NEW Garmin InReach Mini

[Brendan]

No, should we?

It's a fair point when every other Delorme and then Garmin Inreach has been and is designed to interface with the app. If you're going to review one, that's a pretty baseline piece of understanding, especially for this one.

Regarding this unit - pretty sure it's a simple trade off. Save 4 ounces, 50 hours less battery life, same functionality otherwise.

 

[sneaky]

No, should we?

It's a fair point when every other Delorme and then Garmin Inreach has been and is designed to interface with the app. If you're going to review one, that's a pretty baseline piece of understanding, especially for this one.

Regarding this unit - pretty sure it's a simple trade off. Save 4 ounces, 50 hours less battery life, same functionality otherwise.

Yes, you should, if the primary concern is "oh look how much lighter this one is". He writes the books that a lot of guys reference on lightweight thru hikes. I'd say that's pretty damn relevant if the first thing that gets mentioned is the weight savings.

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[Bowhunter50]

Andrew Skurka is the man


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[dotman]

Yes, you should, if the primary concern is "oh look how much lighter this one is". He writes the books that a lot of guys reference on lightweight thru hikes. I'd say that's pretty damn relevant if the first thing that gets mentioned is the weight savings.

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The most significant aspects of the mini, I think, is its size, weight reduction here is nice but the compact size is what I like about it. A quick look at the specs tells you it does everything the SE does and really it wasn’t an issue for me he didn’t cover the app.

 

[Brendan]

That wasnt my concern - so I don't give a F**k who some lightweight guru is. If you review a product and miss some pretty obvious functionality - it's a miss.

Where I stand is, I'll still buy the SE or explorer. I want the battery life if I need it.
I'll make sure I take an extra crap if I want to save 4 ounces

 

[Trial153]

I think the GPS functionality and use without a phone is not something that should be so easily overlooked.

If my phone gets dropped in a lake Or off a ledge I like to have something functional to replace Some of it uses.
two is one and one is none.

 

[sneaky]

That wasnt my concern - so I don't give a F**k who some lightweight guru is. If you review a product and miss some pretty obvious functionality - it's a miss.

Where I stand is, I'll still buy the SE or explorer. I want the battery life if I need it.
I'll make sure I take an extra crap if I want to save 4 ounces

He also hunts, perhaps you should pull up the Exo podcast that they did with him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a crap who you are either, so I guess you guys are even.

In his defense though, Garmin didn't exactly knock it out of the park on their press release, or specs release with this new one either. It's a pretty bare bones spec sheet, guess we'll have to wait and see what the full spec is.

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[dotman]

I think the GPS functionality and use without a phone is not something that should be so easily overlooked.

If my phone gets dropped in a lake Or off a ledge I like to have something functional to replace Some of it uses.
two is one and one is none.

It’ll still function without a phone, just you may keep your texts shorter then if you used the phone. It stores waypoints and will direct you to a waypoint if you get lost and your phone/gps dies etc and your compass is broken.

 

[sneaky]

It’ll still function without a phone, just you may keep your texts shorter then if you used the phone. It stores waypoints and will direct you to a waypoint if you get lost and your phone/gps dies etc and your compass is broken.

From what I've seen so far it's basically just an arrow pointing you in the general direction of travel. I think my Fenix 5x has a bigger screen than this one does. I think if you drop your phone in water, or drop and break your phone, you are gonna be at wits end navigating off of that screen exclusively.

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[Trial153]

It’ll still function without a phone, just you may keep your texts shorter then if you used the phone. It stores waypoints and will direct you to a waypoint if you get lost and your phone/gps dies etc and your compass is broken.

I undertand. However functional and having some usable functionality are different.
The one improvement that garnin made post delorm was functality. The unit is way more user friendly then my previous delorm.
That coupled with needing more spare power capacity for this mini unit, i cant see upside.

 

[KBC]

Gear down big rig.

He also hunts, perhaps you should pull up the Exo podcast that they did with him. I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a crap who you are either, so I guess you guys are even.

In his defense though, Garmin didn't exactly knock it out of the park on their press release, or specs release with this new one either. It's a pretty bare bones spec sheet, guess we'll have to wait and see what the full spec is.

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[dotman]

From what I've seen so far it's basically just an arrow pointing you in the general direction of travel. I think my Fenix 5x has a bigger screen than this one does. I think if you drop your phone in water, or drop and break your phone, you are gonna be at wits end navigating off of that screen exclusively.

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I don’t even think my Delorme SE had that, that’s why you can’t have 100% reliance on electronics, always have a compass and paper map.

 

[dotman]

I undertand. However functional and having some usable functionality are different.
The one improvement that garnin made post delorm was functality. The unit is way more user friendly then my previous delorm.
That coupled with needing more spare power capacity for this mini unit, i cant see upside.

50hrs on the max tracking setting isn’t bad battery life, most already carry a 10,000mah or higher battery pack with them, this will not drain that quickly.

 

[Bowhunter50]

My thoughts are that this device is designed for those that are ounce counters and plan on not using the tracking function and using their phone as a gps. That’s my plan. All I need it for is to send a text or two each day and the emergency sos feature is nice for peace of mind for myself and the wife.


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[jm1607]

So the battery life is about half that of the SE?

Think I'll just stick to my SE....

 

[mvmnts]

You know who Andrew Skurka is, right? "This guy" probably has way too many other things to worry about than knowing all the specs on the latest gadget from Garmin. This one strips features from the current platform. Up tp the end user to decide if they want to save 4oz, or not. It looks cool, but it's expensive for what it is.

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Pretty sure he's talking about the video posted above. I'd say Skurka spends plenty of timing knowing all the specs on the latest Garmin gadgets. Being that the InReach devices are best of breed for his audience. He's written multiple articles on the InReach line over time and has been one of the best resources on distinguishing all the different models from one another. The article linked is just a preview, not a full review.

Per all these new devices, I'm still rocking a Delorme InReach Explorer and I'm okay with the extra 2oz for 100 hours of battery life you get. If I was buying today, I'd get this new mini for sure. I use the phone app exclusively for typing, and I don't use the InReach for live tracking, I just turn it on when I need to send messages. 50 hours is enough to last weeks.

 

[Ruskin]

Just my two cents...it seems designed well for my specific use case. Day use and multi day use in lower 48 for a guy that needs comms and a Nav emergency backup.

The drop in size will allow me to put this in my AGC bino harness so it’s always on my, even when I drop my pack. That’s a plus. As an SOS device, it’s a problem if I get separated from the device. (Animal attack, get sick and lose my head, fall and hurt myself on final stock)

I use my phone for maps. So topo screen is no big deal. It has the ability to store a way point (camp, kill site, truck, etc). And again, this is back up for emergency only when my phone sh*ts the bed and I’ve lost my map and compass (and my basic sense of direction/catching features).

I already have a battery charger for my camera, phone and headlamp, so the reduction in life compared to the larger model is not a critical issue.

Just my thoughts. I do have an Explorer + model. Used it last year. It’s great, no complaints. It’s up for sale in the classifieds.


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[bean outdoors]

I received an email from Garmin this afternoon and they have officially announced the new Garmin InReach Mini. They are quoting 5-8 weeks out for the product launch and it will retail for $349. It looks like this one will weight in at only 4.29 oz, compared to the current full size model at 7.5oz.

Garmin Product Link
Access Denied

Garmin Video
[video=youtube;60A1NciNgps]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60A1NciNgps[/video]

I am really digging the orange color,

We are taking pre orders now for those have an interest with a deliver date around 6/8