Nothing to do with the help button - but to me having an inReach (about 7oz) and an i-phone (not sure the weight but say 8 oz) and the need for batteries for both, makes your system very heavy. If you need the i-phone to make the inReach user friendly and easier to read, to me, that is a lot of money for something that really is not a stand alone.
So now we have GPS, PLB, camera and i-phone. Why on earth cannot we have one gadget.
I do longer trips (about 10 days) so at this point, given the battery problems and weight, I go old fashioned- paper maps, an itenery left with family and search for me if I am not back 2 days after I was supposed to return.
With the Garmin acquisition of Delorme the InReach system is in the midst of model consolidation, service term reconfiguration and frankly, a buttload of monetization steps making it more expen$ive.
I have the old InReach brick, smaller and no display. It requires a phone to access all the features but can also work as a standalone if you don't need two-way messaging. It also takes AA batteries, unlike the current internal-battery models, making it useful on trips of any length.
A SPOT or PRB are alternatives and while SPOT allows non-emergency communication and tracking neither has two-way messaging, something now expected back home when I'm out.
Evaluating my options as I'm not pleased at the current InReach devices and subscription options but would feel limited with a PLB (and irritated at their battery configurations).
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