The biggest rising section of SOS customers, nonetheless, is motorists
In 2023 helicopters, ambulances, and search and rescue groups (pictured) had been dispatched most often in response to Garmin SOS triggers. Jacob W. Frank / NPS
A brand new report from Garmin that examines international inReach SOS information from 2023 exhibits that it’s not simply backcountry adventurers who’re triggering SOS calls today. Though hikers and backpackers are the biggest person group counting on the GPS characteristic to contact emergency companies, Garmin’s information exhibits that the largest improve in SOS calls in 2023 got here from driving-related incidents.
“This emphasizes the significance of getting an inReach available for on a regular basis ‘just-in-case’ conditions,” Garmin writes in its report. The corporate factors out that many of those emergency calls got here from drivers who broke down, hit dangerous climate, or had been concerned in (or witnessed) an accident exterior of cellphone vary.
This takeaway is barely a part of the image, because the Garmin report takes a broader take a look at the place SOS calls had been triggered in 2023 and why. As a result of the Iridium satellite tv for pc community covers one hundred pc of the globe, inReach units can be utilized anyplace on the planet. The above map exhibits SOS calls being triggered from each continent besides Antarctica in 2023, with the best density of calls coming from the Western U.S.
Learn Subsequent: Best GPS for Hunters and Anglers
The highest causes for hitting the SOS button had been accidents or medical points, adopted by vehicle-related issues. The opposite most typical causes had been being stranded, caught, or misplaced. Garmin’s report additionally exhibits that almost all of SOS calls got here from hikers and backpackers in 2023. After drivers and motorcyclists, which represented the second-highest proportion of callers, the teams that hit the SOS button probably the most (so as) had been: boaters, climbers, campers, snowmobilers, hunters, and skiers. Though it doesn’t give precise percentages, the report incorporates a pie chart exhibiting the opposite out of doors person teams that triggered calls, together with anglers, cyclists, horseback riders, sailors, and whitewater rafters.
“Responses from all around the world — from New Zealand to Norway to Argentina and Canada — had been coordinated for aircraft crashes, grizzly bear encounters, sinking sailboats, skiers in avalanches, stranded divers, injured climbers and plenty of extra,” Garmin writes within the report.
The huge quantity of SOS information that Garmin gathered final 12 months shouldn’t come as a shock. Garmin’s inReach sequence — which incorporates the full-size inReach, the MINI 2, and the Messenger — has develop into one of many gold requirements of backcountry satellite tv for pc communication. In 2022, Garmin introduced a milestone of 10,000 SOS calls being triggered from world wide. The 2023 report didn’t notice the quantity of calls, simply the person teams and response. The information tracks with what we learn about out of doors recreation: extra individuals are inclined to hike, backpack, and drive than, say, paraglide, so it makes extra sense that this group has a proportionally bigger want for SOS calls.
Learn Subsequent: Garmin inReach MINI 2 Review
These GPS units are loads helpful even with out the SOS button, which ought to solely be used as a final resort. An inReach additionally help you drop waypoints, set tracks, and ship texts to household or pals who may doubtlessly enable you out of a non-life threatening state of affairs. I began utilizing an inReach whereas guiding fishing journeys in Alaska and it’s been a necessary piece of my equipment ever since. And since I spend loads of time driving out of cell vary today, my inReach now lives within the middle console of my truck when it’s not stashed away in a pack. I’ve (luckily) by no means had to make use of the SOS button, however I consistently use the pre-set message characteristic to ship updates to my spouse (more often than not, it’s to let her know I’ll be dwelling just a little later than anticipated). The Garmin report factors out that simply opening a line of communication with somebody through inReach helped virtually 10 p.c of individuals self rescue, relatively than requiring rescue from first responders.
