I recently went on a ride, and one of the participants went down. It was the end of a very long day (500 miles) for him, and he forgot to change out of his sunglasses at sunset. He didn’t see gravel on the road in the soft light, and he had a small low side. We were out of cell range, the sweep could not connect with the lead, and no one on the ride had a satellite phone. It wasn’t a great situation.

My partner used to travel to very remote regions of Canada, where he worked in telecommunications. Several alarm bells went off in his head as I explained what happened. While riding all over California is familiar, we have significant geographic areas without reliable communications. Condensing lots of conversations, he talked with Santa Claus, who agreed that satellite communications are necessary for how I travel on the motorcycle. Changes were headed my way.

About 20 years ago, I started this blog to inform those I care about that I was safe out on the road. I posted each night with a ride report, communicating the day‘s adventure and the evening‘s safe return. These days, the Internet doesn’t need to know about my whereabouts, and technology exists for real-time tracking in the case of a real emergency.

Enter Garmin inReach. It’s a small device, no bigger than a deck of cards, that sends location and text messages and retrieves weather reports from satellites anywhere on the globe. Apple is reportedly doing the same thing in a future relaese, but Garmin technology is available now, and Apple technology isn’t quite there yet. Plus, the redundancy of having two devices in an emergency is quite nice.

Garmin recently changed the pricing structure for the monthly fee – and it’s not for the better. If you get the device, especially as a motorcyclist in California, you will want to commit to the monthly fee year-round. It’s a $40 activation fee to start and another $40 to reactivate if you stop paying the monthly payment (as if you don’t ride in the winter season). Monthly fees start at $15 a month – though you will likely want more generous text messaging, which starts at $30 a month. 

As I considered a motorcycle trip across the south island of New Zealand, I realized I’d be nearly 10,000 miles from home and wanted a thicker safety barrier around me. 

The inReach sits in a pocket in my old suit and will hang on a carabiner outside the new suit. Aerostich, the makers of my suit since 2008, updated their Roadcrafter to include a hook for devices like the inReach. 

So how does it work? I’m learning as I go, but as of this blog post, I will kick off a text message when I start riding for the day, send a notification or two during the ride, and, most importantly, send a message when my kickstand goes down for the evening. I have set notifications for people who live locally, and I trust them to act on my behalf should anything happen. I also send a message to myself to confirm everything is working on transmission.

Battery life seems good on the device. I could easily get 3 to 4 days of coverage on a single charge – however, I recommend to turn the device off when it’s indoors. I suspect it’s using significantly more power to transmit to the satellites indoors. On this trip, I’ve been charging every night, but battery consumption seems light for a full day of riding.

One of the other benefits of the inReach device is that a team of people swings into action when one of their customers presses the SOS button. You can communicate any pertinent medical details the Garmin medical team should hand off to the first responders.

I’m renting a BMW GS 1300 motorcycle on this trip. Like every new GS, BMW has packed this bike with features. It has the latest Garmin navigation system, which includes inReach support. I can use the motorcycle’s screen to check in with people back home.

It’s the one device I hope I never have to use – but now that I have it, I’m thankful for the extra protection the device affords.