Garmin Wants to Save You at Sea

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people who lost sight of their boat while scuba diving off Palm Beach, FL, Sunday, January 4. A Lake Worth Inlet boat crew launched after receiving an alert from the divers' electronic Satellite Emergency Notification Device (SEND), which sends a distress signal to authorities.

They were smart divers to carry such a device. The most likely unfortunate circumstance to befall a diver is to be separated from the dive boat and lost at sea. Sailors have always feared that, especially when sailing single-handed. For them, falling overboard usually signals certain death. And for divers too: we divers have always been seduced by the appeal of a high-tech solution that will save us if lost at sea, though it's nowhere near as likely for divers as for ocean-going sailors. But often, these electronic safety solutions have been beset with problems. For emergency equipment, usability and total reliability are essential.

Consider the Garmin InReach Mini 3 Plus. Garmin has broadened the appeal of its safety device, marketed initially to yachties, by making it applicable to divers. It's a handheld satellite communicator, now with a color touch screen display and a microphone on its latest iteration. It can be carried in Garmin's 300-foot-depth-rated waterproof case, so it should survive a dive. (Naturally, you need to take it out of the case at the surface to use it.)

Using satellite technology, it promises users the exchange of voice messages, texts (SMS), and photos with just about anyone, but in an emergency, it can trigger an interactive SOS message to the Garmin response center (rather than an international rescue response). The device transmits the user's GPS location with regular updates, and enables Garmin response coordinators to communicate with the user and seek help.

Garmin claims the battery life is up to 330 hours (nearly 14 days) in 10-minute interval tracking mode, which should be plenty for anyone on a typical dive trip to a remote location, though it might be wise to charge it once mid-trip, since we know battery claims don't always hold.

But such solutions come at a price. The InReach Mini 3 costs $499 with an additional $96 for the dive case, and to use it fully with the Garmin response center, you need a Garmin subscription plan, which costs $7.99 per month.

Pricey, but life is priceless.