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im still waiting for my boss to give me an activated unit to look at. Not the most organised chappie is he as soon as I know I'll post pictures

My Employer has had them on the shelf for a while. I am supposed to get an "Explorer" as a demo unit however he keeps selling it :D

Battery life for the older unuist was quoted at 100 hours of continous operation.
We had one of our clients use one when his boat had issues, he like the fact he could take the unit with him in his...

I would say this is correct. When you first power the unit up for the first time it asks you to register/activate it on Garmins inreach website before continuing.
You can't get past this without...

I kind of agree and disagree. More iridium Sats mean your SOS may get a faster response but its not a PLB no.

OK just checked and unit I have uses Delorme Mapping which is supposedly better than Garmin.
As soon as I get the OK to register this unit I will post a screen shot of mapping

I really like them (apart from the cost which does not effect me :D )
You can set them up so every text you send has a link at the bottom which if the receiver "clicks" on will open a map like...

Still uses gps network same as your garmin for calculating position, uses iridium sat for messaging. I'll have a look at the one on the shelf tomorrow to see what the mapping is like
$6 per month...