom plan...assuming 10-minute intervals Edit: clarifying word
Excellent information for a complicated plan. Thanks for explaining the details of the plan. This is exactly what I needed to get the most bang for buck while subscribing to the least expensive plan. The description of the log interval setting was another part that wasn't completely clear and now is.
looked at a plan just before purchasing the 66i last summer $118.00 ANNUAL fee, just pulled it back up after watching this, price has more than doubled. just sent an e-mail to garmin asking if they had plans to level off. i do solo volunteer trail work for the usfs 5 days a week till weather forbids. the majority out of cell service.
Do you think the 67i would be a more complete system not requiring another potential failure link and no need to pair with iPhone / possible iPhone battery burnout and iPhone lack of ruggedized construction. REI has 67i on sale for $470 down from $600. I like redundancy and carry a ACR ResQLink, backup battery brick for iPhone and Spot 2 which I am considering replacing with 67i. Thanks! Very remote at times.
At around the 8 minute mark, I had a question. How does logging your location on the device do any good for sharing your location with others? The point was about the cost of sharing your location with others and I don't understand how logging it on the device actually gets that information out to others as was indicated in the video?? And since it automatically logs bread crumbs, I don't know why it would be done manually anyway.
The InReach has a test feature to make sure the device is working, which is always a good idea to do before leaving on a trip. But it doesn't actually send an SOS message with this year. It just tests to make sure the device is connecting to the satellites properly.
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If you're not a professor or a professional trainer/teacher then you are missing your calling. This was absolutely the best explanation of somewhat complicated material. Thank you so very much for putting the time and effort into helping your fellow humans' decision making so much easier. My intentions are strictly to stay in touch with my two sons if and when the grid and cell phone service goes down. Much appreciation.
the most expensive part of my thru hike was my monthly garmin in reach bill. i really didn't understand the plans or how to use the mini. tracking and messages cost me the most. i sent messages over one week ....that really killed me.
I have an annual recreation plan, which gives me an "excuse" to get away at least once a month. "Honey I HAVE to go out this weekend or I'm throwing money away on my In Reach" .
A valid argument
You should have the safety plan and always keep you inreach (no pun indeed , inreach) it does you no go with out the monthly plan that makes it active all year round
Aay , great idea!
This is a great explanation of a ridiculously complicated pricing scheme. Thank You!
You think like me and you saved me at least an hour of math. Thanks a bunch!
A MUCH better analysis than other reviews of these plans. Saved me from doing all the brake even calculations.
This is absolutely the clearest explanation of the super complicated topic! Kudos!
Because of people like you all the rest of us are getting lazy.
You did all the analysis. Great info, thanks a lot.
@@borrago good for you, man.
This was really helpful! You convinced me that the annual Safety plan, even with potential overages is much better for me! Thanks!
The annual program fee has gone up $10 to $34.95. The activation fee for the annual subscriptions is up to $29.95. You need to be deactivated for at least 5 months for Freedom Safety or Recreation to be cheaper than the annual plan.
Yeah, and you're arguably not saving much until you cut it down to even less than that:
(7 months * 15) + 35 = 140
(12 months * 11) + 30 = 162
If I don't use it for a year why is there an annual fee being considered
@@z352kdaf8324 you can cancel your subscription instead of suspending it if you won't use it for more than a year. This will stop the annual fee.
My thanks go to you for saving me from reading for two hours and condensing it into a listenable 10 min video
The breakdown I was looking for! Saved me some math and $
Clear explanations and helpful breakdown! Thanks for sharing this, helps with my decision making tremendously!
The bloopers at the end were the cherry on top lol I’m still laughing!! That was great. All around A+++
Dan, Just got my 66i today. Your video was EXACTLY what I needed. Thanks so much. BTW as a full time performer, I want to congratulate you on your articulate and clear speech. you are awesome!!
Thanks, Kevin!
Just got my inReach mini and this explanation was exactly what I needed! Thank you! You’ve earned another subscriber too!
I’m watching this as of September 1, 2024 and this is exactly what I needed. I am just starting my adventures in scuba diving and will be going several times a month to different places. God willing other countries I think the annual safety plan will be the best one because I would still have my cell phone obviously not in the middle of the ocean with unlimited messages. And Seems like the best plan and it’s 11.95 now. and if you have divers alert, Work, you’ll have search and rescue so you don’t need to get any of their extra insurance is for Garmin. This is the video I needed thank you.
excellent analysis Dan. I am going to follow your advice and go with the annual Freedom plan. I would add the non-math/money factor that if you have the annual plan you never have to think about whether to skip months, you never go without coverage if you have skipped a month and decide to go out into a non-cell covered area. And peace of mind is worth something.
Dude! Your nerdy interest is very appreciated. I’ve just bought a mini2 and started to surf yt looking for such information while scratching my head. Thank you!
This was incredibly clear and useful.
Helped me a lot.
After subscribing for 3 months, I now realize that Safety plan is the best for me.
Thank you very much for putting this video together
I'm in your target audience, thinking about getting a Montana 700i. I go motorcycling, but am rarely out of cell coverage, so I'm pretty sure the Freedom / Safety plan would be best. Thanks especially for clarifying that with the Freedom plan, the user can turn it on and off at monthly intervals. So if I thought I'd be going in a remote area, I'd activate it for that month. I wish there was an "Emergency" option that has really low (or no) monthly fee, but a perhaps significant charge for even a single SOS.
I had this same debate and went with the mini over the Montana. My final decision was based on what happens if I get separated from the bike. I want the sos button on my person. A garmin zumo xt and inreach mini is roughly the same price as the montana
Really useful comparison. I was just about to create a spreadsheet to do these break-even calculations when I spotted the video. Saved me a ton of work! Many thanks.
Thank you for your thorough analysis of a complicated charging system. I will need to rewatch the video before I choose my plan.
Because of your articulate and clear speech. I didn´t need to use the trasnlator! you are awesome!!
Thank you for this clear and nicely paced breakdown and comparison. ❤
Very clear and thorough explanation with no unnecessary nonsense.
I started with the safety plan, but almost immediately upgraded to recreation. If I lose my Inreach mini 2 I want tracking turned on all the time so I can easily find it.
I have not been so happy with a tutorial video in some time. This is the first video I have watched of Dan's; I hope his others are as good. Great delivery and personality! Thanks for the great video Dan!
This was VERY helpful and the best video on the subject I could find.
Thanks! Glad it helped!
I have had mine for over a year and I pay for expedition on the freedom plan. The most expensive way to go. I did not know that you could just pay overage charges for extra text messages $.50 and extra tracking points $.10. Awesome video thanks!
Thanks so much for the detailed explanation of the subscription features. And for the clarification on the tracking part of it (sending vs. just tracking on device). VERY helpful and MUCH appreciated!! :)
Thanks for posting this.
I'm guessing the commenters who are unhappy that fees are necessary for the device to work don't own cell phones.
Excellent thought put into this - Breakeven analysis is a tool I should use more often. A great tool when looking at many purchases such as refinancing a home. Thank you.
One item not to overlook with the Recreation Plan vs the Safety Plan, you get unlimited 10 minute tracking which is nice for my wife to know where I am. I can set it and forget it. I dont have to send a tracking point to her manually. Helpful on the mountain bike where my hands are occupied.
Thank you. Love all your content but this is especially valuable as I am a new owner of about 2 weeks. Totally intimated by the choosing a plan. Clear now.
Glad it was helpful!
This was a very good video! I honestly usually just buy the largest plans to always be covered but with your break down I am purchasing the annual recreation plan as I don’t feel I will go over the break even point of it ! Thank you for taking the time to make this !
Thank you very much. The way you break the plans down makes the decision much easier. I can't express how valuable this information is.
Glad it was helpful!
Well done. If you are a teacher in your career, your students are most fortunate.
I love it..not only an extremely informative video, but you also included bloopers! Cheers for the info!
thank you, i just bought mines and couldn't decide but now i know what is best for me, the safety is best for me
Noob: how much detailed can you explain the plans?
Dan: yes
Love the info, totally answered the questions I had, and the bloopers were awesome! 😂
This video was immensely helpful! I wish you were making more videos.
Great tips prior me to buying an inreach mini.
This was so informational thank you!
Amazing amount of detail and mathematics involved. Thank you very much for putting this together! I’ve both liked and subscribed.
Legend, thanks for taking the time to save me the time!!! Def gonna give you a subscribe.
Wow, just your break even analysis got me clicking on LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!! Thanks for a great vid. We'll soon be purchasing a mini for our August thruhike!
I wish that even on an annual plan, you could bump it up from Safety to Recreational for one month, when you want the extra messages and location pings just for that month.
Great summary. You missed one think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you decide to upgrade plans, there is no fee. However, if you decide to downgrade your plan, there is a fee. Everything else was well covered.
Terrific! Thank you so much. I totally missed that replies were counted. Even so, the lowest plan will be more than enough for us.
u r incredibly good at describing love your info ty so much
thanks for the great explanation of the plans as I was just about to purchase mini 2 device but the features is way more expensive than I expected. I was put off by sat phone plan expenses but I just might put it back on the table. Great video thanks for the info.
Very comprehensive!!! I really appreciate the way you did the comparisons between plan options! My brain was about to explode trying to figure it out on my own. You made it easy to choose AND get the best deal for my specific needs. Thank You!
Thank you! Your video really helped me decide which plan to use for my new garmin mini 2!❤
I just picked up the InReach Mini.
What timing with you posting this video out to help me with choosing a plan. 🙏🏼
Yes, thanks for taking the time to break it all down, I've been needing to get this device for a while and now I know which plan to get
Thank you so much for breaking this down. I knew it was a bit complicated but I had no idea how convoluted it was.
Another consideration, I think, is switching from recreational for a month when you're doing extended backcountry trip to safety, maybe in the off season when you're only doing day trips and just want to have it along in case of emergency.
Thank you for helping me make my choice of plans! It was very detailed and you made it easy to understand.
Best video out there on the inreach plans! Thank you so much!
Brilliant video! Loved how you broke everything down!
Thanks. Very clear and concise assessment that made it much simpler for me to decide which plan to opt for. Much appreciated.
Really great, comprehensive video, I was very confused before watching this. Thank you so much!
Very useful video. Well done and thank you !
There is something else, in my opinion, that should be added (but has nothing to do about money): with the annual plan, you have absolutely no risk to forget to activate you plan. You know the plan is always ON. Go whenever you want and don't even think about the plan, the activation or whatever... This might be different with the monthly plan, especially for someone like me who forgets things very easily ! :)
Very good point!
I use both the Safety Plan & Expedition Plan
When I go MTB, kayaking & hiking, I use the Garmin inReach Mini with the safety plan
And when I go backpacking I use the Garmin... I forgot the name of the device but I use the Expedition Plan
Just came across this fantastic analysis. Does anyone know if this analysis still holds or if there is an updated one for 2024?
Thank you so much. I am just looking into getting a satellite coms device and this was incredibly helpful.
Thank you. This was a very helpful breakdown - I really appreciate it!
one of the best explanations of theses plans i have seen yet
Thank you, that was very useful information very concisely delivered. Bravo!
Thanks Dan - that was just the info I was looking for! Thanks for hammering out the math for us, and giving us your take on what we might need to fit our needs. 👍
Dan, It serves you right for making sense of Garmin’s abstruse data plans, they changed the price on you. Thanks for doing all this work, very helpful. One question: If you're on a Freedom Plan and you don't use tracking, isn't there *NO* point at which the Recreation Plan would beat the Safety Plan? My math: You get 30 additional texts if you pay the $20 extra for the Recreation Plan, or 66 cents per text, whereas if you stay with the Safety Plan you only pay 50 cents per overage text. Lmk if my calculations are in error.
Yeah no kidding! Oh well, I figured they'd increase their pricing eventually.
For your question, the math works like this: since the Rec plan is $20 more than the Safety plan and overage charges are $0.50/message, $20 ÷ $0.50 = 40 messages you can send OVER your monthly cap of 10 messages with Safety before paying the overage charges becomes more expensive than paying the extra $20 for the Rec plan. Let's say you send 51 total messages in one month, the math would be (51 - 10) x $0.50 = $20.50; so $0.50 more than the extra cost of the Rec plan. Hope that helps!
Really useful video! I love how you broke down the “break even” numbers. Thank you!
Highly informative & then entertaining in the end too, thanks dude!
Safety it is. Thanks. This was super helpful.
When you press the SOS button it does not contact first responders.
Very helpful video. Just buying an InReach 2 and was really confused. I'm going with the same plan you did.
You saved me money. Thank you for doing the maths for me, good sir.
THANK YOU! >>> Much appreciated for the work you put into this!! i'm going with the Annual Safety!!
Great review. One thing I think should have been mentioned is the SOS functionality and its cost. yes, SOS is included in the iridiun plans, but depending on where you are you may need extra SOS 'insurance'/memberships to cover the actual costs of rescue. Or in other words. the Iridium plan lets you can
for the cavallery when needed, but you may end up paying them yourself with many $$$ if you have not made plans for that (or live in a place where that is in fact free)
THANK YOU, I found this SO helpful just as I unboxed my new Mini!!
So for Tracking points (if the math is correct) the break-even point between Safety and Recreation is if you're going to be out using+tracking on the device for (approximately) 21 hours a month under the Annual plan, or 33.5 hours under the Freedom plan...assuming 10-minute intervals
Edit: clarifying word
Excellent information for a complicated plan. Thanks for explaining the details of the plan. This is exactly what I needed to get the most bang for buck while subscribing to the least expensive plan. The description of the log interval setting was another part that wasn't completely clear and now is.
Really good info, appreciate this!
looked at a plan just before purchasing the 66i last summer $118.00 ANNUAL fee, just pulled it back up after watching this, price has more than doubled. just sent an e-mail to garmin asking if they had plans to level off. i do solo volunteer trail work for the usfs 5 days a week till weather forbids. the majority out of cell service.
this video was exactly what I was looking for to help me choose between plans - thanks
Outstanding analysis! Hilarious bloopers. Subscribed!
Thank you, for that awesome breakdown!! Sounds like plenty of preset messages for me!
Great job. Sold! Safety Plan for me. I would never have figured that out on my own. Thank you very much. :)
This video was so helpful I can hardly stand it!!!
Very helpful I enjoyed your 2 cents on how often you use it for how often you go thank you very much🤙
This was super helpful, thank you!
Do you think the 67i would be a more complete system not requiring another potential failure link and no need to pair with iPhone / possible iPhone battery burnout and iPhone lack of ruggedized construction. REI has 67i on sale for $470 down from $600. I like redundancy and carry a ACR ResQLink, backup battery brick for iPhone and Spot 2 which I am considering replacing with 67i. Thanks! Very remote at times.
At around the 8 minute mark, I had a question. How does logging your location on the device do any good for sharing your location with others? The point was about the cost of sharing your location with others and I don't understand how logging it on the device actually gets that information out to others as was indicated in the video?? And since it automatically logs bread crumbs, I don't know why it would be done manually anyway.
It doesnt. Its just for your own personal logging and tracking purposes. It doesnt upload it to the Map Share
thank you Dan !! this is super helpful !!
Early 2021 activation prices changed to: 29.95 to activate the annual plan, 34.95 to activate freedom plan.
Noooooo!!! Why'd they have to ruin my math!?
Get information Dan. So well explained that the decision as to which plan to go for becomes quite clear.
Thank you so much for taking your time for this!
This was exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you for such a comprehensive breakdown.
Garmin should be paying this gentleman very well done sir thank you
Is there a way to send out a test SOS signal and get a response back prior to setting out on a trip to ensure that the system is working?
The InReach has a test feature to make sure the device is working, which is always a good idea to do before leaving on a trip. But it doesn't actually send an SOS message with this year. It just tests to make sure the device is connecting to the satellites properly.