inReach Webinar: inReach Mini In-depth

In this instructional webinar led by Chip Noble, senior product manager at Garmin, we reviewed everything you need to know about your inReach Mini. We covered features including device set up, messaging, tracking, weather and SOS as well as the Earthmate® app and Garmin Explore™ website.

[@gnic731]

Great video. I just picked up the mini. I have the Montana 700i as well. The Montana is a bit overkill for my needs. The mini is so nice in its simplicity as compared to my Montana. Thanks for an informative class to help out new users as well as Garmin veterans.

[@leli9193]

Thank you, very comprehensive instructions.

[@mosads2986]

EXCELLENT JOB WELL DONE 👏 ✔ 👍

[@haroldlampasso5999]

Love my In Reach Mini! Most of my backpacking trips are solo. My family is able to track me and get my check- in texts where I have no service. Hoping I never have to use the 🆘 feature!!

[@DLL969]

Reasonable video, but instead of telling us what we can find out from reading the manual, it would great to see some real instructional videos on how and why you would choose each setting in setup. Garmin say this is where you chose to do this setting but you are assuming that the average Joe understands why. For example, I would say the majority of people buying the mini would be for tracking, sharing the tracking, messaging and emergency. So, for example, if someone needs to message a user and you haven't previously sent them a message, what address needs to be supplied, a number, an email? If you're going on a multi day trip and you want to share your tracking, can the person access your tracking from when I may of previously shared my tracking? Do I have to share my tracking each day I start on this trip? Perhaps some instructional videos on the usability of the functions of your devices would be beneficial, not just a description of what they do.

[@GarminInt]

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions, David! I'd highly recommend submitting those suggestions to our teams here: ms.spr.ly/6054wKlly {IK}

[@DLL969]

@@GarminInt I'll do that 😀

[@myah7853]

Thank you for the thorough info! Question - why is the marine forecast not suitable for kayakers/canoers/paddlers?

[@ambrizehowell5595]

This thing was soooo frustrating to setup. It kept not accepting my setup info and giving me error messages, I switched from safari to Google and that helped. I think it’s because I was on the fence about getting it and grabbed it last minute as I was on my way out of town (had to drive 14 hours in a weekend, with two dogs), not at my computer to set it up. I thought it would take five minutes to figure it out, plus waiting under the sky, but it takes a bit longer than this. Was stuck on the side of the road playing with it for over an hour! I still don’t fully get it. It seems like more than I need, I just need to be able to check in with two emergency contacts & share my location with them, but it was kinda pricy so I guess I’ll try to make use of some of the extra features, not the SOS, of course! After typing my sisters number in it like 4x, I ended up reversing two digits of her number, which costed me another 20 minutes to fix. I had to change it in contacts, THEN go and change it in the presets, THEN sync that info with the device, THEN resend the message, THEN wait for confirmation from my sis. But it’s all tested and finally working! I hope I love it because it has taken blood (mosquitoes took some), sweat, and lotsa cursing to get it set up, lol. Plus precious time away from the pups! Try to get it when you have time to unbox and setup in a relaxed atmosphere, at a laptop, and not with your phone at the side of the road during a potty break with a dog, a puppy, and a spotty signal. The guys at the shop where I got it all swear by it on their podcast, so that sold me on it. Did you know that the helicopter rescue will not lift out your gear? Any larger gear will get left behind. Grab what’s valuable, bino’s, etc., or you may lose them! One guy was a paramedic who got attacked by a bear and he knew this so he packed the rifles and binos to insist they come along. Grab the smallest most pricy gear and don’t let it go!

[@MagicMike_101]

The device does what it needs to do, but it could be more user-friendly. Someone I know has the Inreach 2, and it's way better and more up-to-date. But the worse is the battery. It lasts for a day, really bad. It works for day hiking, but I need to turn it on and off if camping.

[@mikecousinoplumbingwaterfi6952]

I have the Inreach Mini2 and it doesn't pair with the Earthmate App, but does with the Explore App. Am I doing this correctly?

[@leli9193]

I have a safety plan , will change it to expedition plan end of the month. Will that be effective right away,

[@hugoschmitt9208]

I have the safety plan. If I enable the sharing of my location for each message, do I pay the fee of a tracking point in addition to the message or is it included ? Thanks for the vdo !

[@GarminInt]

Yes, there will be separate charges for the message and each track point. {IK}

[@davidbriggs758]

I'm setting up my In Reach mini in Ohio, but I'll be using it on the John Muir Trail next month. Do I need to download the JMT map before I go to get my track and log points on a map, or will the In Reach use my GPS locations as I hike to place it on the map?

[@CaliforniaTravelVideos]

Hopefully on your Mini you found Saved > Courses, which allows you to load selected maps with associated tracking log points.

[@jimporter6389]

Using the Safety plan, I want to turn off Tracking and leave on Logging. After the hike, I synch to Earthmate and then connect the Explorer+ to the Explore web site, but my Logging info (i.e. breadcrumb trail) is not there. I've tried Garmin Support text help, but it seems like they don't know what I'm talking about, so this is unresolved. Can you tell me if Tracking must be "on" in order to view the logging on a map, or am I doing something else wrong? BTW, my purpose in turning Tracking off is that I'm not concerned about others knowing my Track, but want to be reachable via SMS in case of a family emergency. And I want to have a log of my hike for future reference. I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard.

[@CaliforniaTravelVideos]

Hopefully you've figured this out since you posted your question 5 months ago but for others, here's the scoop! For sure, while Garmin has tons of discrete info available, when it comes to Tracking it can seem like a mystery. In your Tracking INTERVAL setting (Setting > Tracking), change Send Interval to "Off." This will prevent sending tracking points to Garmin so you will not incur charges. Now back out to the Home screen, do upper-right button click and scroll down to Start Tracking and select/click to turn on Tracking. Now your Garmin inReach Mini 2 will begin recording/logging tracking points *internally* in memory but not send tracking points to Garmin. You and your friends/family can still send/receive SMS messages with (Garmin) Tracking set to Off, in fact thru MapShare or SMS text messages you send them, THEY can manually generate a track point if you have permissions enabled and you can still use "Mark Waypoint" to do likewise. Best of all, even if you have limited text messages use Check-ins on your (Safety) plan, you can effectively create free tracking messages (Checking in - everything is okay, I'm starting trip, I'm ending trip) which can include your current "tracking" position via link to MapShare. Garmin really does have a great system once you understand it - Happy trails.

[@NHTesla]

How to import klm file into Earthmate app?

[@GarminInt]

Great question, Nikola! You will need to do this on the Explore website. You can view instructions here: support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=kKz7Qy7FYt9LAhusE7WED8 Have a great weekend! »CP

[@clumsy1333]

Hi. great video. Can you please tell me the distance the Bluetooth between the mini and the phone will work? Just wondering if I can send a preset through the mini to the earthmate app that's on my phone if I'm in the water with my mini.

[@clumsy1333]

also how do I move my contacts from the app onto my phone?

[@DominiqueB]

In case you haven't found the answer yet, and for future reference: I'm not Garmin, but the bluetooth connection can hold up to a max of ~30 feet/10 m line of sight if no obstruction. But be aware that water will _dramatically_ reduce that range: if either device is submerged, the connection will be limited to very, very short range (a few inches/cm). But I'm not quite clear about your scenario: i don't think you can send a message from the InReach to the app: You can use the app to select or type message that will be sent to another party through the satellite network. Or if you're in teh water with your InReach, how can you trigger a message from your phone on your boat? Sorry if i misunderstand your description.

[@DominiqueB]

@@clumsy1333 If you use the app to compose messages, it can access directly your phone directory. But if you want to populate the built-in contact list available on the InReach, or directly in the app (up to 20 contacts, IIRC), i haven't found a way to do that beside painstakingly typing them in. You can copy/paste from your contact list to speed things up a bit. :-)

[@clumsy1333]

@@DominiqueB Thank you, I was hoping sending a preset from my inreach would show up on the app so I could use it as a signal.