I’ll add my 2 cents and another vote for Garmin inReach (we have the Explorer+). On our almost four month trip to Alaska last summer, we carried the inReach, an EPIRB, a Sirius antenna and weather subscription, a cellular signal booster, and an iPad with Navionics and the Windy app, in addition to our stock VHF, a handheld VHF, and two smartphones. We also had a redundant chartplotter since our boat has one on the flybridge.
With all of that equipment onboard, the inReach filled a niche that nothing else could fill. I suppose a satellite phone could have accomplished most of what the inReach did, plus the nice added benefit of voice communication but unless my math is off, the sat phone option is about an order of magnitude greater in cost than the inReach. I paid $35/month for the satellite subscription for inReach, on a month-to-month basis. If you want to opt for a year contract, the cost is $25/month. I used the inReach frequently and, at least for our cruising lifestyle, never felt the need for a sat phone.
The inReach does not replace an EPIRB in my opinion, though it has a waterproof rating of ipx7, meaning it can handle submersion up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. So not good if you hit the water but ok for abandoning ship in a dinghy in the rain. I chose the Explorer+ over the Mini because all functions could be performed on its screen without resorting to a smartphone (another layer of redundancy) and because it has twice the battery life of the Mini.
We mounted the inReach in its quick-release holder on the wall at the entrance to the “cave,” left it permanently plugged in to recharging power, and linked it to my iPhone. So I then had immediate access to all of its functions by simply pulling out my smartphone. I could send and receive texts (limited to 160 characters each), check on weather, configure tracking, etc., all without leaving my seat. When we went hiking, we snapped the unit out of its holder and took it with us.
Curt is right that “marine weather” forecasts can only be requested for points that are 3 miles or more offshore. But there is an option for “premium” weather (a step up from “basic”) which gives you a 7-day forecast on inland waters for any point that you choose on the map. It starts with 1 hour increments and then the increments get longer the further out into the future you go. It predicts wind speed and direction, sky condition, chance of precipitation, temperature, relative humidity (useful for predicting fog) and barometric pressure. I found the predictions very reliable. It does not predict wave height but you can often infer that from wind speed and direction and the fetch as shown on the chart.
In the event of an emergency, it sends out a distress signal with your coordinates straight to an international team that is equipped to dispatch local help. Unlike a personal locator beacon or EPIRB where you don’t know if anyone is responding to your signal or not, there is two-way communication in real time with your rescuers. They can update you on progress and you can update them on your situation and condition.
This was not part of Jim’s original question but I’ll add that I did not find the Sirius weather subscription helpful at all. Satellite coverage was very sketchy, especially in Alaska. If I managed to get wind vectors to show on the chartplotter at all, the resolution was poor, wave heights were only shown offshore in open ocean, and the written synopsis frequently failed to download.
