Emergency satellite device

get a new battery and get a mini at the next sale.

I owned a SPOT for two years, no complaints, but when I saw the capabilities of the inReach- I sold the SPOT and purchased the inReach.  A year (or two) later, the Mini came out and I grabbed it.

Both inReach’s have performed flawlessly.  The ability to communicate bails, changes in routes, delays, etc is really game changing.

use mini for satellite communication

use phone for GPS – since they make zillions of them they have spent a lot of money engineering them to work good, be light weight.  They’re also a phone, camera,…  The resolution of the screen is good – they can have fine detail so that small 2″ x 3″ screenis big enough.  You can get all the detail of a usgs 7.5 map and display 2 x 3 miles which is enough for general navigation

The lightest ACR these days is just 4 oz.

https://www.rei.com/product/156622/acr-electronics-rescueme-plb1-personal-locator-beacon

The InReach Mini is 3.5 oz.

So these days you can carry both for about the weight of the full-size InReach or an older generation PLB.

You might want to  be aware of the new service provided by the ReturnLink feature on the new EU Galileo GPS network – it confirms that rescue is on the way. Only the latest devices are offering this feature.

https://www.oroliamaritime.com/solutions/galileo-returnlink-rescue/

with the mini you can text back and forth with the authorities, explain the nature of the emergency

maybe you need a couple SAR people to walk out and help you out

maybe you need a helicopter rescue

also with an inReach you are often tracking (set it on an appropriate rate to both save battery and $)- in the event of an emergency, even in the case of not being able to activate the device, SAR would at least have an accurate “breadcrumb” to focus their search

Is it difficult to send messages with the Mini or the GPSMAP 66i without the use of a cell phone?  My preference is to not incorporate my cell phone into my outdoor activities.  First of all, where I go hiking there is no cell service so I can’t call out. Second, my cell phone is older, it’s memory is used up,  and I don’t feel like getting a new one. Most important, it’s just too easy to break it or get it wet.

if you need to send a detailed message- yes it can be slow (w/o a phone); it does allow you to store several pre-typed messages ie “made it to camp-all OK”, “change of plans, watch my track”, “getting out early- can you pick me up”, etc

where I spend my time there is almost always no cell signal (welcome to Montana!), but my cell phone is my camera, it’s my GPS (gaiagps) and syncs w/ the inReach- all for 6-ish oz including a fully waterproof case

I have GaiaGPS on my phone. It may work well for most people but one area in particular I go, it doesn’t show trails that I travel on. That has me looking for other GPS mapping software.

what Mike said – preset messages

To compose messages there is one long column of letters.  You have to scroll up or down to the next letter you want, then click the okay button.  So, maybe it takes 5 minutes to compose a short message.  Awkward, but doable.

The phone also makes is much easier to use the mapping capabilities of the inReach. I’ve found trails on Earthmate that were not on Gaia (and vice versa). Looking at and manipulating the map from Earthmate on your phone is infinitely better than doing it on the device itself. Of course, you could also use an iPod instead of a phone, lighter, but also less battery life.

Texting on an inReach mini without a smartphone is what I do routinely. Like others said, slow, often frustrating, but usable.

Preset Messages (up to 3 messages, no charge on most plans) and Quick Text Messages (unlimited number, same charge as typed-in messages) are very helpful. I constantly remind my wife that responding with typed-in messages will be delayed, because I must stop hiking, dig out my reading glasses, s-l-o-w-l-y enter text, swear at the device over a few stupid UI choices, etc. In fact, my Preset messages say I’ll respond when I get to camp. Due to several minute delays round-tripping via Iridium satellite, it’s not a quick-texting-back-and-forth experience anyway.

Also remind people at the far end that you can’t read emojis – all you get on the inReach is a black square.

— Rex

Can the mini gps be used to get coordinates without being activated?

Ryan Jordan covered the mini’s features in his in-depth review.https://backpackinglight.com/garmin-inreach-mini-review/

You have access to basic GPS functions without using satellite messaging or the SOS function. You also have expanded capability,especially mapping, when pairing the mini with a smartphone.

Jerry, re: “use phone for GPS – since they make zillions of them they have spent a lot of money engineering them to work good, be light weight.  They’re also a phone, camera,…  The resolution of the screen is good – they can have fine detail so that small 2″ x 3″ screenis big enough.  You can get all the detail of a usgs 7.5 map and display 2 x 3 miles which is enough for general navigation.”

That is just what I needed to know.  Thanks.

I visited the GEOS facility in Texas and had a chat with some of the folks there.  They do the emergency coordination for SPOT  InReach along with others.   A few of my take aways:

1.  Two way devices are better than just a pin in the map.  With a one way device you can’t hear the following.  “The  helicopter should be right above you,  can you see it” .  ” The fire is moving east at 30 miles an hour.  Get out of there” or “Rescue will take at least 3 hours.  take cover until then”

2.  The time delay on many of the inReach devices depends on how often the device polls the satellite.  On SOME devices if you push the SOS the time between polls is dramatically shortened.

3.  The protocols for GEOS to communicate with rescue services,  government  or private, vary wildly given from where on the planet you need to be plucked.

4.  If you do push the rescue button, expect to pay the deductible.

Rex wrote an article about rescue insurance a few years back;

rescue Insurance

My understanding is that it’s the helicopter flight ( if one occurs) that that will stab you in the wallet. You can purchase that through Garmin when you use the inreach and not have to worry about violating the clause that they are in control of the rescue?helicopter as I understand it. So if it comes to a helicopter rescue evac you are OK. A medical transfer by helicopter after the initial evac might be another story. Those helicopter flights are expensive!

Also they have a good mapping interface on your big screen if you use a PC or laptop which is helpful for laying out routes. I like being able to lay out the route and mark likely camping spots and each days hoped for leg. That way someone at home can follow your progress and better understand routine pre-loaded texts like “starting today’s hike”, or “stopped for lunch” or “camping here for the evening”. Anytime you connect to the satellite your position is up-dated on the saved route map.

I use cal-topo to lay out routes which I also save in Caltopo in bigger base maps for each region like Wind River Range, or 4-Corners Base map etc. For each particular trip/route I create waypoints for all likely spots I need to hit or identify like passes, trail junctions, other notable landmarks; then I can export them to the basecamp program and from that into the inreach (mini) and use that as a gps if necessary. But normally I just use Gaia to navigate so I don’t have to fire up the inreach that much. I use an older S-5 for backpacking and outdoor stuff because the battery is swappable. I cleaned it up and got rid of the bloatware etc. and all sorts of stuff that wants to run in the background etc. so the battery lasts about 4 days or longer and the swap weighs @ 2 oz. Takes pretty good pictures too. I don’t think I’ve ever come close to using up even half the mini battery in trips up to 8 days but I don’t use it to track or lay tracks. If I am going out longer than @ a weel I can swap the extra battery for a 10,000 MAh pack and add @ another 3 ounces net.

Ryan Jordan’s article gets into fine grained detail and discusses techniques I haven’t had time to try out. Rex is correct typing on the thing is a real hassle. Blue-tooth connected to the phone it as easy as any other text but you cannot send or receive anything but text or a numeral.

Mike M.

I too have a SPOT Gen III and am thinking of selling it for a Mini In-Reach. The In-Reach satellite is worldwide.

I may use it in the Philippines IF this d@mnable COVID 19 pandemic ever ends or “they” get a good vaccine AND medicine to alleviate symptoms.

With the Mini, don’t you have to use/pair it with Earthmate?  The Garmin 66i allows a number of options such as uploading custom maps from CalTopo which I find attractive.

Garmin inReach mini can be used standalone, never need to pair it with Earthmate, though you’ll need to connect via USB into a PC or Mac to update messages, download/upload tracks, etc. But phoneless free-form texting is tedious and erro-rpone, and you don’t get Earthmate’s so-so maps.

— Rex

If the waypoints from Caltopo are downloaded using a PC interface or I guess really any digital device if you know how, into Gaia and the same waypoints into the Inreach then (and this is what I do.) All the “stuff” you need is in one place. But if you’re using ONLY the inreach then you need a map(s)

I’ve used Just the inreach to navigate in this fashion. I’ve used Gaia to hit waypoints and the inreach on the same hike.  These hikes occurred in relatively way off-trail locations like N. Fork Bull Lake Creek in the Winds or backcountry hikes to known and unknown ruin sites etc somewhere in the 4-corners.

I would say that I’m still basically a novice with the inreach so this can’t be that hard AND I may be either stating the obvious or missing something.

AND the ability to type/text FROM the phone through the inreach is not to be sneezed at.

ALSO I think the, in effect; packaged or linked insurance through Garmin is a possible advantage. Again defer to Rex. I’m sure there are deficiencies. Insurance companies aren’t typically lining up to as they say “Buy a Claim”  They have to keep the odds of a serious claim pretty low to make any money. AT $100 a policy I’d pretty randomly estimate they’d need to have less than 1 claim per thousand policies or something like that to make it worthwhile; so yep they write up the policies so that the window of an expensive rescue claim is pretty tight.. You’d better screw up honestly as opposed I guess to recklessly or carelessly; and understand how terms like those are considered in the policy.

Helicopter rescue probably ought to be a collective enterprise but then everyone might be more or less randomly claiming that resource. (See Careless and Reckless above) It’s a tough balancing act.