Inreach Mini & Power Saver Mode

[DanimalW]

So I picked up an Inreach Mini primarily for communicating an arrowed animal with others in the hunting party, and also for an unforeseen emergency. My quick question for the more tech savvy folks is: what settings do I need to change so the battery will last 5 days or so? I’ve seen others write about changing settings, but I haven’t read anything on how to go about doing it. Thanks!

 

[Silvereagle50]

I’d bet there are lots of YouTube videos of this.


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[Mighty Mouse]

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/inreachmini/EN-US/inReach_mini_OM_EN-US.pdf

 

[IdahoElk]

When I'm in the backcountry for extended periods mine stays off unless I need to make a call or quick checks for messages

 

[Will_m]

When I'm in the backcountry for extended periods mine stays off unless I need to make a call or quick checks for messages

This. Doing this I can make mine last two weeks no problem.

 

[bsnedeker]

When I'm in the backcountry for extended periods mine stays off unless I need to make a call or quick checks for messages

I keep mine on 24x7. I want to be able to send an SOS if necessary and get an emergency message from my wife if necessary. To each his own but it seems to defeat the purpose of the thing to only turn it on when you want to send something...I think of it more as a device I have for when I need to use it, rather than want to (although I use it for that too)

I get 2.5 days out of it without low power mode and it doesn't take a bunch of juice to charge so it's cheap insurance in my opinion.

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[mtwarden]

I have always kept mine off until I needed to send a message, but am rethinking that strategy after the search and rescue effort (unsuccessful) of the hiker in the Beartooth's.

She had a inReach and was sending a message nightly to her Mom. After a day or two without a message, Mom alerted authorities. She wasn't using tracking (tracking does eat up battery), but she also didn't have it on. If the device is on, S&R folks can send a ping to your device and get a fix on the location, if it's off- nope.

I think for future trips I'll leave it on. Without tracking enabled, just having the device on doesn't eat too much in the way of battery.

 

[mlgc20]

I’ve done a little of both with mine. In general, I keep it on. If I start getting really low on battery, I will start turning it off when not in direct use. The battery life is very reasonable.

 

[gelton]

Keep mine on 24/7 if you have a decent power bank you can charge it and your phone 3-4 times....

 

[mtwarden]

I recently read a thread where a guy left his Mini on (not tracking, no Bluetooth) it wasn't cold (I think he said temps ranged from 50-80 degrees) at 92 hours he go the message of low battery and had 12% battery left.

That's pretty decent battery life.

 

[280Ackley]

I leave mine on all the time since we got our two Foster girls. It will last me 3-4 days. It is synced up with my cell phone. I just carry a portable charger to recharge it. It is definitely worth the extra pound.

 

[IdahoElk]

O

I keep mine on 24x7. I want to be able to send an SOS if necessary and get an emergency message from my wife if necessary. To each his own but it seems to defeat the purpose of the thing to only turn it on when you want to send something...I think of it more as a device I have for when I need to use it, rather than want to (although I use it for that too)

I get 2.5 days out of it without low power mode and it doesn't take a bunch of juice to charge so it's cheap insurance in my opinion.

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I agree, when I do my backcountry hunts I'm with one or two people, if I was by myself it wouldn't go off and I would have my solar charger, good point.

 

[DanimalW]

Thanks for the responses. I picked up one of the really small usb charging banks to keep in my pack, in addition to my main charging device. That way I can leave it on and have emergency back up juice if needed. The small usb chargers really don’t weigh much, and they’re not any more expensive than a pack of AA batteries.

 

[Antares]

Most people probably know this, but the SOS button works even with the unit turned off. FYI.

 

[mtwarden]

I didn’t- thanks

 

[Bow daddy]

Sweet that is good to know hopefully never have to use that feature

 

[eldeuce]

somewhat related questions...
if you turn down the log and send intervals (maybe other settings??) wouldn't that then reduce the accuracy of tracking?
I think so, as I recently had both OnX and inreach running for a few days. OnX would ALWAYS record my tracked paths as about 30% longer than InReach did (a 3.5 mile hike from OnX was recorded as about 2.6 miles..) Any insight on this is appreciated...

 

[bsnedeker]

somewhat related questions...
if you turn down the log and send intervals (maybe other settings??) wouldn't that then reduce the accuracy of tracking?
I think so, as I recently had both OnX and inreach running for a few days. OnX would ALWAYS record my tracked paths as about 30% longer than InReach did (a 3.5 mile hike from OnX was recorded as about 2.6 miles..) Any insight on this is appreciated...

Yes it would, but then I've never trusted the accuracy of any track I've ever logged from a hunt on any device so there's that.

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[mtwarden]

somewhat related questions...
if you turn down the log and send intervals (maybe other settings??) wouldn't that then reduce the accuracy of tracking?
I think so, as I recently had both OnX and inreach running for a few days. OnX would ALWAYS record my tracked paths as about 30% longer than InReach did (a 3.5 mile hike from OnX was recorded as about 2.6 miles..) Any insight on this is appreciated...

yes the closer the intervals, the more accurate the track

the question becomes, how important is an accurate track? if it's for some fitness based outing, there are better (and cheaper) options out there

each "ping" is accurate, so from a safety standpoint- a longer interval really won't hurt anything