Garmin 010-01879-00 InReach Mini, Lightweight and Compact Satellite Communicator, Orange

I own an earlier version of this device, and it has been very useful when I have been beyond cell signal. However, you should know that you will be dealing with a very consumer-unfriendly company. I have had many complaints about Garmin over the years, but in this case, when you have a yearly subscription, they send out the reminder of your subscription (calling it an invoice) the day after they renew it, making sure that they have 1 years more money if you had wanted to cancel. I certainly wouldnt cost them anything to send out a reminder a week in advance, as many companies do, allowing you to cancel before the charge to your credit card.

Review for InReach Mini

I purchased this item to take offshore with me in the place of an EPIRB. I figured I would find comfort in the user face allowing me to text back and forth with GEOSS. What the product lacks to mention is the heavy subscription you must carry to use the item. Most importantly, god forbid you miss a payment or in my situation I had fraud on my account, the item is shut off completely. On the spot. The SOS button is disabled too. Let that sink in. Garmin will let you die over a monthly subscription. Oh! After learning this I was forced to pay 185$ to cancel my subscription with the device or it would be permanently locked. Moral of the story, garmin is more worried about 15$ a month then your life. The second you realize this too and go to cancel you’re paying for that also. Never buy garmin again.

First off, sorry, this turned into a bit of a monster write up, but I thought it important to give a bit of background info. This all happened a while back, I just never got around to writing a review.

inReach Mini makes it easy to send and receive text messages while in the cockpit

With the way things are today it was a no brainer for me and my wife to have one of these. I will say if you leave the device on without charging the battery seems to die very fast, maybe a day if that.. but if you turn it off and on only when you need it you can get almost a month out of it. Its pricey for sure but the piece of mind knowing that if there was a national or global disruption of communications that we both would still be in touch.

I have owned my in reach mini for over 2 years. I chose the garmin unit for size, ease of use with phone earth mate app, two way communication, and lifetime cost savings (the ability to turn off monthly service fee during months we do not use meant equal cost at 18 months…lower cost every month after compared to competitor). I use it primarily for backpacking but also for motorcycle riding. I bought it for the sos feature which thankfully I have never had to use. I have used it for tons of other reasons…checked weather on a thru hike (80% chance of rain at one lake, 20% on the other side of the mountain where we comfortably WATCHED the storm), checked fire report when we awoke to smoke so thick we couldn’t see the lake we were camped at (no fire nearby, just blowing in from CA and WA), alerted family to change in plans, used usgs map function to find a lake in fire damaged area where the trail was completely undetectable (in reach knows where I am, the 1970s usgs map knows where the trail USED to be), scouted route when we got off trail in an area that was more downed trees than actual trail, messaged food drop support to alert to arrival time, messaged dog sitter to get dog off the trail when he was struggling with the heat, set waypoint to mark where we parked or set up camp when wandering off trail….and lots more. It holds a charge for 5 days of hiking as I use it (ping every 10 mins, message home when arrive at camp, turn off until we hit trail next day). When I’ve been overdue or decided to ride straight thru without break … my family can pop onto tracking and see where I am. I know 2 people who HAVE used the sos function ( mountaineering rescue and a motorcycle crash in remote Idaho)… both had great response time for aid. It’s been a game changer for my backpacking and I wouldn’t leave home without it.

BUY THIS. BUY IT NOW. I cant say enough good things about this product!! We use this for backpacking and hunting purposes. The membership is completely worth your money even when you might think you wont need it... you will. We have been using this for a few weeks now, the battery life could be better but its not horrible. The messaging capabilities is awesome - especially for worried spouses or family members. The Bluetooth part and the Earthmate app is also awesome - especially when you need to send a detailed message via garmin and cant spell everything out on the garmin itself. The ease of use and simple user interface is pretty great and easy for just about anyone willing to learn. The SOS button is an obvious and clear choice of greatness. So far we are loving this product and I like showing it off to my fellow hiker friends!

The test messages I sent myself would bounce back 2-4 hours later or Id get an unable to send message 2-4 hours later. Mine device was defective. I hear they work great but I spent over 4 hours setting this up, downloading and setting up the mandatory app (which costs a monthly fee), entering emergency contact information, and waiting for the GPS to connect. This was a huge waste of time. Im glad I tried so many tests before actually using it on the trail.

Without an external battery the battery life is not very long, the tracking is not very accurate. But the ability to send and receive messages while afield is indispensable