June 8, 2021

Signing up for an Inreach plan for the Garmin 66i

I have decided that the GPSmap66i is the device for me rather than the Explorer+. I have also decided that the least expensive annual (not "freedom") plan is what I want to sign up for.

Activation

The first step is to go to the above site and sign up for a new account. (Of course if you already have some other device and therefore an account, you just sign in). It wants my EMEI number and an authorization code. To get this you turn on the device, skip activation (for now), and go to Setup, About.

I also sign up for a GEOS provided SAR insurance for $25 per year.

I provide a credit card number for periodic billing. My first bill month is June 8 to July 7.

Now it says to wait while my device and account are being activated. My device is on, displaying a map, and sitting right next to me. It is taking a while, and they warn me that it will. Who knows how many servers and databases are involved. After less than 2 minutes, the webpage tells me "Activation Successful". There is no indication on my device that anything happened.

I power my device off and on again. I get the Welcome screen that allows me to either Activate or Skip. This time I select "Activate". It instructs me to perform the above steps, then tells me I should go to where I have a clear view of the sky. I walk outside and after 2 minutes or so it has talked to the satellites and told me that Activation is complete.

I power it off and on again. Now there is no dialog and it goes directly to displaying a map. There is a little cartoon baloon icon at the top of the screen with a number "1" inside and indeed I have a message from inreach congratulating me. It also encourages me to send a test message, and I do, telling it to send my location.

Testing

Do this where you have a clear view of the sky. In the main menu find "inreach utilities", go to the tab that looks like a satellite (which is the test tab) and hit enter to perform a communications test.

Email

I can send email. People receiving it cannot reply directly, but they can go to a link that gives them a form they can use to reply once or multiple times.

Text

If I send people a text, they can reply directly once or multiple times. There is no way for them to initiate a text conversation.

Mapshare

I consent to the use of mapshare. This is via the "Social" tab on the explore website. I set the mapshare address to share.garmin.com/trebisky password Jxxxx (the big red bird) I take the device outside then try a "locate" from the mapshare page. Nothing seems to happen, but it warns me that it may take up to 20 minutes. I wish it had something that indicated that a location request was "pending" or in progress. I wonder if I have to enable this on the device.

I send a message from the Mapshare page, and after a long delay it arrives on the device.

Preset messages

These are configured via the "Messages" tab on the explore page. I set 3 of them and it tells me I need to do a Sync to get them on the device.

I go ahead and send twp preset messages without doing the Sync. They show up in my email! And they have the text I have not synced yet. The email has a link, which takes the person to an explore webpage showing my location. Not exactly what I expected, but ....

There are also "quick text" messages, which are predefined messages that will appear in a menu in your device (once it is synced). These cost the same as regular messages you laboriously type in, what you save is all the typing.

Contacts

You can enter these into your 66i, but it is smarter and easier to use the explore page to enter them and then sync them to your device. There is a contact called "Mapshare" that will send messages to your mapshare page. I add myself as a contact just in case I want to send messages to my own cell phone, which could be handy for testing if nothing else.

Receiving messages

After you send a message, the 66i will check for replies every 10 minutes for an hour. After that it checks every hour. It also checks each time Livetrack sends your position. And you can trigger a manual check.

How do I sync my 66i/inreach device

One would think that you could do this with the USB cable instead of bluetooth, but that just isn't so. One might also think that "hey, the 66i has Wifi, I can just sync over Wifi", but that ain't so either.

It is bluetooth or go home, which leads to difficulties as you will soon learn in detail.

I grab my ancient android phone and go to the Google "play store", which always strikes me as the most juvenile and assinine name for the Google app store, but it is what it is. I search for "Garmin Explore", find it and install it. I do this where my phone has a decent Wifi connection and it doesn't take too long.

The advertising copy claims that this app will work with the device even when I am "off the grid" (i.e. have neither Wifi nor Cell service). This would be a refreshing change if it is true.

I launch the app, accept the EULA, and it wants email and a password. This is of course whatever I used to set up my Garmin explore account. Now it wants to pair with my device (via bluetooth).

So now I grab my 66i, power it on. I go to main menu and setup, then select Bluetooth. It tells me to download and use the Garmin connect mobile app, but I'll attempt this using the Explore app.

I use the explore app on the phone, and it is now also telling me to install the Garmin connect app (and offers me a link to do so). The download page tells me that my device (phone I guess) is not compatible with the current version of Garmin connect.

This is a major show stopper. My phone is a Samsung S4 running Android 5.0.1 (so called Lollipop). I am reading that the latest release of Android 5.0.1 was in July 2016 (5 years ago). Is it reasonable for Garmin not to be supporting a 5 year old phone? I don't think so, at least not if their developers consider themselves top tier professionals.

So I go to the Garmin support page and it lets me type in my phone number and they tell me that they will call me in 3-5 minutes, which is nice. They do, but the answer they give me is that I'll have to find and use some more up to date mobile device to sync things like contacts and presets.

This is mud in Garmin's eye in two ways:

The first is just lazy and unprofessional software development. Sure it is nice to only develop for the latest versions, but professionals have to bite the bullet and support older versions too.

Not supporting the ability to sync via USB and a desktop application is unfortunate. They have abandoned development on "Basecamp" (and desktop applications in general) and now want people to use web services in lieu of a desktop application.

I also have an android tablet. Made by LG. Let's give it a try!

Don't get too excited. Now that I have it in hand I find that it is running Android 5.0.2. I can't imagine a minor version change will make a difference, but let's try it anyway. This gets me into odd Google problems.

The Play store doesn't even show me the Garmin Connect app on this device (it should have a blue icon with a big C and a slanty "Garmin" across the top. My phone (which complains that it is not compatible) at least shows it and reports 10M+ downloads. There is a sneaky look alike called "Nav Garmin Connect" that is not what I want.

On the tablet I can find Garmin Explore, but when I click the install button, I get a weird popup that says to "open my apps to establish a connection with the server". Another weird Google problem.

The way to fix this is to go to Settings, Application Manager, then find Google Play store and open it. Clear the cache and clear data. Then find Google Play services and open it. Clear the cache, then tap on "manage space" and clear all data. That did the trick, now I can install Garmin Explore. I install it, give my password and ultimately get to the same point as my phone. Explore knows how to find Garmin Connect on the "play store", but it won't even try to install, telling me that "Your device isn't compatible with this version".

Incidentally, it looks to me like "Google play" does some kind of app screening and won't show me apps that are incompatible with my Android version. This is inconvenient and confusing. As another incidental note, the "best" android device makers in this regard (namely Google and Samsung) support their devices for only 3 years in the first case, and 2 android updates in the second. In other words if you get 2 major android updates, feel lucky.

Borrow an iPaD

We love zany capitalization. So this whole "sync your 66i" thing is turning into an all day project. No end of flaming hoops for the circus dog to jump through. I am not sure if Garmin could made it more of a pain in the ass if they tried. So I borrow a relatives eyePad, but then I need their 6 digit code to be able to use it. I get that. Then I need their Apple store identity and password to install the Free Garmin Explore app. Then it helps me install the Garmin Connect app (why don't they just integrate both of these into one app?). Of course I need my apple store credentials again to install that. And I need to enter my Garmin credentials into the Explore app.

Now Garmin connect wants me to sign in. Nothing like not having the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. Garmin connect gives me some hard to use midget keyboard in lieu of the nice big error free Apple Ipad keyboard. At least it shows my password to me so I can find and fix typing errors, which of course are far more likely on the midget keyboard. It confirms that I am in the USA (for some reason) then claims to be on to configuring my device. I select the 66i from a menu and now it tells me to ensure that the 66i is in bluetooth pairing mode.

On the 66i I go to main menu, setup, bluetooth. The eyePad brings up a confusing menu that says "select an accessory" with nothing to select. You gotta wait until it gets something from the 66i and then puts it on the menu, which takes 5 seconds or so. Then you select the entry and tell a number of subsequent dialogs that come up that you really do want to pair the device. Finally it works! Now it asks a bunch of questions that clue you in that Garmin Connect is some kind of fitness oriented app that they use for some reason to talk to the 66i. I lie about almost everything, taking the defaults and finally it says that it is syncing my 66i.

Now I go back to Garmin Explore. Now it pairs quickly and syncs by default.

Workflow

This leads to an odd workflow with your cell phone acting as a middle-man or relay or gateway, but that is just how it is. You do stuff on the website, then need to have your phone with a wifi (or cell data) link, and your 66i connected via bluetooth.

Clearly Garmin has decided to avoid the issue of supporting desktop apps, one for Windows, one for IOS, and another for Linux (but they never did support Linux). Nice for them, but not so nice for the end user.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's backpacking pages / tom@mmto.org