InReach troubles

[SnowAlien]

So I've had inReach Explorer since August of 2015 (almost 7 years) and since last September it started having issues with tracking. I use it for tracking since the battery is way better than on my phone (which I use for navigation and photos). So last September it unexpectedly shut down on me on Sleeping Sexton (not the terrain I was hoping it would happen). I wasn't able to power it back on. I called customer service after I hiked out and they helped to reset the device (explained I haven't synced it for awhile). I barely used it until January, when it shut down on me at 13k on Capitol peak (from cold, presumably). On recent outings, the tracking goes from "transmit every 10 minutes" to "transmit every 4 hours". I synched it a few times and it still does that. Later I reset/sync the device on the PC and the tracks reappear. What should I do? Should I get a new device because mine has so many issues? Did anyone else have such problems with it?

[supranihilest]

On recent outings, the tracking goes from "transmit every 10 minutes" to "transmit every 4 hours".

Mine has this problem. I don't know if there's a permanent fix but at least on my unit it can be solved temporarily by turning the screen on and keeping it on until the little white arrows appear on the top of the screen. I think that's the "syncing" icon. I usually do this when sending messages, send and keep the screen on until it makes the sound, otherwise it never sends. It seems like it "sleeps" when the screen is off or something.

Funny story about that... I attempted El Diente solo in January and turned around just below the summit. My inReach stopped updating the online map share somewhere around 13,000' on my ascent of the south slopes, with hours passing before it finally updated again. Whiley was watching and got worried after several hours of no updates, thinking I'd been taken out by an avalanche, and called search and rescue. Dolores county sheriff's department sent a helicopter out, and since there was no avalanche they began searching the road. By the time they saw me I was only a couple of miles from highway 145, since it was like six hours after the last update when Whiley called. It's not the first time someone has gotten worried about erroneous infrequent updates. I wish I knew if there was a fix, because this is obviously a big problem.

[CaptainSuburbia]

On recent outings, the tracking goes from "transmit every 10 minutes" to "transmit every 4 hours".

Mine has this problem. I don't know if there's a permanent fix but at least on my unit it can be solved temporarily by turning the screen on and keeping it on until the little white arrows appear on the top of the screen. I think that's the "syncing" icon. I usually do this when sending messages, send and keep the screen on until it makes the sound, otherwise it never sends. It seems like it "sleeps" when the screen is off or something.

Funny story about that... I attempted El Diente solo in January and turned around just below the summit. My inReach stopped updating the online map share somewhere around 13,000' on my ascent of the south slopes, with hours passing before it finally updated again. Whiley was watching and got worried after several hours of no updates, thinking I'd been taken out by an avalanche, and called search and rescue. Dolores county sheriff's department sent a helicopter out, and since there was no avalanche they began searching the road. By the time they saw me I was only a couple of miles from highway 145, since it was like six hours after the last update when Whiley called. It's not the first time someone has gotten worried about erroneous infrequent updates. I wish I knew if there was a fix, because this is obviously a big problem.

Same thing on Eolus. Your track stopped for hours and i was worried until I contacted Whiley.

[supranihilest]

Same thing on Eolus. Your track stopped for hours and i was worried until I contacted Whiley.

That's what it was, I couldn't remember. I made sure my message got to Whiley that time, since I actually did trigger a good sized avalanche on Eolus!

[Bombay2Boulder]

Are your firmware updated to the latest ones/also the desktop client? This worked for a friend who was having such issues, super outdated firmware she was running.

[TomPierce]

Are your firmware updated to the latest ones/also the desktop client? This worked for a friend who was having such issues, super outdated firmware she was running.

Ditto for me, although a different issue than Alien's, i.e. I was apparently running old firmware. I've updated it a couple of times in the last year and it still works OK. OK, not great, it's getting a little glitchy. I attribute that to having a gen 1 model that's probably +/- 10 years old?

-Tom

[seano]

It's not the first time someone has gotten worried about erroneous infrequent updates. I wish I knew if there was a fix, because this is obviously a big problem.

That's a person problem, not a technology one. Agreeing on a check-in time when you get back to the car (or home) makes a lot more sense than people calling in the cavalry when your SPOT stops updating.

[supranihilest]

It's not the first time someone has gotten worried about erroneous infrequent updates. I wish I knew if there was a fix, because this is obviously a big problem.

That's a person problem, not a technology one. Agreeing on a check-in time when you get back to the car (or home) makes a lot more sense than people calling in the cavalry when your SPOT stops updating.

I agree and disagree. A winter solo day trip of that size is bound to take a long time. If there was an accident it's likely that I'm dead, and that's typically the gear I bring (that is, not enough to survive an accident or unplanned bivy), but what if I'm just injured? The point of these devices is to have communication no matter where I am. She texted me. I texted her. None arrived to the other party. So is she supposed to wait until it's dark and I'm probably dead or going to be dead soon to act? It's too late by then. The failure of technology is a check-in for us, or rather the lack of a check-in. It's one branch of our decision tree. I said it was many, many hours that I wasn't checking in so it's not as simple as "oh the tracker stopped". It was my tracker stopped, and my "I'm turning around" text never sent, and her "are you OK?" text never arrived. She did what she had to, and I think it was the right choice given the scenario. Why even carry it if you're just going to ignore what it's telling you?

[Mtnman200]

It's not the first time someone has gotten worried about erroneous infrequent updates. I wish I knew if there was a fix, because this is obviously a big problem.

That's a person problem, not a technology one. Agreeing on a check-in time when you get back to the car (or home) makes a lot more sense than people calling in the cavalry when your SPOT stops updating.

I agree and disagree. A winter solo day trip of that size is bound to take a long time. If there was an accident it's likely that I'm dead, and that's typically the gear I bring (that is, not enough to survive an accident or unplanned bivy), but what if I'm just injured? The point of these devices is to have communication no matter where I am. She texted me. I texted her. None arrived to the other party. So is she supposed to wait until it's dark and I'm probably dead or going to be dead soon to act? It's too late by then. The failure of technology is a check-in for us, or rather the lack of a check-in. It's one branch of our decision tree. I said it was many, many hours that I wasn't checking in so it's not as simple as "oh the tracker stopped". It was my tracker stopped, and my "I'm turning around" text never sent, and her "are you OK?" text never arrived. She did what she had to, and I think it was the right choice given the scenario. Why even carry it if you're just going to ignore what it's telling you?

Whiley made the right call with the information she had. There's really nothing else she reasonably could have done under the circumstances, and that's what I would have wanted a friend to do for me.

[SnowAlien]

Are your firmware updated to the latest ones/also the desktop client? This worked for a friend who was having such issues, super outdated firmware she was running.

I have no clue about that. Please explain how do I update the firmware? I am concerned that Inreach started acting out because there are so many recorded tracks (over 400 at this point), and maybe there are some software memory issues.
As for SAR, I was worried the first time it happened, but luckily I ran into some goat hunters near Bells and they sent a message on my behalf that I am ok and please don't send SAR. I also text from summits if I have reception. But recently I've been telling people to text or message me if my Inreach stops working, because now it's a regular thing and is expected. One of the recent ones was on Pyramid "your Inreach stopped working, are you ok, we're getting worried?" Heard the message beep while skiing, had to stop, turn it off/on, resume tracking, etc. Thankfully there's cell service there. Not something I am willing to pay a monthly subscription to deal with!

[Bombay2Boulder]

Are your firmware updated to the latest ones/also the desktop client? This worked for a friend who was having such issues, super outdated firmware she was running.

I have no clue about that. Please explain how do I update the firmware? I am concerned that Inreach started acting out because there are so many recorded tracks (over 400 at this point), and maybe there are some software memory issues.
As for SAR, I was worried the first time it happened, but luckily I ran into some goat hunters near Bells and they sent a message on my behalf that I am ok and please don't send SAR. I also text from summits if I have reception. But recently I've been telling people to text or message me if my Inreach stops working, because now it's a regular thing and is expected. One of the recent ones was on Pyramid "your Inreach stopped working, are you ok, we're getting worried?" Heard the message beep while skiing, had to stop, turn it off/on, resume tracking, etc. Thankfully there's cell service there. Not something I am willing to pay a monthly subscription to deal with!

The update process is in here. https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?partN ... b=software , basically the desktop sync pushes out firmware automatically to the device in most cases if there is one, I will however check if the desktop client version is the one in the list as that's the latest one. But if you sync frequently/update the desktop client this should be taken care of automatically.
As long as you aren't getting close to 2 GB which is what the storage limit is on some of the models, the tracks shouldn't affect, but a side note that's a lot and might affect performance. I am unsure about how the device's internal memory works with the sync. Try deleting some of those from the device.

[dwoodward13]

I'm curious if the "location request" feature would work in this scenario. I don't have an Inreach, but from my understanding, someone watching the map can request a location, which if tracking isn't updating automatically could alleviate the problem. Of course if the device is in some sort of sleep mode, that functionality may not wake it up.

The last thing we need as these devices become more and more popular is a bunch of erroneous SAR missions as soon as a few tracks are missed. Hopefully this is an isolated issue.