Forum Index > Trail Talk > Price drop - Garmin inReach Mini now $275
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Damian
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PostSat Nov 16, 2019 9:48 am 
Battery life is a downer for the mini IMO. And carrying a backup battery defeats. May as well get the full size. As Tom said battery life is a non issue depending how you use it. I like keeping mine on as the whole idea to me is safety, possibly greatly assisting a SAR mission if I konk out somewhere. I can leave my SE on for days.

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Noheaperture
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PostSat Nov 16, 2019 11:55 am 
Tom wrote:
Can't really fault it and I didn't miss having a larger unit for my usage. All I wanted it for was to keep my wife from worrying and for emergencies. Battery life is a non-issue depending on how you use it.
Agreed with Tom. I’ve had mine for a year. I turn on tracking for 15 min intervals and text my wife freely. If it’s constantly tracking 5 min intervals, the battery life burns after 15 hours for me. I’ve gone 2 full days of use with tracking on. The peace of mind alone is worth the 30 monthly I pay and technologically it’s simple and lightweight especially if you go off trail often. The no contract option to disable service is also great since winter routes are usually always within cell range (north bend-Issy alps)

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Tom
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PostSat Nov 16, 2019 12:09 pm 
Looks like the inreach explorer is also on sale for $375. Consistent sale price at authorized retailers. https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Explorer-Satellite-Communicator-Navigation/dp/B01MY03CZP https://www.rei.com/product/119863/garmin-inreach-explorer-2-way-satellite-communicator REI says price is good thru 11/25. Be wary of any retailer advertising the item for less, likely not an authorized retailer (no warranty) and quite a few scam sites.

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Riverside Laker
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PostSun Nov 17, 2019 9:47 am 
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DarkHelmet
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 12:42 pm 
love my mini. Great peace of mind. Recently updated the firmware and the battery life seems better. I can use it all day, 8-10 hours tracking and have 75% left on battery. Before firmware update, it would be mostly dead from same usage.

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Joey
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 1:19 pm 
Question for you inReach Mini owners. If (1) the Mini is currently connected to your phone via bluetooth and (2) location services are 'on' in your phone, then will the Mini use (A) the coordinates produced by the phone or (B) the coordinates produced by the Mini? Hoping the answer is "A" since most phones use GPS (USA satellites) + GLONASS (Russian satellites). The Mini just uses GPS and near as I can tell does not include WAAS support. In other words, phones will have more accurate coordinates than Minis. And of course if you have an Android and set the location mode (aka method) to "Battery saving" (aka Power saving), then you might be SOL since the coordinates produced by your phone (and maybe sent to your Mini) will *ignore* all satellite data. Yeah, your phone might produce coordinates but the accuracy will likely be terrible. Moral of story: If you want to get coordinates from an Android then do not use the "Battery saving" location mode. It's such a complicated world... shakehead.gif

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Brian R
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 1:41 pm 
DarkHelmet wrote:
love my mini. Great peace of mind. Recently updated the firmware and the battery life seems better. I can use it all day, 8-10 hours tracking and have 75% left on battery. Before firmware update, it would be mostly dead from same usage.
I'll try that, thanks. Firmware, sheeeesh. I was ready to ditch my little Ricoh GR2 camera for focus issues--then I updated the firmware and problem solved. Still, you would think bug-free out of the box.

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Riverside Laker
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 7:07 pm 
Joey wrote:
will the Mini use (A) the coordinates produced by the phone or (B) the coordinates produced by the Mini?
Not 100% sure, but strongly suspect it does not talk to the phone for coordinates. It just uses it as a nicer keyboard (and a few other functions). I think it would eat phone batteries if it used the phone's GPS. But maybe if the phone had the almanac (hope I'm using the right term) that would speed up the Mini. It can take awhile to find a signal, especially in trees.

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Cyclopath
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 10:53 pm 
Garmin makes bike computers and running watches that BT with a phone and share location. All of them use GPS from the Garmin to save phone battery. The phone using Galileo is only part of the picture; there's also the chipset, antenna, software filtering, and a bunch of other stuff that will affect accuracy. But the difference won't be huge, neither one will be better 100% of the time. It won't matter if one of them thinks you're 15 feet away for a few seconds. I mean we're hikers, we aren't doing survey work.

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Tom
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PostMon Nov 18, 2019 11:47 pm 
Joey, I thought I'd be pairing with phone more often than I have. In practice the mini works quite well as a stand alone device to the extent you're primarily sending 1 of 3 customizable pre-set messages (I set mine to "Just checking in to say I'm OK", "All is well but running late", "Back to the vehicle and will call when I'm in cell range"). Only time I can envision needing to pair with a phone is if I wanted to send a custom message, but that's infrequent for my usage (haven't sent anything but pre-set messages so far).

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Tom
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PostThu Nov 28, 2019 3:45 am 
Looks like shop rakuten has 20% off site wide with code THANKS20 plus an extra $30 in points if you use a mastercard to pay. Seems like a good option if anyone is still looking to pick up a mini. https://www.rakuten.com/shop/search/inreach/

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Tom
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PostMon Dec 02, 2019 10:23 pm 
Dell had a good deal today with 16% cash back plus another 10% back with my AMEX card so pulled the trigger. Got the cost of the mini down to $225 tax included. Picked up an extra one if anyone wants to take it off my hands for $225 at the NWH social.

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Joey
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PostThu Dec 26, 2019 6:49 pm 
For anyone that found an inReach Mini under their tree, be sure to install Garmin Express on your PC and then use it to update the firmware on the Mini. I 'activated' the Mini before updating the firmware but I do not know if activating before updating was required.

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Tom
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PostMon Dec 30, 2019 7:24 pm 
If anyone didn't find an inReach mini under the tree I picked up an extra one when they were on sale. Cost is $225 tax included. Edit:. Sale pending

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Cyclopath
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PostTue Dec 31, 2019 5:23 pm 
I thought that would have gone during the social for sure!

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