Review on 🟠 Garmin 010-01879-00 InReach Mini: Lightweight Compact Communicator - Orange by Chris Moody

This is a 5 star device compared to my old Spot messenger - this messenger was a horrible, unreliable product that will no longer activate Spot. I'm deducting a star because there were really only a few things Garmin could do in the software to make it perfect. But here's what's great: - Reliable two-way messaging - a beep is a key feature letting you know you've received a message or your message was sent successfully. So simple, so helpful. (Although it could be a little louder) - Weather is a great feature and it works great. I wonder if they can continue to use DarkSky after Apple bought it and apparently stopped all use of the service via the API. But I think that's her problem. - Small size, good battery life and micro USB charging function - so you can use a small solar panel or power bank for charging. - Freedom plans are a great way to get the service right and make it affordable for seasonal tourists. The following could be improved: - Add the ability to send a preset message with your phone instead of using the device itself. You can send a text message from your phone, but not a preset one. Why? The average hiker clips it to the top of their backpack and uses their phone (much easier to navigate) to interact with the device. You should also be able to check the weather on your phone while InReach is running. Sending the same weather information to your phone would make it easier to read. The Garmin ecosystem is confusing. This works with Earthmate, other devices work with Explorer. It works with the Fenix watch, but not the Venu, except when cycling through your phone for notifications, although the benefits of interacting with the watch aren't great for me. And really, nobody is going to use Earthmate for navigation - there are many offline phone navigation apps that are much better. This is not a realistic backup of your phone for navigation - your backup is a paper map. This *messaging app* is what it really is and it's great for that and they should focus the phone app on that and not overload it with navigation features. Or update Earthmate to compete with other phone apps. (I personally use Backcountry Navigator Pro and it's excellent) - Slow GPS acquisition compared to my phone (yes when my phone is remote and offline in airplane mode). My Samsung S10e fixes the situation in about 6 seconds, anywhere - from turning on the GPS - not with the GPS on. This is much slower - it can sometimes take several minutes. Same with my Garmin Venu. Explorer website is slow and needs some cleaning up. This is one of those sites that you need to explore - once you do everything will be fine (albeit slowly like I said). My experience with it since purchase has been on the North Bass Solo Trail in Grand Canyon National Park (Monster Trail). Of the few other people I saw (6 people in 4 days) most had the same device so that tells you something about BP acceptance - and the people on the trail are all *seriously* hardcore tourists, none Familiars from Kaibab / Bright Angel. (Some of them swam the river and traveled through South Bass). On the side, I also met the Hayduke guy who had one too, if that tells you anything. Folks, you should get one of these.