May be looking for a spot rental to communicate with family while we're out in the BW for a week. Anyone know where and how much?

Piragis rented me an InReach for my first trip. If you are using an outfitter, check with them, if not, check the websites of outfitters. They probably list them with daily prices in the partial outfitting section. Just looked on Piragis, $10/day and .50 per text message for a Garmin InReach.

We've done one from Voyageur North before and have been very happy with their service. $25 for up to 3 days and $5/day beyond. SPOT Rental

Note should be made you can't send messages with the SPOT, other than an SOS. Family can track your progress and you can upload your location.

We've got a camper who needs to stay in touch with a sick family member this year and will likely go with the satellite phone rental (~$100 for the week). Sat Phone (Piragis rents the sat phone as well at a comparable cost).

If you are not going through an outfitter or if you aren't planning to work with an outfitter then you could rent from here SPOT RENTAL . They have SPOT rentals.

I used them on several trips before I purchased my own InReach. Outfitters near the BWCA do offer various InReach etc for rent but they seem to be booked and I didn't want to waste an hour at an outfitter for solely an InReach. These folks are reliable (ma and pa business) and they ship it directly to your house. You ship it back. Always worked well for me.

Ely side: Spirit of the Wilderness or VNO

“Note should be made you can't send messages with the SPOT, other than an SOS. Family can track your progress and you can upload your.......”

Just my two cents worth for using a SPOT....My devise has a HELP message, an SOS message, an “I'm OK” message and then one other message that can be programmed prior to your trip, such as “I’ve stopped for the night,” “I’m up and on the move,” I’m doing ok,” “everything is going as planned”, etc.....

giddyup: "

“Note should be made you can't send messages with the SPOT, other than an SOS. Family can track your progress and you can upload your.......”


Just my two cents worth for using a SPOT....My devise has a HELP message, an SOS message, an “I'm OK” message and then one other message that can be programmed prior to your trip, such as “I’ve stopped for the night,” “I’m up and on the move,” I’m doing ok,” “everything is going as planned”, etc....."

My mistake. You can send preprogrammed messages. Don’t know how easy this would be to do if you rented one through an outfitter.

I just completed a week long solo in the BWCA, and I used the SPOT 3. I have rented one in the past for other solo trips, but finally decided to go ahead and buy it.
With the login information, the custom messages are easy to alter, and the device will run nonstop for a week on 1 set of lithium batteries, and probably longer.

I love the tracking feature-I can share a map with my family back home, and then see where and how fast I've gone when I get back. This linked map is what the tracking feature looks like afterward.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/drive?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221qLVjJBCW3uXsVRXbRq4HaT9jLuNJxsbU%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22userId%22%3A%22109858156441321179044%22%7D&usp=sharing

Total cost to use the SPOT 3: $150
Device with batteries: $95
Service plan for 1 month and activation fees: $55

Buying one can be just as affordable as rental if you use it several times, or more than 1 time per year.

PatrickE: "

giddyup: "


“Note should be made you can't send messages with the SPOT, other than an SOS. Family can track your progress and you can upload your.......”



Just my two cents worth for using a SPOT....My devise has a HELP message, an SOS message, an “I'm OK” message and then one other message that can be programmed prior to your trip, such as “I’ve stopped for the night,” “I’m up and on the move,” I’m doing ok,” “everything is going as planned”, etc....."

My mistake. You can send preprogrammed messages. Don’t know how easy this would be to do if you rented one through an outfitter. "

Spirit of the Wilderness/Steve lets you set up your own message. VNO, its a standard message. Easier to share the link w/VNO, private link with SOTW. Pros and cons to each.

We've also rented an InReach with Piragus, the ability to message was nice, but then it turned out we had full service on the lake we were on. The tracking seemed to work better with the SPOT, so it depends on your goals.

I'll throw this out as well - OER rents Devices and gear OER Rentals

We used them back in 2018 and were very satisfied with the experience. I would reccomend them and use them again if needed. I beleive they currently offer a Garmin InReach Explorer+ that does two way texting, I know they offer multiple Data plans and will load a (Reasonably sized, lol) KZM file as well. Very nice folks and very helpful. Hope you find something that works for you.

IndyScouter