Joseph
It’s early March 2021, and there’s more snow than 50 years ago in the mountains southeast of Whitehorse, Yukon. I Alone, And explore the surrounding area outside the network log cabin Where I live for two weeks with my wife and child. I am good for a long drive in Yukon as I will camp for the winter and hiking in snowshoes and snowmobile on a large scale in remote areas.
It’s windy and me Snowboarding Through a great stretch of the alpine tundra. The path I’m walking is full and difficult to follow. I’m going back to the booth as I told my wife I would come home for dinner, but I’m really late and lost the light. In an attempt to buy time, she departed from the difficult trail and began to plunge into the deep snow. I install the throttle to compensate and squeeze through the deep powder, and put both feet on the inner runner to guide the machine back to the snow packed in the aisle but my turn is too tight. This is when I run over some dense bushes and stumble upon. Jump up, drop right up to my waist in a fluffy sugar snow. After pulling my shovel, I know it will take some time to get out; Even after I’m done shoveling, I must start cutting all of the branches below the machine’s path if I want any chance of getting traction.
With Garmin GPSMAP 66i In my pocket, before I start digging, I take it out and send a satellite text message to my wife: “I’m fine but I just got stuck so I’m late.” My wife is back in the booth (which is also outside the range of cell phones) and calls me back using her InReach Satellite communication device. She says she will wait. Relieved not to worry, I took off my jacket and started scraping.
With the shovel and folding saw, I always bring the snowmobile, and it takes half an hour (and a lot of elbow grease) to release the sled – somehow it still gets it back in time for our delicious moose burger gifted to us local fisherman.
What is that
We take Great experience Using portable GPS and satellite communication devices over the years, I was excited to discover the 66i before setting off on this Yukon adventure. What makes the 66i so good is that it has all the capabilities of an advanced portable GPS device, combined with an advanced satellite messaging device.
Why do we love it
This device has many features but below I have included a list of the main 66i features that I have used the most.
1) Maps
The device comes with preloaded topographic maps, but you can also download additional satellite images and topographic maps into the device.
2) Traceability
In the field when I have a lot of battery power I leave the trace on. This means the machine will keep a record of my progress, which always gives me an easy commute to keep going home. After a few days of exploring a specific area, the multiple paths saved in the unit create an accurate route map as well.
3) Waypoints
I mark a path point to bring me back to (or go back to) something specific like Ice fishing Gap.
4) Satcoms
The 66i has satellite texting that allows me not only to communicate with my wife’s InReach device, but I can also share two-way text messages with any cell phone, and send and receive emails as well. Emails and texts are sent to cell phones with an attached link that allows the recipient to see the exact location of the sender and follow his progress on the map. The 66i can also send a map link and post a text to Facebook and Twitter, allowing others to follow your progress as well.
6) Mayday
Probably the most important save-your-bacon feature in the device is the one you never want to use. If the shit really hits a fan, you’ll need the interactive SOS button. This sends a signal to the emergency monitoring station which can facilitate the rescue operation anywhere in the world.
Lice
This is a rugged outdoor device and because of this sheer durability, its interface is not as user-friendly as a smartphone, either. This defect is mainly due to the fact that it does not have a touch screen, so texting and moving the map takes longer. There’s also a strange firmware glitch, which means that every now and then, you need to turn it off and restart it. Note that this issue will likely not continue as new firmware updates become available.
This device provides more peace of mind, but don’t let it give you a false sense of security while in your country. No hardware (or piece of gear for that matter) should replace Experience and skill.
[$600; garmin.com]
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