# Using a GPS as a minimal communication device?



## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

So I was chatting with a bear hunter out scouting where I have been working - deep into a large no-cell-service area. 

He suggested I pick up a newer Garmin GPS unit as it could be used to send my co-ordinates to a 911 call center in an emergency. He also said it could do the same thing with another similar GPS unit, so he can send his coordinates directly to his son’s unit. 

I am quite intrigued by this idea. Can these units do this through the satellites somehow, without cellular service?

I think he said his unit was a Garmin “Atlas” maybe. Later that day I met a grad student carrying the same one it looked like. 

I have been wandering around in deep woods all my life and navigate perfectly fine without GPS. But if they can now ping back to someone without cell service - that could be darn handy when you really really needed that.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

So I have made a little progress on this question. Apparently it is a feature that came out on Garmin's "Rino" series last year. It does include an ability to send whole text messages, and they go through the satellites - not cell towers. 

Still working on figuring out a minimum price point for a unit that includes this tech. I only use GPS for high-precision mapping and never bother to overlay topo libraries on it or use it recreationally, but I guess it would be kinda nice sometimes.


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## flinchjerk (May 3, 2018)

We used a unit I think was somewhat like that a few years ago in N. Ontario. Ours was a one way device and I do not recall the name of the unit as I was not the man tasked to handling it. Likely because my grasp of voodoo technology is not all that great. We just hit the button every evening so the outfitter knew where we were. Hit the button three times in a half hour and a plane showed up. Pretty cool deal and it had to be satellite. No cell towers where we were.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

B.Jarvinen said:


> So I was chatting with a bear hunter out scouting where I have been working - deep into a large no-cell-service area.
> 
> He suggested I pick up a newer Garmin GPS unit as it could be used to send my co-ordinates to a 911 call center in an emergency. He also said it could do the same thing with another similar GPS unit, so he can send his coordinates directly to his son’s unit.
> 
> ...





B.Jarvinen said:


> So I have made a little progress on this question. Apparently it is a feature that came out on Garmin's "Rino" series last year. It does include an ability to send whole text messages, and they go through the satellites - not cell towers.
> 
> Still working on figuring out a minimum price point for a unit that includes this tech. I only use GPS for high-precision mapping and never bother to overlay topo libraries on it or use it recreationally, but I guess it would be kinda nice sometimes.


You might look into their 'In reach' series. https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/

Pretty expensive gadget IMO. But also pretty cheap if it ends up saving your life out in the boonies.


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