Garmin GPSMAP 66i, GPS Handheld and Satellite Communicator, Featuring TopoActive mapping and inReach Technology, Multi

This is the first true full-featured GPS navigator with a satellite communicator built in. Realize what you’re buying into, and it’s a fantastic device.The original InReach devices were ostensibly marginal at being GPS navigators, that being a secondary trait of what they do. That isn’t the case with the 66i. The 66i has all of the top-of-the-line features of Garmin’s best handheld units.That being said, there has been a lot of talk of the “pros” and “cons” of this device. Let’s go through them one by one.1. Price: This thing is expensive for a GPS unit, but in my mind it is NOT expensive for what it does. I used to carry a Globalstar satellite phone when going in remote areas. That was a $350 phone with a $60/month plan - and it didn’t do much but make phone calls, and it wasn’t great at that. No location updates, no SMS. Purely for emergencies. Of course, I also carried a $350 eTrex at the same time. For $700 and $60/mo, I got SOME of the features that the 66i gives me in one device - for $600, $25/mo, and LESS WEIGHT, being key. Add in the weather reports (more on that below), location broadcast, and general utility of non-emergency SMS, and the utility is so much higher. All that and a better screen than the eTrex. Don’t compare the price of the 66i against one device, you need to compare it against two devices at once - a high end GPS AND a satellite communicator.2. Battery Life: The 35 hour claim is accurate, and Expedition Mode is a must. 20-30 minute track points are perfectly adequate, and you shouldn’t be leaving this on overnight anyway. You can get about 3-4 active days from the unit with moderate settings, and that’s good for most outings. Going longer? A simple power bank is something you should have with you anyways as essential gear.No, it doesn’t take AAs. Outdoors folk seem to have this obsession with AA batteries. 15-20 years ago it made sense, but it just doesn’t anymore and people need to change their mindset. I also carry a flashlight with a lithium battery and USB charging port (Acebeam and Thrunite have excellent models) that is brighter and lighter than an old fashioned AA model. The long and short of it is this: AA batteries have extremely poor power density. The power density (power per gram) of lithium simply isn’t beatable. 35 hours on the 66i can be doubled with juice to spare for other devices by taking along a power bank. That power bank is the equivalent of 20-30 AAs. Lighter, less weight, more power, more versatility. Cheaper after a couple of outings, too. The battery life of the 66i is perfectly good considering you can easily charge it back up overnight and go another 3-4 days. By the way, the issue is that this thing transmits - hundreds of miles into space - whereas your ordinary GPS is only a receiver. This takes an order of magnitude more power than receiving. A lithium rechargeable is the only practical way to go, and life will depend on how often you transmit.3. Firmware: Garmin is working on merging their acquired InReach (from DeLorme) infrastructure into their own. The 66i is the first unit released after that transition started, and it’s intended to be a native Garmin device. With that, some software features were delayed. These have now mostly ALL been fixed. You CAN now receive weather over InReach. The branding (“InReach Weather” vs “Active Weather”) is a little confusing - but all you need to know is the first is satellite and is text/table based, and the second is WiFi or via your phone Bluetooth and has radar maps. Radar maps are not currently a thing over satellite - but the detailed hourly satellite forecast is nearly as useful, as it derives from DarkSky which specializes in “hyper local” weather.Expect continued firmware updates, as Garmin has historically been excellent about this (the 66i is the 14th Garmin device I’ve owned over 25 years) - and make sure to keep your device up to date. I always check for updates a couple of days before I go out.4. Multi-GNSS: This is a little confusing right now, but as someone who actually works in the satellite industry and has specifically worked on the GPS program, I hope I can clarify a little. Right now there are four primary satellite navigation systems out there, each with their own satellite constellations run by different govenrments. The USA’s GPS is obviously the oldest, but there is also Beidou from China, GLONASS from Russia, and Galileo from the EU. GLONASS was the second system to be available to consumer devices, and Galileo is the most recent.Being more modern, Beidou and Galileo claim to have slightly better accuracy than GPS, but we’re talking a matter of a couple of meters. Additionally, the US’s GPS has traditionally been augmented by a secondary system, WAAS/EGNOS, which is a GPS accuracy enhancement system that largely makes up for that difference.In order to enhance reliability and accuracy, in the last few years consumer devices have supported receiving signals from multiple systems, as backup/redundancy and an accuracy enhancement.Whereas most early multi-system GPS’s supported GPS+GLONASS (such as the eTrex line), some now support there (the eTrex X series supports GPS+GALILEO+GLONASS). The GPSMap 66i supports GPS+GALILEO - but surprisingly to many, not GLONASS.In short: the reason this is the case according to Garmin is that the Iridium satellite network uses frequencies very close to that of GLONASS, and optimizing a receive / antenna system for GLONASS and Iridium proved too difficult. Even shorter: you’re not going to miss it.Yes, GLONASS is a more mature system than Galileo, but GPS+WAAS/EGNOS by itself is perfectly quick-acquiring and accurate by itself. Adding GALILEO makes this even more so, and as someone who literally builds radios for satellites for the military as his day job, a three-system unit is pretty much overkill. We’re talking literal inches here. You’re hiking, not flying a surgical strike with a drone. It’s not worth the battery drain.Could Garmin have done something like a dynamic notch filter to switch GLONASS on and off during iridium reception? Sure. Would it be worth cost, complexity and battery impact it could add to the device? No. You’ve already got a device that can use GPS, Galileo, WAAS, Iridium, Wifi and Bluetooth. That’s a lot of radios in one device, and it integrates them well.And last, some clarifications:- Garmin doesn’t word it well at all, but with the freedom plans you can suspend your subscription indefinitely. Their marketing material says you can suspend on a “monthly basis” which makes it sound like you have to sign in every month and suspend or it’ll renew again. That is not true. It stays off until you turn it back on. By “monthly basis” it just means that’s the smallest amount you’ll get charged for when you turn it on.- The ability to send preset messages that don’t count against your plan is huge. This will cover 80% of messaging use cases for most people I’d guess. You get three messages.. and you can attach your current location to all of them. Setting them to something like “Heading out” “Everything is OK” “Stopping for the night” covers most of your check-ins.- I have noticed a bug in the 5.90 firmware where the device restarts when switching WiFi networks or turning WiFi on and off. Not a big deal, but if you see it don’t think your device is broken.- The ability to download the BirdsEye imagery, which is free with the device (and got a major quality improvement in February) is super convenient. This lets you download without having to return home to a computer, so if plans change on the way, you can add images.- In addition to the built in topo maps, The 66i supports OpenStreetMap as well - which is gotten massively better in the past few years.- The SOS feature is backed by GEOS, an actual organization that coordinates rescues - so you aren’t just sending an SOS to your friends or to the local park ranger. This is a professional group. That being said, there is an option to pay $24.95 a year for $100,000 of “rescue insurance”, and options to upgrade for even more. If you’re the type of person who can justify this device, I’d highly consider it. It could save your financial life if you need to use it, and it supports an important organization if you do not.Summary: Overall, this is a wonderfully integrated and convenient unit with a few early-release quirks. It’sdefinitely not for the casual day-hiker and with so much technology integration, there is a learning curve. But that’s okay. The battery life is manageable and easily augmented, and the InReach feature can literally be a life saver. To be honest, this is the kind of device I had been waiting for. If you’re going to spend time in truly remote areas, I think it’s a must.

Very functional,durable and affordable. Easy to use with wide screen size.

On June 20th, 2024 @ 1031 Mountain Time, I initiated an emergency SOS message to basecamp using a Garmin inReach 66i satellite communicating GPS from the Greenwood Tract trail intersection due to a scout injuring his ankle on a rock. At the time, we were approximately 5 miles from the nearest camp with a radio and obviously there wasn't cell service.Within two hours, a hasty response Philmont Scout Ranch team had been organized, dispatched and arrived at our location. This was accomplished by relaying data via SMS text to the Garmin emergency center who in turn relayed the data to basecamp which then continued the shot with line of sight FM radios.In fact, the two rescuers arrived within 75 minutes of the original call for assistance after hiking with crutches and first aid equipment for many miles. Had it not been for the Garmin inReach, we'd have had to send runners on a 10 mile round trip.During the entire endeavor from the initiation of the call for help, to the arrival of the rescue party, the Garmin inReach performed exactly as advertised and expected.Do not hike into the back country without one of these.

It's a Garmin! Works great for hiking. I've been in some heavy tree canopy and it has never failed to lock on gps satellites! The satellite comm feature works okay but does require a monthly subscription. The only issues I have is the routing function; doesn't work. Garmin apparently loads a non routeable road map on this model. Roads are clearly modeled but it won't work for road travel. Supposedly, the purchase of a "streets map" will route but I've been unable to verify this and not planning to test it for another $100 dollars. The main reason I purchased this unit was for a waterproof, sat comm and routeable gps. Already have a garmin 62c for hiking so the sat comm function would have been better served with a zoleo. Their monthly plan is a better deal I think.

This is probably the best handheld GPS you can currently buy. I have owned Garmin GPSMAP 60, 62 and 64 series handhelds and this is hands down the best of the bunch. There is virtually no wait time for satellite acquisition and it is dead on accurate even under dense tree cover.I use it primarily for recreational hiking and geocaching. Familiarity with earlier GPSMAP units kept the learning curve on this unit short for me, about an hour of tinkering to get the menus and fields set up to my liking and I was good to go. Seems earlier reviews had complaints about software issues, seems numerous software updates have fixed those problems - aside from one random shut down I have had none. Battery life is acceptable for my usage, although I do wish Garmin made the battery in this unit replaceable. After a 12 hour day I still had 66% battery life left, more than suitable for weekend warriors. Although I do now keep a battery charging brick in my pack just in case.Enjoying some of the upgraded features from previous versions. Sharper and larger screen, geocaching live, birds eye view maps (on the fly) etc. Charging and connectivity is now via a micro usb, although I do wish Garmin had gone with a modern USB-C still an upgrade from the old style micro usb that was on earlier units.Despite a few minor flaws I am still giving this a 5 star review as they do not detract significantly from what is an excellent handheld recreational GPS reciever.