Customer reviews from Garmin
Garmin - inReach Messenger 1.08" GPS with Built-In Bluetooth - Black
Average customer rating
4.3
(259 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 259 reviews
5 Stars
162
4 Stars
51
3 Stars
21
2 Stars
15
1 Star
10
Customer Reviews for Garmin - inReach Messenger 1.08" GPS with Built-In Bluetooth - Black
Customer Rating
2
Difficult to use
on July 8, 2026
Posted by: jbuck49
Few usable directions on use. Difficult to use. Expensive monthly fee.... Great battery life. I DON'T recommend!
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Great Service
on July 4, 2026
Posted by: Clonts
I bought the Garmin GPS Inreach Messenger on June 12,2026 for my husband's 71st birthday. We live in Colorado and sometimes hike out of cell phone reach. He needed help getting the App on his phone set up, so he called the number given. Someone immediately answered in English, explained what to-do. Called him back after 5 minutes to ensure everything worked. We have not used yet but was extremely happy with service.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Good
on June 27, 2026
Posted by: jwjbs
This is a good tool to get help if you having nothing else. I use it in conjunction with my Garmin Fenix 8. My plan is to use it if I happen to get stranded on a hike or bike ride. The only thing that doesn't work well is the messenger app when tied to the watch. The watch does not recognize any of my contacts. But overall certainly works better than the Fenix 8 pro sattelite service.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
4
Very good unit but user interface is clunky.
on June 25, 2026
Posted by: zilla
I bought this to replace my SPOTX which died after many years of use. The SPOT is MUCH more user friendly. One webpage for all user interaction. Map, tracking, billing etc etc. While the Garmin actually seems to work better as it has a better say system, it is clunkier to get around in. SPOT assigns a unique number to you unit that is used for texting etc. Garmin does not. You have to go through a user portal for texting or respond within ten minutes of receiving a text. I have 2 apps installed om my phone and one on my wife's. also 3 apps on my desktop. It doesn't have to be this hard. It took me over a week to get everything figured out. Now that I am "on board" it works well.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Life saving
on June 21, 2026
Posted by: Trent4242
I bought this for a few upcoming trips I have, hopefully I don’t have to use the SOS feature, but it’s very nice that I can message anyone i need anywhere in the world.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Easy setup!
on June 18, 2026
Posted by: BriW
So far, so good. I set it up and got my monthly service. I went on a hike and was able to message my wife. She was impressed that it showed my exact location. I will take on my next trip. I have been putting off getting a satellite communicator. After seeing a rattlesnake on the trail on a hike last year and having no cell service, I knew it was time to get one.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Simple to setup and use.
on June 8, 2026
Posted by: DRW13
I purchased 2 messengers for a remote trip to Canada to allow communication between two boats and loved ones back home. Each messenger had a separate account, and each had the unlimited plan. The app worked well via cell phone, and we did not to use the interface within the Garmin device since it was not necessary. It would be nice to allow/assign additional users versus primary/paired on the account so other members in the remote area within range of the Garmin device can send messages via their phones/messenger app. In our case we had two persons per boat so assigning one additional user to each account would improve flexibility. Great feature is the ability to cancel the monthly subscription when the device is not needed.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin
Customer Rating
5
Emergency communication insurance
on March 25, 2026
Posted by: Big Bend
To be fair, I only bought this because we planned and executed a family trip in Big Bend National Park. I was traveling with my wife, kids and grandkids. I knew that there would be no cell service and didn't want to risk an accident or animal encounter without access to some kind of SOS communication. Fortunately, I never needed the SOS but was greatly relieved that I had access to it through my Garmin messenger's 24/7 response feature which included the ability to define our emergency should we have one.
Written by a customer while visiting Garmin