InReach Mini, Tracking, Apps, Battery Efficiency…

Bluetooth really doesn’t use that much battery at all. I never turn it off, on either the phone or the inreach, and don’t have what I would consider battery issues.

Bluetooth battery drain can be a real problem, sometimes, for some devices. I’ve seen much better battery life on older iPhones by turning off Bluetooth, separate from cell service, WiFi, background apps, and other energy hogs. But YMMV.

And if I‘m trying to squeeze the last hours out of an inReach, almost everything gets turned way down or off, including Bluetooth. I want that SOS button to work when I need it, along with rescue-essential messaging. Your risk tolerance might differ, but that’s what Garmin recommends in the Mini manual:

— Rex

I would just use the Caltopo app, if have been testing both Gaia and Caltopo and neither uses much battery and seem pretty similar in tracking.

Thanks all…still looking for ideas on the meat of my post…

I’m trying to figure out why I would want/need to copy the GPX track from CalTopo to my Explorer account.  If I copy the data into Explorer and use my Earthmate App to check my locations and such…I again will lose the detail I put into CalTopo.  Or…I could open CalTopo when I want information (with or without the pre-planned route in Garmin) and just use the Earthmate App to start and stop tracking (or even start and stop tracking on the InReach with Bluetooth off to save yet more battery and then each night…turn Bluetooth on and sync the daily progress with Earthmate).

In essence…what’s the advantage of using the Earthmate app at all for me given how I what I want to use my InReach and CalTopo app?

I’m trying to figure out why I would want/need to copy the GPX track from CalTopo to my Explorer account.

I don’t have an In_reach, so forgive me if this is off target. Wouldn’t copying to Explorer give you redundancy in case of smartphone failure?

Not with a Mini…a phone needs to be used to look at the mapping with a Mini through the Earthmate app.  On a Garmin Explorer the map could be read on the InReach device…but I’m dealing only with a Mini..

I plan on using my mini similarly to you. I have the Earthmate app mostly for the ability to send custom texts when Bluetoothed to my phone. I will use the mini to log my interval in the ext. tracking mode, then I will sync via Bluetooth each night to send texts to family and receive any messages. I have the Gaia app for backup navigation, that will be turned off unless I want to check my location against my map or some other reason. The Gaia app still sucks a lot of battery even on airplane mode with downloaded maps, so I use it to pre-plan my route at home for elevation and distances, etc.

I got a InReach Mini for Christmas 2019 but didn’t get to use it on a trip until a Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip in Sept. 2020.

I really only used the Earthmate App on my Android (in Airplane Mode) with the smartphone GPS. I only turned the InReach on when we stopped for camp to send “I’m OK” messages to my wife and a few others.

The phone charge lasted about 4 days before I recharged from an Anker brick.

Total Trip was 8 days and I had way too much charge left on the charger.  Next time Ill carry a smaller one.

The Earthmate App works fine to navigate with the free download maps.

Well I actually navigated mostly with my paper maps and compass but the GPS was good for verifying location when in doubt.

Larry S