inReach billing tip

I've been using DeLorne (now Garmin) inReach for a few years, relying on it to keep me in contract when I am far from cellular reception. It's an excellent tool, and I discovered there's a way to save on the monthly service costs between trips to keep the service costs very economical.

I was initially under the impression that once you activate a plan, you can't cancel within the first 30 days. It appears this is only the case for the first time you activate a plan.

For my first inReach use, I had the "$75/month, Unlimited" plan active for about two months, and then suspended my device (at $3/month) when I no longer needed the plan.

When I re-activated the same plan later in the year and then again suspended it (after only ~3 weeks), I found that a credit of roughly $15 showed up in my account. I then activated another plan, used it over a three day period, and suspended the device again to find my credit had decreased to $10.

So it would apprear that inReach will apply pro-rated credit to your account if you cancel a membership before the full month-long period has elapsed, and you can then use that credit as needed at a later date. This becomes much more economical, as you can now activate the service for a few days, and then suspend it until the next trip, paying only a fraction of the monthly service cost each time!

My experience is with inReach Canada, which has different plans and rules than inReach USA, so your mileage may vary...