Garmin Mini Data Question

I’ve found inReach 15-minute to 1-hour tracking useful for:

– Logging which trails and campsites I used, since I don’t always stick to plan (shocking!)

– Overviews of track and elevation changes after a fair amount of text editor bashing on GPX files.

– Letting my wife automatically know where I am and where I’ve been, aka peace of mind at home or permission ticket :-)

– Giving rescuers a good idea of where I might be if I can’t activate SOS (not used yet, thank goodness.)

Plus point weather forecasts (not Garmin’s) and routine and emergency communications in areas with no cell coverage.

Agreed that Garmin’s requirement for several apps plus a non-intuitive web site is beyond stupid.

Seems like the inReach mini is not a good match for your detailed tracking needs.

— Rex

A 1 sec. track interval is what you want to use for the detailed tracks on the inReach.  That is comparable to most Garmin handheld GPS units (when they are set on Auto).

The Explore app (your Explore web page) is for live display of your position and data interchange (used for moving GPS tracks and waypoints to and from your devices).

The Garmin Basecamp app is used to store, analyze and create data.  Basecamp is the Cadillac and the Explore app is a dumbed down display app.

Basecamp is complicated but it has to be, because it’s Garmin’s primary application for managing all location data, so it handles data from all of Garmin’s  GPS’s, Activity trackers, Garmin Maps, and the inReach devices.

A bit of a learning curve but definitely worth learning.   I use it to edit tracks, plan routes and store and compare data. I upload the Basecamp data to the Explore App when I need to load the data onto my inReach.

The images below are of the same trip (same track and waypoint data).   In the Explore app (Explore Web Page), the track appears as simple data with limited details.  The same data exported from the Explore app and imported into Basecamp provides much more detail.   Lots of analysis if that is what you are looking for.

I don’t mean to hijack the thread, but I would be interested to know if any Mac users are using Basecamp, the majority of reviews on the App Store are quite negative.

Don’t have anything to help you with your specific problem, but I do agree with you that Garmin support is the worst!

Tracking – there re two related but distinct purposes. If you want accurate data after you have completed a route then yes, your device needs to be pinging a satellite every second. Your phone can do that and many activity watches can do that. A key point here is that those devices re not sending anything to the satellites, they are only receiving a signal and storing the data locally.

The second type of tracking is live tracking where your device (InReach mini) is both receiving and sending a signal to the satellite. This allows Garmin to display a near live track of your route for your friends, family and potential rescuers.