Thread: Garmin inreach messenger

Looks like 2024 before they roll it out, and then it's going to be a slow time thing. Messaging only, followed by some voice capability followed by some data with no timeframe to when the capabilities roll out... Looks like Voda/1NZ have done the big reveal as part of the rebranding but the details are very much a work in progress and wait until 2024 when we confirm it!

Apparently 2deg is in the final stages of negotiating with a satellite service provider, and Spark is in talks with everyone else as to the best way forwards before they announce anything. It will be interesting to see who rolls out the capability first, and in the final washup who's done it best...

The biggest advantage I can see is one device (cellphone) doing it all - almost the same as the dual-sim phones when they came on the scene allowing you to run a voda and a telecom sim. I think you could see the cellphone in conjunction with a powerbank take over all back country duties apart from PLB - and sure as anything someone will invent an app to do that. If I was Garmin, I'd be looking to bring out a cellphone device incorporating a PLB, a radio and a scanning doohickey for the pighunting boys as their market share on sat comms is not going to be looking flash that's for sure...