When I purchased the Garmin inReach Mini a while back, it ended up being out of pure necessity. I ride a lot of trails in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, and loss of phone signal is a regular occurrence. On one trip a while back, I was alone and completely out of cell signal for a particularly long period of time. I supposed to meet up with the wife, and when I arrived late and explained there was no signal, she asked me to get something to fix this problem. I chose the inReach Mini.
inReach Mini Functionality
I did a lot of research before buying the Garmin inReach Mini. It has all the functionality I need:
- Size – obviously, it’s the inReach Mini. It’s dimensions are 2.04 x 3.9 x 1.03in. So at just under 4 inches tall, it doesn’t annoy me at when clipped onto my riding jacket.
- Send text messages – great for times without cell signal. I have a few pre-set text messages I use. The main one being “taking a long break, all is good.”
- Integrates with my phone via apps – this is awesome! Because if I can find cell signal long enough to get it situated on a trip, I can use my phone to text through the inReach Mini and not have to deal with the small screen. This also enables me to plan trips if I want to and do a variety of other things.
- Send my location via text – when I leave for a bike ride, I text the wife a link to the map that shows where I am. This gives her the peace of mind she didn’t have before I got it.
- Send track points – this allows the wife to see me in semi real time on a map. The map updates about every 10 minutes with the plan I have (Recreation Plan) and shows my location, direction, and the speed I’m going. I like this because if I were to take a serious spill during a ride, the wife would see that I hadn’t moved. And without my “all is good” text, she would know something is probably wrong.
- SOS alerts – if something goes wrong, I can trigger the SOS alert on the inReach Mini. I keep mine clipped to the outside of my riding jacket within reach so I can easily get to it in an emergency if I need to.
- Weather – the weather displayed was extremely accurate. This was great when camping in the mountains because other weather apps are often very, very wrong. Or, they give information for nearby cities. The inReach weather information was for my exact spot and it was pretty precise.
Map wife can see with each text I send.
Any downside to the Mini?
As far as issues, I’ve not had any. As long as I remember to charge it, the thing just works as expected. Granted, I’ve never had to use the SOS feature (and I hope I never do), so I can’t really speak to whether or not that works.
I did buy this for its small size. Of course, the downside to the small size is the small screen. It’s not easy to text using the tiny screen. However, as I previously mentioned, when in cell signal range, the inReach can be paired with a few different phone apps and then the phone can be used for texting.
Text messages overages can get pricey. With the $24.95/month plan I have, I only get 40 unique text messages per month. Pre-set messages are not included in the count. Each of these can only be 160 characters. If I go over my 40 for the month, it’s $0.50 per 160 character text message. So far I haven’t gone over my 40, as I do try my best to mostly use the pre-set texts.
Text messages from inReach
So, is it any good?
Personally, I love the Garmin inReach Mini, and I know the wife does too! Its small size enables me to clip it right to my riding jacket so it’s always within reach in case of an emergency. I use it all over our area of the Blue Ridge Mountains around Roanoke. So far, I haven’t had even one issue with it getting satellite signal.
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